Will having a more interactive school desk help you learn better? Apparently these sci-fi types desks actually do students to do better at school work. Researchers at the School of Education, Durham University, have been conducting studies on how a more interactive and futuristic classroom can help students learn mathematics faster and better.

The scientists have been working on 400 students in the age group of 8 to 10 years for over three years to compile their research data on the specially designed desks. Professor Liz Burd who headed the research team said that their aim was to encourage far higher levels of active student engagement, where knowledge was obtained by sharing, problem-solving and creating, rather than by passive listening.

The SynergyNet project designed software and desks that recognize multiple touches on the desktop using vision systems that see infrared light. The new desks with a ‘multi-touch’ surface are the central component, and these are networked and linked to a main smartboard. This allowed all the students to participate instead of one or two taking the lead.

This classroom enabled both active engagement and equal access. Professor Burd said that the tables encouraged students to collaborate more effectively. They observed groups of students enhancing others’ understanding of mathematical concepts. Such collaboration just did not happen when students used paper-based approaches.

Oxidization is the layer on your metal possessions which takes away their sheen and shine. This layer of oxides can be cleaned up using some common acids available around the house. Here we can undertake a science project using a common device to be cleaned and trying out different types of acidic substances from around the house to clean them.

For the sake of simplicity the objects to be cleaned can be pennies that have lost their shine due to the copper oxide layer that has formed on them. The layer will be cleaned using three different types of acidic fluids namely white vinegar, lemon juice and orange juice.

The procedure for each liquid cleansing would have to be identical. First take three identical plastic containers and keep one penny each in them. Now pour vinegar in the first, lemon juice in the second and orange juice in the third container.Let the pennies stay submerged in the acidic liquid for ten minutes. Then take them out and rinse them off with some water.

Keep an observation notepad ready to see which of the liquids was the most successful in cleaning the copper pennies. You can repeat the science experiment by varying the time duration that you keep the pennies submerged.

How would you like to wear a pair of spectacles to ensure that you don’t feel the effects of jet lag on long distance flights? Does it sound like science fiction? Strangely enough it is actually a real gadget that has been developed by some sleep researchers. That is people who do research on sleep patterns.

Professor Leon Lack, the inventor of the spectacles explains how they work. The high tech glasses which he calls “Re-Timer” emit a soft green glow that affects the human body clock. The light green glow helps to alter the sleep pattern of the wearer so that the person can get off a long distance flight feeling well rested.

The light affects a gland at the base brain which is known to control the body clock. This excretes hormones to regulate the circadian rhythms or daily cycles of the human body clock. Now that’s a science project that will literally change the way you rest.

The researchers at the Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia hope that the light device will eliminate the sudden change that people experience from flying long distances into different time zones. Frequent fliers will probably be the most benefited when the device actually  hits the markets.

The bomb squad has often made use of the exceptional sniffing skills of dogs to sniff out explosives that were hidden and now that sense of smell is being mimicked by nanotechnology scientists. A new device based on the acute olfactory sense of canines is being developed by them.

At the University of California a new nano tech chip has been designed by researchers. This chip emulates a dog’s nose’s ability to sniff out certain molecules contained in an explosive device. The easily portable device is highly sensitive and so far very accurate as per professor Carl Meinhart.

The device detects vapor molecules of a specific substance and can distinguish them from similar molecules so that it does not give a false alarm. Being automated the device would be an improvement on dogs, who can be ill, get tired or just have a bad day. Although the prototype is far from ready to replace dogs on the bomb squad today.

Martin Moskovits one of the scientists who has worked on the project is hopeful that the devices will one day become as common as smoke detectors are at present. Given the current world climate it may well be a good idea to install such explosive sniffing devices in public places as a safety project.

Ever used a comb to pick up a piece of paper? Its easy to do if you rub the plastic comb on a piece of silk cloth. This little science project deals with making static electricity The charge of most materials is neutral till you rub them up against another material which may cause them to gain or lose a couple of electrons affecting the charge on the material.

So what are the different materials with which you can make static electricity? Any number of them to be certain, but here are a few that are easily found around the house. So you can collect them and get set making static electricity.

These materials include – your hand, glass, your hair, nylon, wool, fur, silk, paper, cotton, hard rubber, polyester, polyvinylchloride and plastic. This list of materials also makes up what is called the triboelectric series. If two materials on this list are rubber together the one listed first is likely to give up an electron and get positively charged.

So if you want to get started on a set of science projects dealing with static electricity just collect stuff made out of these materials listed above and you can be on your way. Most of it can be found easily at home and your parents will be happy to let you use it.