Intelligence in robots is a relative thing, after all getting a robot to do what the human wants it to is actually just obeying orders. Researchers at the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCI Lab) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are working towards making robots interact more than static computers.

Nao, a humanoid robot made by the Parisian company, Aldebaran Robotics can play a version of 20 questions with a human at the HCI lab. A number of objects are placed in a tray and the human must ask questions to figure out which one the robot has chosen. When the human gets the right object the robot congratulates the human with the enthusiasm of a child.

Another robot at the HCI lab is serving Sushi to human beings from a mock order table. The Nao robot chooses from various options based on what the human being has ordered. Of course it was not real sushi but wooden blocks resembling sushi that the robot was serving up as per order.

Human Computer Interaction is a new field that blends together computer science, design, behavioral science and more together. It is an exciting time to be part of a new generation of robot builders. This is a set of science projects that is going to keep researchers busy for a large number of years in the future.

Touching the doors in public washrooms has often been a very unsanitary event. The thought of the number of people who did not wash their hands after using the loo and touched that door handle, almost makes you want to hold on till you can get home to do your business. However sometimes there is just no avoiding the germ ridden door handle of a public washroom.

Perhaps the Agency of Design for Altitude  Medical, a studio in Britain, finally has come up with the solution to the icky door handle. The one that they designed does not just repel germs, it actually helps people sanitize their hands as well. The handle that they call “Pull Clean” looks just like a normal door handle except for the blue section below that pumps out hand sanitizer when pushed.

It also contains a sensor that monitors how often it is used. It has been on trial in various hospitals to see if the use for such a door handle is able to cut down the number of hospital acquired infections in recovering patients. From the data collected so far in US hospitals it has been able to increase the frequency of hand sanitizing from 22% to 77% as per Discovery News. Now that is a science project worth replicating!

The planet Earth in its existence has seen repeated upheaval with life forms disappearing each time an ice age or warmer ear came and went. Fossil remains from close to 252 million years ago show that close to 90% of the species alive on earth at that time were wiped out. This is one of the five largest mass extinctions that the planet has seen and is called the end Permian extinction.

All kinds of theories have been brought forth and speculated upon to find out the reason for this extinction. Researchers at MIT now claim to have pinpointed the culprit behind this phenomenon, but you will need your microscope to see them. It seems that microbes rather than asteroids attacks, volcanoes or coal fires were responsible for this massive loss of life.

The methane producing archaea called  Methanosarcina rapidly multiplied in oceans and threw out huge quantities of methane into the atmosphere.  This changed the chemistry of the oceans and the climate above, leading to the mass extinction. The excessive amounts of carbon dioxide in the air was unsuitable for life then present on earth.

What could not adapt to survive perished. Such is the nature of the world even today. Although we try to take care of our environment, human activities may be the reason for the next mass extinction on the planet. Perhaps we need to conduct a science experiment to see just how prepared we are to save the planet.

Imagine working hard on a project that could impact the future of space travel. Developing a smart space foundation for larger structures to be built on. Something that could be used in the future by telescopes and new generation of telecommunications antennae. Sending up the web like platform into outer space to check sustainability, and then not getting the data back!

Students from the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow developed just such a platform called Suaineadh  which means ‘twisting’ in Scots Gaelic. They then launched it into space on-board the sounding rocket REXUS12 from the Swedish space center Esrange in March 2012.

Unfortunately the recovery of the section in which the data was recorded could not be found after re-entry into the atmosphere. Students spent 10 days on the recovery mission in Northern Sweden above the Arctic Circle in vain. Finally they had to give up and return empty handed thinking that all their effort had been in vain.

It was 18 months later that Swedish hunters discovered the section and returned it to civilization. The excitement and relief of the students who now get to study all the data recorded is evident. Thankfully this is one science project that had a happy ending.

The Earth is protected by the harsh rays of the sun by its atmosphere. This atmosphere is the primary reason why living beings like you and me are able to survive on the planet. It was seen that there was a magnetic field around the earth. It is also called the magnetosphere.  This is the layer of the atmosphere which stretches from the core of the earth into outer space and helps protect us against solar energy that may harm us.

When the electric currents come shafting through the magnetosphere it is called “magnetic reconnection”. This is the reason for geomagnetic storms and space weather phenomena which affect the human beings on the International Space Station, and even those in high altitude planes. Remember the turbulence you experience on a flight?

Researchers studying this phenomenon in MIT and NASA have discovered a new process that helps to shield the earth. It has been seen that a plume of low level plasma particles ride on the magnetic lines that rise up from the earth into space. These plasma particles are present in thousands on the upper level of the magnetosphere.

So when the sun’s energy hits the magnetosphere the plasma particles take the brunt of the electric attack and thus minimize the damage that they would do on earth. Now that is an interesting find of this new science project.

Are you fascinated with space and would love to see it first hand? Do you feel that you actually want to experience what the astronauts go through? And do you know that the chances of that happening in real life are rare to non existent? Well don’t lose hope. The researchers at the University of Surrey may just grant you your dearest wish, sort of.

“Virtual Ride to Space” is science project which will combine cutting-edge virtual technology and a specially designed spacecraft to help you get the ride of your life. The ride promises a three-dimensional experience, allowing everyone on board the spacecraft to see exactly what astronauts experience on an ascent to space.

The whole experience will be created using about 20 HD cameras on a weather balloon. As it rises the balloon will give the cameras a great view. This is  just what the astronauts see from inside their crafts as they rise into space. What’s more, its going to cost a fraction of the cost of taking an actual trip into space. They are currently hoping to make the space ascent ride cost about $90.

The £30,000 project will be funded by public contributions through the crowd-sourcing funding platform, Kickstarter. So if you want to follow the progress of this science project you know where to go.

Did you think that getting deliveries by regular post took ages and was unreliable? Do you wonder why they tell you they will deliver something by a certain date and never seem to do so? Well then you have to be really glad that you are not stuck on the International Space Station because they have an even more erratic delivery system.

SpaceX runs the supplies from Earth to the ISS and it was supposed to launch the next cargo ship on Sunday, March 16. The launch was to take place from Cape Canaveral. However the private company has postponed the launch by nearly two weeks and the next cargo ship is likely to leave Earth only in  the month of April.

So who gets affected by this delay? Robonaut! Remember R2 the humanoid robot who is currently being tested in field conditions on the ISS? The robot was supposed to get a pair of legs in this supply run. It has so far been operating from a pedestal. Once the supplies reach Robonaut will finally be able to stretch its legs!

In addition to Robonaut’s legs the Dragon capsule, that’s the name of the SpaceX cargo pod, will also transport nearly two tonnes of supplies and experiences to the ISS. Let’s hope the delay does not affect the science experiments on board the Dragon!

The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer or VLTI has found a star that is about 1300 times the size of our sun Sol. This hyper giant is the largest yellow star to be found in the galaxy so far. It has been under observation for nearly six decades.

The observers have found it to be a part of a binary system where the second star is so close by that it was missed before. The largest yellow star is about 50% larger than the famous red super giant Betelgeuse. It is being called HR 5171 A by Olivier Chesneau, the researcher at Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Nice, France.

Chesneau said that new observations also showed that this star has a very close binary partner, which was a real surprise. The two stars are so close that they touch and the whole system resembles a gigantic peanut, he added. Chesneau continued that the companion they had found was very significant as it can have an influence on the fate of HR 5171 A, for example, stripping off its outer layers and modifying its evolution.

Yellow giants are rare and there are only about 12 known cases in our galaxy, so the observation of HR 5171 A will allow scientists to understand the evolutionary processes of massive stars better. This is going to be a long, ongoing science project.

The full moon has long been associated with unnatural happenings and science has been pushed to prove why these things tend to occur. One such problem that occurs on full moon nights is that signals bounced off reflectors on the lunar surface return surprisingly faint echoes. These suitcases sized reflectors were placed on the moon by the crew of Apollo.

Scientists use them to reflect laser beams and when they return to earth they can calculate the distance of the moon from our planet highly accurately.  This process is known as lunar ranging. However on full moon nights things are different.The laser signals just do not get reflected back to earth the way they should.

At the University of California, San Diego, researchers found an explanation for this during an eclipse on the night of December 21, 2010 as Earth’s shadow passed over each reflector in turn. The scientists feel that this is the result of uneven heating of the reflective lenses.

This uneven heating would alter their refractive index, that in turn would begin dispersing the return beam causing the problem on full moon nights. So this science project study proves that science can explain one more full moon curse. Which is the next one that you would like to study?

Whales live deep in the oceans and satellites are up in space. So what is it that connects the two? A science project conducted by the British Antarctic Survey used satellite technology to count the number of whales and estimate their population in Argentina. This is quite an accomplishment as it is difficult to determine marine animal populations anywhere.

Lead author Peter Fretwell from the British Antarctic Survey, said that marine mammals are extremely difficult to count on a large scale and traditional methods, such as counting from platforms or land, can be costly and inefficient.  This is not the first time that satellites have been used to try and count whales, but previous efforts have not been quite successful due to the limitations of older technology.

Fretwell  added that using Very High Resolution satellite imagery, alongside image processing software, they were able to automatically detect and count whales breeding in part of the Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes in Argentina. He hopes that in the future it will be an even easier task to count the whales in the oceans around the world. Would you be interested in taking on that science project?