Automation of long assembly lines is a standard practice in most manufacturing industries today. Robotic arms have taken up tedious and repetitive assembly jobs in many industries, so will a robot be taking up the running of a mine as well? Rio Tinto, the world’s largest mining conglomerate sure seems to think so.

The Australian part of the company has been making plans to automate mining processes to a considerable degree. The different forms of automation would include the actual digging, transferring of material, processing the stuff and then transporting the processed end product to the railway lines where they can be shipped out from.

The entire process of mining would be automated and the entire operation would be controlled by a man sitting in a location far away from the physical mine. The remotely controlled system would be able to save money on manpower and be more effective than the current manual system in place.

Of course its not going to happen overnight, but Rio Tinto hopes to make it happen within the next decade. At least on one of its current underground mines. If the process is successful they will naturally use it again on other mines that they own. Now that’s a science project that will need a lot of help.

Every time the wind picks up in a storm you are left hanging on to your umbrella with all your might to ensure that it doesn’t take off with the next gust of wind that assails you. A very common problem for which some scientists have come up with a rather unique solution – the storm proof umbrella.

Researchers have been working on an unflappable umbrella which would be able to withstand winds of 113 kph speed. The cycle helmet style umbrella has an aerodynamic design which makes it tough for the wind to blow it away. The flow of the wind is directed over and around the helmet making sure that it stays in place.

The helmet tapers in the back giving the asymmetric design a chance to hold on despite the strongest blowing gusts. The Senz design as it is called was tested in a Dutch study carried out in a wind tunnel. The researchers determined that the Senz design umbrella was much more likely to be effective than the traditional umbrella in a storm which had strong gusts of wind blowing.

The gale force winds did not affect the storm proof umbrella of the Senz design. So perhaps it would be a good idea to benefit from this scientific study and purchase these new storm proof umbrellas to ensure that you don’t get wet in the next storm that come along.

Think of bugs and ones thoughts end up with germs, bacteria, viruses and illness. However here is one bacterial bug that you may not want to keep at bay. It seems that researchers have found a metal tolerant bacteria that can withstand toxicity to produce gold.

At the Michigan State University researchers fed the bacteria known as “cupriavidus metallidurans” large amounts of gold chloride or liquid gold. In a week’s time the bacteria transformed this toxic material into a small gold nugget of 24 carat pure gold.

Kazem Kashefi who is an assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics said that what they were doing was microbial alchemy. It involved transforming a material that has no value into solid gold which has considerable value.

Does this mean that everyone can now get rich by growing their own gold at their home? Or can we look forward to making toxic waste heaps into the valuable precious metal gold?Unfortunately the answer is no. The process is too cost prohibitive for it to be managed on a large scale.

So biotechnology may throw up a few surprises every once in a while. It would be well worth conducting your own science project on just how useful some of these surprise results could be.

Sunita Williams, the Indian American astronaut made headlines last week for becoming the second woman in history to command the International Space Station. She also holds the current record for maximum hours in space walks. However it obviously wasn’t enough because she set her mind to creating yet another first record for space.

She completed a triathlon in space by running, biking and even “swimming”  with athletes during the Nautica Malibu Triathlon held in Southern California over the weekend. She used used exercise equipment that included a stationary bike, treadmill and strength-training machine specially formulated for weightlessness to simulate the triathlon experience in space.

Running and cycling one can imagine, even if its done in gravity less space, but how did she swim? To simulate the swimming portion of the race, Williams used the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) to do weightlifting and resistance exercises that approximate swimming in micro-gravity.Talk about advanced science projects.

At the end of the triathlon Sunita Williams thanked the astronaut strength and conditioning folks back in California for all their help. She stressed the importance of health and fitness of astronauts who took on long-duration spaceflights. Williams finished the triatholon with a time of one hour, 48 minutes and 33 seconds.

Most astronauts tend to be male for the simple reason that the task is as physically demanding as it is mentally challenging. However from time to time we hear of a woman who has made her mark on the system. One such woman is the new commander of the International Space Station, Sunita Williams.

The Indian-American lady already holds the record for the longest space walk timings for women, and now is heading Expedition 33 on the International Space Station. She took over from Commander Gennady Padalka Expedition 32 which ended Sunday, 16 September.

A Russian-made Soyuz capsule took Commander Padalka, Flight engineer Joe Acaba of NASA, and flight engineer Sergei Revin of the Russian Federal Space Agency back to earth on Monday, 17 September.They orbited earth 2,000 times and traveled 52,906,428 miles before finally touching down successfully in central Kazakhstan steppe region. Padalka is now fourth in rank for the most days spent in space, which includes a total of 711 days during four flights.

Commander Sunita Williams will share space with veteran Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. They will be joined in the month of October by NASA astronaut Kevin Ford and three more astronauts to bring the crew up to its full operational number. The scientific expedition is to last three months.

Stem Cell research is one of the most fascinating ongoing science research projects. These are the cells that produce blood during postnatal life. The nature of stem cells is such that they can be manipulated into becoming any kind of cell that you may need to regenerate for a person.

As you can imagine the potential for stem cell research is unmatched for medical treatments developed so far. It is thus easy to understand the excitement of researchers as they make breakthrough after breakthrough in the different fields related to human health. It is also easy to understand why critics are worried about researchers playing god in the laboratories.

As with anything the technology can be used for good as well as bad. In the latest experiments on gerbils there has been some good. The scientists have now generated ear cell progenitors that can help restore auditory response in the animals. While the research is still ages away from solving deafness in human beings, it is indeed a major step forward in that direction.

Imagine what the repercussions of this science project would be in the future, if every one who has lost their hearing could take this stem cell based treatment and regain auditory responses.

With the concerns for our planet’s well being running high there is considerable anxiety about what we humans will do if the Earth finally is unable to support the teeming billions who inhabit it. Naturally there was considerable excitement when astronomers discovered a new super Earth planet in the habitable area of the star Gliese.

The red dwarf star  has a exoplanet which is 6.9 times the size of the Earth, but which tends to have all the life supporting conditions that Earth has. the planet called Gliese 163c has an orbital period of 26 days. It is loacted 49 light years away from our Solar System.

Gliese 163c was discovered in the Dorado constellation orbiting the red dwarf star by astronomers working on the European Southersn Observatory HARPS telescope. the discovery gave scientists hope that there may be life sustained on the planet that is similar to what developed on Earth, although no signs of life have been seen so far.

Naturally shifting planets for the entire billion plus population of Earth to another planet is not something that can be undertaken right now, but in the future, who knows what will transpire.  Perhaps what seems like science fiction today may become scientific fact tomorrow.

Having the residual Olympic fever in our systems helps when we hear of new records being broken. However this one has nothing to do with a global sports meet and everything to do with the largest cooperative science project being run out of this world.

On 6 September 2012 NASA announced that Sunita Williams, an astronaut currently located on the International Space Station, has broken the Space Walk record for longest time spent in space. The previous record was held by Peggy Whitson who has a total of 39 hours and 46 minutes in space walking time.

Thursday Sunita Williams spent 6 hours 28 minutes outside the International Space Station with Japanese astronaut, Akihiko Hoshide. The two were effecting repairs on the main power unit switching mechanism and installing a camera on the robotic arm of the space station.

Adding this latest space walk to Sunita William’s previous total sent her time on space walks to 44 hours and 2 minutes, beating Peggy’s old record. On hearing the news Peggy responded by saying “You go girl!” The congratulatory message was relayed to Sunita who responded by saying “Anybody could be in these boots.”

Well, we know it could not be just anybody in those boots. It took a lot of hard work and dedication to science space projects to get her the opportunity to set this record.

Who doesn’t like a well mowed lawn? And who doesn’t hate the effort that getting that perfectly manicured lawn look takes? Well it seems that Honda has decided to answer the horticultural prayers of the green thumbs society. They have come up with an astonishing sensor based lawn mover that works miracles on your patch of green.

This robot that looks astonishing like the Roomba vaccuum cleaner that they came up with is called the Miimo. The robotic lawn mower will trim 2 to 3 mm of grass on your lawn over several sessions during the week. That way you don’t have to sweat it out on the weekends to get the full job done.

Miimo navigates with a combination of controls, timers and sensors while working inside the constraints of a buried boundary wire. That way you are assured that its not going to take off and start trimming the neighbour’s lawn while you are at work.

It works on a lithium ion battery so you will save on the gas costs too. Its got a docking station that allows it to charge its battery which looks similar to the Roomba charging station. This is one science project that will do everything to make sure your patch of green gathers compliments with you bothering too much about it.

Robots are sure moving up in the world these days, they even have their own football world cup. There are a lot of sporting fans cheering at Bristol, England these days, but the teams that they are cheering for do not have any human beings on the playing field.

Twenty six teams of robots have come together to compete in the 16th edition of the FIRA or Federation of International Robotics Association RoboWorld Cup. Just like the human FIFA there are star player and better teams, not to mention major fans.

The players may not be human but they spend a fair amount of time in preparation for their time on the playing field just as their human counterparts from the FIFA do. And besides soccer, which is the main draw other sporting robotic attractions include sprinting, basket ball and weight lifting.

Some robots are built from scratch others are modified after being store bought. And yes there are tributes to the human spirit as well, which can be seen in the robot named Usain Volt, in honor of the Jamaican sprinter Bolt. As you can see that is one well named and rather interesting science project to work on.