There are a number of alternate healing modalities that have popped up in the market today. All kinds of different methods of medicine and treatment are available as alternatives to the western formal alopathic medicine system. Some have been practiced in indigenous cultures for centuries, while others have emerged much more recently.

The question is, do these so called alternative, holistic healing techniques actually work? Since there is very little data available through scientific research about many of these modalities, it is difficult to say for sure. Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers have tried to do something about the lack of research into one such technique known as Tai Chi.

6 elderly people underwent magnetic resonance spectroscopy over a period of 12 weeks as they practiced Tai Chi. The idea was to check how their health changed during this 12 week Tai Chi program by monitoring neuronal health in the brain and the recovery rates of a metabolite involved in energy production in leg muscles.

Much to the delight of the researchers is was found that Tai Chi helped these six volunteers with both physical and psychological benefits. The research supported the anecdotal evidence that had been found earlier with a proper scientific study.

If you can have a trash bin the corner on land to collect all the rubbish people generate, why can’t we have a trash bin in the corner in the water for the same reason? That’s the idea that Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski had, from which the Seabin was created. It is a simple vacuum based device that floats on the water and pulls all the trash that is available in the nearby vicinity into itself.

The Seabin has been established at marinas, docks, yacht clubs and commercial ports and seems to be doing a fairly good job of collecting the trash in the area it is placed. What’s commendable is that not only is it picking out solid waste, but it can also take in oil sleeks, detergents and other chemicals that are potentially harmful and polluting the waters.

Since the entire water passes right through the Seabin, it is able to pick up even the smallest pieces of Styrofoam and trap it before releasing the rest of the purified water back into the surrounding. The only draw back is that the Seabin, just like a regular trash can needs to be emptied out at regular intervals. Not a bad trade off in this science project.

Our oceans are becoming the receptacles for all the trash that we can’t seem to recycle. The plastic that seems to end up in the waters of the Earth are likely to suffocate all life in the oceans soon. While people are now more aware of the dangers of plastic trash, they are still not quite as proactive when it comes to tidying up after themselves.

Daniel Chase and John Kellet designed a barge that works it’s way through the harbor in Boston, collecting all the trash that is accumulated in the water. From plastic bags, to Styrofoam cups the trash eating wheel collects everything it can find in the polluted waters of the harbor. This is then collected and recycled properly. Some of the so called trash is actually converted back in to energy by incineration which generated power that is used to power homes in Maryland.

The locals love the ecological contraption and call it Mr. Trash Wheel. The concept is simple, and the work that is done truly benefits the environment. This barge even is running on renewable energy. It’s a combination of solar and water power that allows it to continue it’s clean up work. What more could you ask for an ecological warrior! Needless to say it’s a science project that meets a great need.

A simple drawing from a third grade student called Sammie Vance started the ball rolling for much good. She drew a cartoon strip which showed how a lonely child was able to sit on a bench, called the buddy bench, and signal that he wanted to play. Then someone in the playground would approach the child and ask him to play with them.

The concept of the buddy bench was to make children who were without friends, become integrated in the general groups on the play ground. The system was accepted by the school and they set out three such buddy benches in Sammie’s school. All of which are being regularly used. However, that’s not the only good that came out of the drawing.

Sammie’s buddy benches are made out of recycled plastic bottle caps and lids. Her family and friends collected 63 bags of trash filled with these bottle caps to be recycled and re-purposed into the buddy benches. After the ones in her own school Sammie has now been collecting caps and lids for 11 other schools in and around her city.

Recycling plastic waste is a good science project, and the buddy benches make a huge impact on the lives of the children using them. This is a win win situation all over.

There are a number of reasons why researchers make microscopic robots. Engineers at the University of Washington have created the first wireless, flying robot that is about the size of a bumble bee. This robot is powered by a laser beam, and weighs less than a toothpick. It has been named RoboFly.

The tasks that a robotic flyer or this tiny a size can undertake are now being considered. One of the tasks would be to fly over large farms and display in live time the growth of the crops to the farmer. Another could be to sense out gas leaks in a sensitive storage area where hazards can be avoided by catching the leak in time.

What the RoboFly can do, will depend on the programs and the sensors that it can carry. The engineers will be able to customize the little flying robot based on what it’s primary duty may entail. The challenge to be met for the researchers is to increase the scope of the robotic insect’s flying area, even while keeping it under remote control.

Insect sized flying robots have so far been tethered to the ground with a wire. The engineers who worked on the science project that created the RoboFly have managed to overcome this challenge. Now let’s see them improve on the prototype.

In most science fiction stories, it is possible to slap a helmet with electrodes on the head of a perpetrator and gain full knowledge about his memories and thoughts. While it may not be quite the futuristic crime buster, the computer interface developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is picking up words that you say in your head.

The electrodes in the device pick up neuro muscular signals in the jaw and face that are triggered by internal verbalization. These are not spoken out aloud, but the words are picked up and transcribed by the software. Arnav Kapur is a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab, and he led the development of the new system. Kapur said that the motivation for this was to build an IA (intelligence augmentation) device was to have a computing platform that’s more internal, that melds human and machine in some ways and that feels like an internal extension of our own cognition.

The idea of internal verbalization, also known as subvocalization, is not a new one. It was extensively put through scientific research in the 1950s. Now the research team at MIT is bringing the words within to the screen up front by using a simple prototype which has four electrodes and can be worn on a jaw.

If you want to study the stars you need a telescope out in space, NASA must have thought when it launched the Kelpler Space Telescope in March 2009. Named after astronomer Johannes Kepler, the space observatory was launched in an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit. It was supposed to be a mission that lasted three and a half years, but ended up surviving nearly nine years.

Now the space telescope which allowed observers on Earth to study a huge number of planets and stars has just enough fuel left for a few more months. Once it ends, NASA says that the mission will be over as contact with the space telescope will be lost. However, that doesn’t mean that the human beings will not have other sources of data in the future.

NASA is all set to launch Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite or TESS to help search for other planets that could support life. The launch for TESS is planned for April 16th from Florida. The advantage of new technology will allow TESS to see more, and share more tha what Kepler ever could. This is one follow up science project from which the researchers at NASA can expect to learn a whole lot more.

To beat the expensive housing situation in Hong Kong, architect James Law has come up with what many may consider a pipe dream. The micro apartments that James Law has designed are constructed inside 2 sections of 8 foot diameter drainage pipes. The pipes are fitted with glass doors on both ends and have a living area with a bench. The bench converts into a bed and has a set of shelves on the facing curved wall.

One shelf fits a bar fridge and a microwave which is placed next to a gallery sink. The pipe apartment even boasts of air conditioning, not to mention a tiled bathroom at one end which has a combined shower and toilet. No bathtubs in this space, but it’s cheap to build at just $15,000 and is being rented out at $400 per month. This is quite cheap for Honk Kong and given the fact that it is a 100 square foot area.

The design makes it much more spacious than the ‘coffin’ and ‘cage’ homes which are constructed from subdividing older apartments. Another advantage of these OPODs is that they can be stacked into the gaps between existing building. This saves space on an already crowed island. Here’s one science experiment which may just succeed in creating housing in areas such as under highway passed or even on the roofs of already existing buildings.

The idea of becoming an astronaut is an exciting one. The journey to actually traveling to outer space a much more demanding adventure. You would expect a person who has undergone this experience to change after it’s all done. However, some of the changes may be ones that were rather unexpected, such as changes to the astronaut’s DNA.

NASA has been studying astronaut Scott  Kelly after he spent a year in space. The man has an Earth bound twin named Mark Kelly and the study focused on the differences between the two. Both physiological and psychological changes were expected and found. Not only did Scott have trouble readjusting to the gravity after his return to Earth, there were changes at a physical level to his DNA.

the telomeres or end caps of the chromosomes had become significantly longer after his prolonged stay in outer space. While 93% of these genes returned to normal after he landed back, about 7% of them were still  longer than normal. Several of them related to his immune system, bone formation, hypoxia and hypercapnia along with his DNA’s self repairing ability. Now this is a scientific study that proves that being in outer space really changes you.

It’s not always possible to get a bird’s eye view of the world around us. Yes, Google Earth may provide you with photos and a street view, but it can’t tell what lies underneath the building. Lidar, which rhymes with eyedar, is an aerial light detection and ranging technology. It works by sending laser pulses from a plane, helicopter or drone. The information is then collected by the Lidar device about the surface below.

Possible uses for Lidar include urban planning. It can give you a good idea about how the geometry of the city flows. What buildings will cast shadows on the park. The trees that are now ready to be trimmed so that they don’t fall during a storm on top of a house. Which streets are likely to be most windy, and which part of the town is most likely to be vulnerable to starting a flood. All this information can be gained by studying the data of a Lidar.

Not only is the information gained about above the ground structures, such as what all restaurants have a ramp to allow the handicapped in a wheelchair easy access, the technology also gives us a view under the ground. It can tell where historical properties may be weakening due to underground tunneling. Using the Lidar makes for an exciting science experiment.