HeadWize - Project: Build These Noise-Canceling Headphones by Jules Ryckebusch In today’s hectic and noisy world, we are all searching for a little peace and quiet. Well, you might not be able to slip off to a tranquil forest for an hour or two, but you can block out background noise with the Noise-Canceling Headphones. The theory behind this project is that by picking up ambient sound with a microphone and reproducing it out of phase, we can actively cancel or "null" out background noise. Along with noise-features, the Active Noise-Canceling Headphones let you mix in an auxiliary line-level signal from a CD or tape player. . The schematic diagram in Fig. 1 shows the design of the electronics portion of the project. The signals from the microphone then go to ICl-a. an NE5532 set up as a standard non-inverting pre-amp. From the output of the pre-amp, the microphone signal is sent down two different paths. The headphone amplifier is built around IC3-a, a third NE5532 wired as an inverting op-amp stage. . Check your work often while building the circuit. . . . 1.
New alloy could split water to make fuel A team of Kentucky scientists has found a way to 'tweak' an inexpensive semiconductor to generate hydrogen from water using sunlight. Through theoretical computations, they've demonstrated that an alloy formed by a two percent substitution of antimony in gallium nitride has the right electrical properties to enable solar light energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, a process known as photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. When the alloy is immersed in water and exposed to sunlight, the chemical bond between the hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water is broken, allowing the hydrogen to be collected. "Previous research on PEC has focused on complex materials. We decided to go against the conventional wisdom and start with some easy-to-produce materials, even if they lacked the right arrangement of electrons to meet PEC criteria," says Professor Madhu Menon of the University of Kentucky. "Hydrogen production now involves a large amount of CO2 emissions," Sunkara said.
20 most impressive science fair projects of all time | MNN - Mother Nature... While science fair projects still typically consist of papier mache volcanoes, LEGO robots, and crystals grown in a jar, many students these days are going above and beyond the staples, taking on projects that would even be awe-inspiring as a college thesis. From exploring the effectiveness of cancer treatments to revolutionizing the disposal of plastics, these students prove you don't have to be an adult to have amazing, world-changing ideas about science. Take a look at these 20 amazing science fair projects we've listed here. 1. With a budget of only $3,500, Michigan high school student Thiago Olsen built a nuclear fusion reactor in his garage when he was only 15 years old. 2. Working as a team at West Philadelphia High School, students constructed a diesel-hybrid race car that can go from zero to 60 in just four seconds. 3. Many a science fair project involves LEGOs, but few on the level that Anna Simpson's does. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Whos Who In Human Evolution By Peter Tyson Posted 11.01.08 NOVA Despite a fragmentary fossil record, paleoanthropologists have assembled a solid general picture of human evolution. They have traced hominins–that is, species that are bipedal and that are more closely related to humans than to other apes–back more than six million years. Note: The illustration, adapted with permission from the Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins by Carl Zimmer (Smithsonian Books, 2005, p. 41), does not include all hominin species that experts have proposed but rather offers a representative sample. Credits Design Tyler Howe Programming Alan Kwan Images (diagram) from Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins by Carl Zimmer, HarperCollins Publishers, 2005.
Alchemy - Open Source AI 20 WebGL sites that will blow your mind | Feature | .net magazine Almost all modern computers and most smartphones have powerful GPUs, graphics processors that often have more number-crunching power than the CPU. But until recently web pages and mobile websites couldn't use them - meaning slow, low-quality graphics, almost always in 2D. That all changed when WebGL was released in the latest versions of Firefox and Chrome. WebGL, based on the well-known OpenGL 3D graphics standard, gives JavaScript plugin-free access to the graphics hardware, via the HTML5 canvas element - making realtime 3D graphics in web pages possible. Tech support Apple are supporting the standard too, so we can (hopefully!) So sit back, crank up your latest browser, and check out these demos - if you think you can do better, go for it: there are some hints and tips on how at the end. 01. 3 Dreams of Black 02. 03. No Comply is another WebGL demo from the Mozilla Audio API team, mixing video and graphics with a very 1980s-computer-game-meets-the-Matrix vibe. 04. 3Dtin 05. 06. 07. 08.
PC AI sucks at Civilization, reads manual, starts kicking ass The Massachusetts institute of technology have been experimenting with their computers' AI. Specifically the way they deal with the meaning of words. You might think that the best way to analyse this kind of thing would be with a human to PC conversation, like in Short Circuit. That's not the case. Instead, the boffins handed over PC classic, Civilization, and let the AI get on with it. Then the researchers handed over the instructions and taught the PCs a "machine-learning system so it could use a player's manual to guide the development of a game-playing strategy." Associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering, Regina Barzilay, offered insight into why they used a game manual to prove their point. Civ was picked because it's a really fun game, and they didn't want the computers to get bored during the testing. Not really. These kind of systems could make developer's jobs a lot easier. What's the best AI you've ever played against? (via Reddit)
Why the Big Bang is Wrong undefined John Kierein The Big Bang theory of the universe is wrong because the cosmological red shift is due to the Compton effect rather than the Doppler effect. See The Endless, Boundless, Stable Universe by Grote Reber and Hubble's Constant in Terms of the Compton Effect by John Kierein. The latter describes how the Compton effect cosmological red shift accelerates with increasing distance. Reber showed that the Compton effect was the cause of the red shift in order to explain the observations of bright, very long wavelength, extragalactic radio waves. Quasars may be much closer than their red shift would indicate if they have an "intrinsic" red shift due to being surrounded by a 'fuzzy' atmosphere containing free electrons and other material. Some such quasars may be double stars, with one member being an ordinary star and the other exhibiting a large red shift and being labeled as a quasar. The red shift on the sun is obviously not Doppler since the sun is not moving away from us.
The Complexity and Artificial Life Research Concept for Self-Organizing Systems 11.19.2007 - New technique captures chemical reactions in a single living... UC Berkeley Press Release New technique captures chemical reactions in a single living cell for the first time By Sarah Yang, Media Relations | 19 November 2007 BERKELEY – Bioengineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered a technique that for the first time enables the detection of biomolecules' dynamic reactions in a single living cell. By taking advantage of the signature frequency by which organic and inorganic molecules absorb light, the team of researchers, led by Luke Lee, professor of bioengineering and director of UC Berkeley's Biomolecular Nanotechnology Center, can determine in real time whether specific enzymes are activated or particular genes are expressed, all with unprecedented resolution within a single living cell. The technique, described in the Nov. 18 issue of the journal Nature Methods, could lead to a new era in molecular imaging with implications for cell-based drug discovery and biomedical diagnostics.