Curiosity’s touchdown on the Martian surface

On August 6, 2012, Curiosity, in the Mars Science Laboratory, landed on the surface of Mars. Specifically Mount Sharp inside of Gale Crater. It was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on November 26, 2011.

Curiosity is the size of a car, therefore dwarfing any other rover sent to Mars.  

This is a list of scientific instruments aboard Curiosity:

-ChemCam

-MastCam

-REMS

-SAM

-Antenne UHF

-RTG

-Antenne Grand Gain

-DAN

-RAD

-MARDI

-APXS

-MAHLI

-CheMin

Curiosity is powered by Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), which was also used by the Viking rovers in 1976. The RTG produces energy by using the natural decay of Plutonium-238. That is then converted to electricity. The extra electricity is used to heat the pipes or is released. Curiosity can take microscopic photographs from close-up and take regular photos from a couple of feet away.  

Recent News

-Lifebrowser:

Lifebrowser was created by Eric Horvitz from Microsoft and it is an application designed to show every important event, emails, photos, website browsing and search history that occurred to the user. This is similar to Facebook but is also different from Facebook. A reason why it’s different from Facebook is because it does not need to be checked often. Lifebrowser also sets all the information in time order. Something called a “volume control” was created so that the user could change how important a topic is. Horvitz downloaded information of his life going back nearly 20 years! He could see the name of the person who sent him his first Email in 1997 and family photographs from a specific event. Lifebrowser can even recognize a photo and tell if it was taken indoors or outdoors. 
http://phys.org/news/2012-03-lifebrowser-personal-microsoft.html  

Museum of Natural History Lang Science Program Application

This March my mother told me about a program held at the Museum of Natural History called the Lang Science Program that interested me greatly. I then set up a goal to enter that program even if it was one of the most rigorous ones to enter.

The first step was to answer about six questions that the program sent by mail that explain a few of the reasons why I chose to enter this program in specific as well as what types of science I a am fascinated by the most. This went through many drafts before it was sent to the museum two weeks after the first stage was given. I also had to have at least two letters of recommendation, one from the principal and one from a teacher. I brought four just in case. I received the letter from the museum a month later saying that I passed the first stage.

My diorama of the universe

The next step was to create a diorama and make a description on it as well. I was given a week to complete the project.  It was going to be a diorama of the universe, displaying major categories such as nebulae, stars, black holes etc. For each category, there was an example with a description about it. I also brought with me some of my ideas and a printout of Zero Gravity. It turned out nicely at the end.

A few weeks later, on a Saturday, I went to the Museum of Natural History with my project to take an interview with four different people who had different roles in the program. They asked me questions about the diorama, my interests, weaknesses, strengths etc. The results of the interview came back a month later saying that I was not accepted into the program. Even though I didn’t make it, I enjoyed the experience. 

 

Jacque Fresco and The Future by Design

Jacque Fresco is a futurist, industrial designer, product design, architect, and engineer that has dedicated his life to try creating a city that can coop with nature and still be full of advanced technology. This project is called The Venus Project and his headquarters are currently near Venus, Florida, therefore partially explaining the title of the project.

It is called The Venus Project also because Venus is the goddess of beauty. Jacque Fresco has a friend called Roxanne Meadows works with him to aim for the same goal Fresco has. Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows released a documentary called The Future By Design that I’ve watched four times and I’m planning to watch it a fifth time. My family and I are planning to visit him this summer. He is right now ninety-six years old and I hope I will get to see him before he dies.    

A Swarm of Nano Quadrotors

At GRASP laboratory, in The University of Pennsylvania, a robot was created to be able to swing through obstacles, work as a group and attach themselves to any surface, angular or not.

These robots were called Quadrotors. The reason they were called Quadrotors was because they have four blades on top of them that allow them to fly.

They weigh very little and are only a few inches across. This enables them perform stunning acrobatic movements.

The Quadrotors are able to do double and triple flips in the air, arrange and rearrange themselves in perfectly symmetrical patterns and move through obstacles.

My Designs: Face (Metal Wire)

Tomorrow's wearable computers

Lately, at a consumer device show in Las Vegas, a special concept intrigued many small companies to design Smart Glasses that would allow you to see a 10’’television/device screen 2’’in front of you.

One of the company’s names is Lumus Optics from Tel Aviv, Israel.

The Smart Glasses work by connecting them to your mobile device.

What you see, when you wear the Smart Glasses is your mobile device’s interface, as a transparent layer on top of your view.

 

A new and interesting touch that was added to the Smart Glasses is gesture recognition.

For example, if you’re on FaceBook and want to type a message to a friend, all you have to do is gesture your arms in the same way you would on a physical keyboard except on an optic image.
This gesture recognition addition will also appear on mobile devices.

For example, when playing Temple Run, and you want to swipe up, you can just swipe in the air.

The Smart Glasses will be on sale in the next 2 years or even less.  

http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/39471/

Gesture recognition Instrument

This could be the future of musical instruments; an invention that turns any surface into a musical instrument.

It has a microphone with a suction cup that allows you to stick it on any surface you choose: A tree, a table, a balloon. Depending on the different hand gestures that are played on that surface, a new sound is created.

My Designs: iPhone/iPod Touch Dock

This is my most recent design. It is an iPhone/iPod Touch Dock. I built it out of something called Kenex. I designed it so that there would be handles to carry the Dock from place to place. I also designed it so that you can plug earphones and the charger into the iPhone/iPod. 

One of the difficulties to make this was to create balance, so that the phone would not fall forwards or backwards. I will create a bigger version for iPad.

  

My Drawings: Romy's Room (Summer 2011)

Blending Art and Science

In the past few years, I have been fascinated by art, technology, science and especially the concept of the future.

I enjoy thinking of ideas and inventions.

My currant inspirations are Leonardo da Vinci, Luigi Colani, Syd Mead, Michio Kaku and Stephen Hawking.

Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, inventor, mathematician and scientist. He was the creator of the first clock and ‘helicopter’. One of his most well known paintings is the Mona Lisa. Luigi Colani is a futuristic Industrial Designer.

One of Luigi Colani's works

Syd Mead is also a futuristic Industrial Designer that creates complex drawings. Michio Kaku is a Theoretical physicist that published several books and has a television show about physics. Hawking is a Theoretical Physicist and Cosmologist. He dedicated most of his life to researching Black Holes.

My 11 Memorable Events of 2011

1. Hurricane Irene swept across the eastern coast of North America.

2. Space telescope Kepler discovered 207 Earth-like planets.

3. NASA discovered the fourth moon of Pluto called P4. 

4. A powerful tsunami engulfed the coast of Fukushima, Japan damaging the nuclear power plant and causing a radioactive disaster. 

5. Studies found out that cell phones effect the population of honeybee.

6. A computer learns languages by playing strategy games.

7. NASA’s space shuttle Endeavor took its last flight to space, marking the end and the beginning of a new era in space exploration. 

8. In the Collider, Switzerland, a particle was found that travels faster than the speed of light. 
9. Experts find a way to manipulate swimming robots 1.3 millimeters long by using electric currants in the water. 
10. Technicians in Japan made a bionic mouth that can sing songs.
11. I attended a Francis Bacon exhibition that was held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

What are your memorable events from 2011?

Devil's Dream

This video is a violin performance that I performed at the Brooklyn Conservatory. At the performance, I played the piece Devil’s Dream.

 

My Drawings: Minuete1-2 (Spring2011)

The Curious mind of Leonardo Fibonacci

Fibonacci of Pisa (1170-1250), Italian Mathematician, an expert in algebra and geometry, pioneered number theories and indeterminate analysis. He was the creator of the well-known Fibonacci sequence, which is a number pattern.
For example: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, e.t.c. The pattern here is: 1+2=3, 2+3=5, 3+5=8, 5+8=13, 8+13=21, e.t.c. This pattern can be infinite since numbers are infinite.