Hasta La Gadget!

When Google asked what we’d do if we had Glass, it was no doubt hoping we’d produce some world-changing ideas. We now know at least a few exist, courtesy of physics teacher Andrew Vanden Heuvel. He’s long been hoping to use the wearable tech for remote teaching and one-on-one sessions, and the Glass Explorer program has given him the chance to do just that. His first stop? None other than CERN. Courtesy of a trip for Google’s new Explorer Story video series, Vanden Heuvel is the first person to teach a science course while inside the Large Hadron Collider tunnel, streaming his perspective to students thousands of miles away. While we don’t know if other Explorer Stories will be quite as inspiring, we’ll admit to being slightly jealous — where was Glass when we were kids?

[Thanks, Peter]

Filed under: Wearables, Google

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Source: AGL Initiatives

This week a group of scientists from the University of Missouri have decided it’s time to make public their work on creating and controlling plasma. The system that they’re making public has, they say, the potential to transform the way America – and the rest of the world, for that matter – store and create energy. The team has developed a way to make plasma create its own self-containing self-magnetic field, effectively allowing it to launch into open air.

Professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Missouri’s College of Engineering Randy Curry spoke up about the system this week. He and his team made clear their successful creation of a device able to launch a ring of plasma distances of up to two feet. Their creation, it seems, has them excited enough to make some rather bold claims.

“Launching plasma in open air is the ‘Holy Grail’ in the field of physics. Creating plasma in a vacuum tube surrounded by powerful electromagnets is no big deal; dozens of labs can do that. Our innovation allows the plasma to hold itself together while it travels through regular air without any need for containment.” – Curry

The fourth state of matter – not liquid, gas, or solid – is plasma. Lightening and fire are plasma, and as you might recall, the ability to summon fire was a rather important turning point in the history of humanity. The device that University of Missouri scientists have created can launch self-contained plasma.

In the first iteration of this reportedly completely functional plasma-launching device, Curry and his team have used parts and technology that’s by no means optimized for size. Part of their continued work will be to create a reasonably sized device – this being possible in three to five years, Curry suggests.

Curry has also been vocal about the fact that without continued funding, the University of Missouri’s Center for Physical & Power Electronics will be unable to continue development. So all you large cash sum-holding lovers of science: make with the push!

[via University of Missouri]

Scientists devise Plasma Launcher: the “Holy Grail” of Physics is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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While there have certainly been attempts at easing the Arduino learning curve, many of these still demand a new board or simplify just one aspect of a much larger universe. Olympia Circuits’ new Arno Shield could help strike a better balance between starting fresh and diving into the deep end. It includes all the buttons, lights and sensors needed for 40-plus educational projects, but grafts on to existing boards such as the company’s LeOlympia or an Arduino Uno. Owners don’t have to add parts or wires; they just remove the shield once they’ve learned enough to create their own masterworks. The shield kit won’t be cheap when it arrives on May 2nd for $60, but it may prove the real bargain for tinkerers who want a full-fledged Arduino board as soon as the training wheels come off.

Filed under: Misc

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Source: Olympia Circuits

Yesterday we reported that an iPad app by the name of Hopscotch was launched in beta which supposedly aims to teach children, girls specifically, how to program. Now seemingly by coincidence, it looks like another initiative to get girls into programming has been launched, this time by the Girl Scouts of Great Los Angeles who teamed up with Women In Games International whereby scouts are able to earn a new patch for designing video games, as reported in Girl Gamer.

Through the use of E-line’s Gamestar Mechanic, Girl Scouts are able to use the program to create video games in which they will be able to earn the new badge.  According to Women In Games International’s Vice President, Amy Allison, “Our ultimate goal is to create a STEM-aligned video game badge for the Girl Scouts of the United States of America […] Creating this badge will get young girls excited in technology and science and let them know that they, too, can have a career in the video game industry.” Sounds like a worthy initiative, and it wasn’t too long ago that the Boy Scouts of America announced a similar initiative as well.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Luigi-Themed Nintendo 3DS XL Headed To Japan On July 18, Bethesda Releases Their Second Teaser Video,

Get ready to play with the sci-fi technology that’s fascinated audiences
for decades when the “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination”
exhibit lands at The Tech Museum of Innovation starting October 19th in
San Jose, California. You don’t want to miss out on hanging out with
R2-D2, Chewbacca and Yoda!