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(05/03/12 6:49pm)
In a culture dominated by graduate level research, undergraduate Tiras Lin has been making a name for himself at Hopkins. Lin, who is currently a junior, began doing research his freshman year with Rajat Mittal of Mechanical Engineering. “Essentially,” Lin said, “the motivation for our research is to start to understand what we can learn from the dynamics of insect flight.”
(04/27/12 5:00am)
Last weekend, teams from around the world converged at Wichita, Kansas for the annual Design, Build, Fly competition organized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. After its successful initiation last year, the Hopkins team returned with high hopes and a greatly expanded roster. The team was tasked with creating a remote-controlled plane capable of performing three missions. First, the plane must fly as many laps as possible around a 2000 foot circuit in a four minute window. Second, the plane must carry a payload of eight aluminum bars, simulating passengers. Lastly, the plane must carry two liters of water and climb to 100 meters as quickly as possible. Once the 100 meters is reached, the plane must automatically dump all of the water. "The most difficult part was the water drop mechanism," senior pilot Ben Goldberg said. "It was such a heavy payload and the weight of the plane changes during flight, affecting the flight characteristics dramatically." With the support of donations from the JHU Alumni association, the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Professors Joseph Katz and Charles Meneveau, the team built an aerodynamically optimized plane to complete all three missions while maximizing total flight score. The first day of competition went relatively smoothly for JHU. The plane, in its makeshift crate, survived the trip to Wichita and the Cessna facility serving as the competition site. The Blue Jay 4 (fourth major design iteration since the inception of the team) passed technical inspection with only a few minor hiccups, but missed its first time on the flight line as a result. When its turn came up again, the plane completed five laps, an above average mark. "We weren't sure how it was going to turn out," junior Rick Fenrich said. "I think we built a plane that flew quite spectacularly... We had put in so much work over the course of the semester. We spent countless hours manufacturing and designing, that to see it fly in its glory in Kansas was incredible." On day two, things started to go downhill. Severe weather had been predicted for the weekend, and although everyone involved hoped for a change, the winds came in full force. The flight line was closed at noon, and at 2:00pm, everyone was ordered off the premises. Later that night, tornadoes were spotted heading right towards the city. The projected path had the tornado led right towards where the JHU team was staying, causing an anxiety-filled drive to the hotel and a rush to the basement shelter. At the last minute, the storm changed course to the other side of the city, hitting the Boeing, Spirit Aerosystems and Cessna facilities, including the Design, Build, Fly flying field. "It was a heart-racing Kansas experience," Goldberg reflected, though "finding the severity of the damage the next day put a damper on the competition and it was disappointing that we weren't able to complete the missions." And thus the 2011/12 competition came to an end. Although few teams were able to complete all three tasks, awards were given based on standings at the time of closing. First place went to San Jose State University, and Hopkins came in 21st, having completed only one mission. ?
(04/13/12 5:00am)
As volatile as the weather is on Earth, weather on the Sun can be just as extraordinary. Recently, scientists observed massive magnetic vortices on the surface of the sun, which can lead to a type of solar tornado. The structures were observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and studied by Xing Li of Aberystwyth University in Wales.
(02/29/12 5:00am)
New light, or rather, new sound, has been shed on the mystery of Stonehenge, England's iconic prehistoric monument. At the 2012 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Steven Waller, an independent scholar, presented a study on the archaeoacoustics of the ancient site. The field of archaeoacoustics serves to apply the study of acoustics to ancient sites in an effort to understand and recreate the soundscapes that existed. The basis of Waller's work comes from the phenomenon of wave interference. Waves, whether sound, light, radio, etc., interact with other waves in such a way that they can magnify or reduce in intensity depending on location relative to the source. Although modern wave physics definitively explains this interference pattern, ancient observers could have likely attributed it to supernatural phenomena, as contended by Waller. There are "many legends of pipers connected to the stones, so I do not think this is just a superficial coincidence," Waller wrote in an email to The News-Letter. Waller performed quantitative and qualitative studies, in which he measured sound from various sources on a digital recorder. The sources included a pair of recorders (English flutes) in a field supplied by a fixed air pump and a pair of bagpipes in a room. For both cases, he measured the amplitude modulation in all directions from the source at a fixed radius. Next, he tested the acoustics of the Stonehenge site directly. These tests utilized a spring-loaded percussion device in order to produce impulse sounds from the center of Stonehenge. "I walked around the outside of Stonehenge to show amplitude modulation due to acoustic shadows of the megaliths," Waller wrote. Waller then led blindfolded subjects along the same path around the flutes and asked them to sketch and describe what they thought was present. All six of the subjects reported physical obstructions, such as large megaliths or arches between themselves and the noise. When comparing this data with the geometry of Stonehenge, the theory that Stonehenge was created to recreate this phenomenon is supported. Beyond simple enhancement of the modulation, Waller believes that Stonehenge could have been built to serve as a visual support for people. "The experience of sound being 'blocked' by invisible 'objects' was inexplicable to people unaware of sound wave cancellation," Waller wrote, "and subsequently this 'vision' served to motivate the construction of Stonehenge and other megalithic rings." The idea that the history of Stonehenge lies in sound is supported by archaeological and mythological evidence as well. Pipers have been closely associated with Stonehenge in British culture: the site of Athgreany in modern Ireland, which also features megaliths arranged in a circular pattern, is known as the "Piper Stones." "There are carvings in Stonehenge representing axes, which were a symbol of Thunder Gods," Waller wrote, "and so possibly these connect with the thunderous reverberations that I and others have recorded in there." This new theory is strongly supported and can work in conjunction with other potential proposals. Nevertheless, we can likely never be sure of the original purpose of Stonehenge.
(02/15/12 5:00am)
Electronic devices in the past few decades have increasingly been focused on portability and ease of use. Look at the Apple iPod: the earliest iPod offered the ability to store thousands of songs on a pocket-sized device. Since then, the basic premise of a small music player has persisted, with features such as touch-screen and voice control, giving the user a better experience. However, what if instead of taking a device out of your pocket to swipe your finger on the screen, all you had to do was swipe your pocket? Based on a set of recent papers published in Smart Materials and Structures and the Journal of the Electrochemical Society, this scenario may soon become a reality. A typical electronic system requires three main things: a power supply, a suite of sensors and actuators and some controlling electronic circuitry. Maksim Skorobogatiy, a researcher at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal in Canada, has developed one and two-dimensional touch pads and integrated batteries in woven textiles. The batteries were made using lithium ion technology, though packaged in very thin, narrow strips, which were woven into textiles. The sensors were made in a similar way, by making capacitors in the form of long strings. The new fibers measure touch location by characterizing the AC signal produced when touched at a given location. When a hand touches a touchpad, a small amount of electric charge is transferred, resulting in a signal that can be exploited to control some other actuator. For example, swiping on a screen may result in headphones increasing volume. Touchpads in use today also rely on capacitors, though they typically have a large planar array of small capacitors, each of which reacts to a touch in a precise location. The 2D touchpad produced by Skorobogatiy instead features a woven configuration of 1D capacitive fibers. By aligning the fibers into a dense textile, location of a touch can be accurately measured. Until fundamental circuitry elements can be made compatible with textiles, traditional electronic packaging will still be required. However, the potential for flexible power sources and human interfaces is a promising indicator.
(12/01/11 5:00am)
If you've ever walked through the underpass of Hackerman Hall and wondered what was going on in the mock operating room, what you are seeing is a state-of-the-art robotic surgery facility. Even more impressive is the work being done inside the building, around Hopkins and around the world. Robotically assisted surgery has become an increasingly present field in research and in practice, led in part by Hopkins inter-departmental collaboration with industry.
(11/09/11 5:00am)
Cell phones have long been feared to increase the risk of cancer to the user. An updated study by the Danish Cancer Society dispels these apprehensions in a recent paper analyzing cancer risk among all cellular subscribers in Denmark. Overall, the team found no increased risk of cancer or tumors among subscribers relative to the general population.
(10/26/11 5:00am)
New images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have revealed vast quantities of titanium ore on the moon. The orbiter's Wide Angle Camera (WAC) took images at seven different ranges of wavelength to detect minor differences in the light being reflected by the surface of the moon.
(10/05/11 5:00am)
The Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully completed its last mission on July 21st of this year, officially ending the thirty-year program. With this came a transitional phase at NASA, one that had been predicted for a long time prior. NASA has spent the last generation with its 1970's shuttle technology, to which its veteran scientists and engineers grew accustomed. With the end of the program, it was feared than many technical employees would either retire or leave to work in private industry for higher salaries.
(09/21/11 5:00am)
NASA announced plans this week for a new launch vehicle as part of its manned space program. If built, it would be the largest rocket ever flown, capable of carrying payloads of up to 286,000 pounds. The proposed program, simply titled the Space Launch System (SLS), is planned to undergo its first launch in 2017. This program will potentially mark the first time the United States will engage in this type of manned launch since the end of the 1970s.
(09/14/11 5:00am)
Last April, while most students were in the rainy city of Baltimore studying for midterms, four juniors were in Tucson, Ariz. for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' annual Design/Build/Fly competition.
(09/07/11 5:00am)
Throughout history, beer has played a crucial role in society. Ancient civilizations drank a form of beer as a nutrient-rich beverage dating back to the Neolithic Revolution. Nowadays it is found everywhere from professional sports games to college campuses, and is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in the world.
(05/05/11 8:24pm)
Scientists at the Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) have identified a type of “northern lights” around Saturn.
(03/31/11 4:06pm)
Last week, the MESSENGER spacecraft became the first man-made satellite to orbit Mercury, the closest planet to our Sun. MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is operated by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab and NASA.
(03/04/11 12:21am)
Laser technology has been synonymous with the “cutting edge” of science since its invention in the 1950s. The concept was first theorized by Albert Einstein in 1917, and has been rapidly advancing ever since.
(02/25/11 2:36am)
This week, a computer named Watson beat two of the all-time greatest champions of Jeopardy! on national television. Watson, an IBM super-computer named after founder Thomas J. Watson, won both games during the three-day special, and donated his million dollar winnings to World Vision and World Community Grid.
(02/10/11 5:48pm)
NASA is developing a new robotic lander for renewed research in space exploration. Since 1972, man has not been back to the moon. This new robotic lander would not be placed by humans, but would allow scientists and astronomers to gather crucial data from an autonomous rover.
(02/03/11 6:37pm)
Astronomy is often a matter of looking at distant bodies in order to better study our own neighborhood. Recently, scientists have gotten a rare look at an ancient galaxy cluster from the early universe that is believed to be following the same course of evolution as ours.
(12/03/10 12:42am)
Our galaxy has a radioactive leak. Huge bubbles of gamma and x-rays, totaling half of the Milky Way itself, are protruding out from the center. Before you go and buy lead armor though, be aware of a few things: The bubbles are not in the plane of the rest of the galaxy, and they are not anything new.
(11/04/10 10:15pm)
Imagine turning on the Food Network and not only seeing delicious food prepared by expert chefs, but smelling the aroma of the dish as well. Then you flip over to the Discovery Channel, and are accosted by the stench coming from the latest episode of Dirty Jobs. This scenario is not out of the realm of possibility. Kenichi Okada of Keio University in Japan is developing a system to do just that — inject smells into your home, on demand.