Author: rajansien
Can colours really make or mar your mood?
Colour psychology, though never paid much heed to, does play a vital role in our lives. We tend to spend hours or even days sometimes in deciding the colours to be painted on the walls of our homes. In some jails, pink walls are preferred which are known to have a soothing effect and decreased aggressiveness. Food stations are generally displayed with colors like yellow and orange and doctors’ surroundings are more on the whiter side to give an impression of cleanliness. But how dependable are these notions?
University of British Columbia in an attempt to settle the record conducted an experiment. They took individuals and gave them a test on a screen, first with reddish background and then with bluish. The results suggested that red colour is favourable for cognitive and logical tasks while blue seemed to help creative visualization and artistic thought process.
The theory put forward was that the effect of different colours on our behavior in not exactly direct. Individuals tend to associate colours with their experience, whether good or bad. For instance, red is the colour that teachers use for correction and blue is related to the scenic views of see and sky, thus conforming to the observations of the above experiment. Similarly, red – the colour of blood is said to ignite us and blue – the colour of peaceful seas is said to cool us down.
Of course, the theory isn’t absolute at all and exceptions are very well possible. Red can also mean a good remark like ‘excellent work’ and blue can remind the scenes of horror scenes set in twilight.
However, questions on the above theory are also emerging. A replica of the experiment was performed in University of Basel refuse to confirm the above theory. But its role in our lives is apparently huge, with almost 20% of European jails having pink walls. But results of an experiment shifting these prisoners to different rooms weren’t particularly nice to those who took pain to paint the walls pink.
Sweat increases effect of perfumes!
Sweating is one of the most nagging of natural phenomena with its smell displeasing many. However, Queen’s University Belfast suggests a different theory, a very strange one as well. The action of a perfume, it says, can be enhanced by sweating.
It would seem quite the opposite of the apparent, but the researchers have isolated molecules from perfumes that release fragrances triggered by moisture. The scientists tagged raw fragrances in an ionic salt (odorless) and found out that its effectiveness increases when the resulting mixture comes in contact with water. The same mechanism is believed to be carried by the sweat on our skin.
This system also helps in removal of the bad smell of sweat. The thiol (sulphur- based) compounds, which are responsible for the unpleasant nature of sweat are attracted towards the ionic compound (perfumes along with moisture) and once bonded or attached, become impotent, hence making sweat even a stronger promoter of the perfume system.
H-transportation
The biggest dream of any scientist concerned about the degrading environment is to utilize hydrogen as a fuel, and china seems to have made it possible. Trams using hydrogen as its fuel are expected to hit Chinese roads soon. It is the first of its kind, built in Qingdao, 650 kilometers away from Beijing, and may prove to be a game changer in the transportation of this entire world.
With the whole world facing shortage of petroleum, whose ever-increasing demands are causing a situation of panic, hydrogen fueled vehicles may prove to be the savior of worldwide conveyance. Other advantages include no emissions of gases that are harmful for atmosphere, rather water is the sole by-product, make it an even more exciting prospect. This is achieved by controlling the internal temperature of the fuel cell to less than 100 degree Celsius. Energy cost will be substantially lowered if this project carried by Sifang Company is a success. It’s chief engineer, Liang Jianying said “The average distance of tramcar lines in China is about 15 kilometers, which means one refill for our tram is enough for three round trips.”
A recent study in Cambridge University throw light on how effective and ground-breaking breakthrough this might prove. They carried out a survey on electric cars and found if they were used en masse, UK motorists would save £13 billion ($19.4 billion) in fuel costs, while the country would cut its oil imports by 40 percent by 2030. And now, a more efficient and green solution to it has emerged. Economical merits along with environmental benefits add up to a potentially radicle change in transportation of this planet.
But the battle against pollution and inflation hasn’t been won yet, evident by the fact that electric cars are themselves struggling to make their mark in global markets; and the above technology hasn’t even been perfected yet.
“There will be a transition in the next five to 10 years, but you won’t see a sudden shift to electric vehicles until consumers have got over their ‘range anxiety’ concerns and that will only happen with infrastructure spending,” said Philip Summerton, one of the report’s authors.
Micro-Zombies
Naegleria Fowleri, known as the brain-eating amoeba as it seems to feed on brain cells (neurons) had recently killed a patient diagnosed with primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). The protist arrived into the body of the 5-year old through tap water in Louisiana, the report from Clinical Infectious Diseases, a health journal on USA confirmed. The deadly microbe enters through naval passage and in an attempt to form an infection, attacks the bone between sinus and the brain of the victim. In doing so, it kills brain cell, causing PAM. PAM is fatal, and kills 8 people per year in USA.
The boy, having a temperature of 104 F was rushed into the hospital with complaints of unbearable headaches and sustained vomiting. The doctors also witnessed two short strange episodes when the boy would just gaze right ahead, devoid of any consciousness. The infection couldn’t be identified in time, and soon after series of seizures, he was declared brain dead.
Martian Mourning!
On the account of sorrowful death of a martian, a coffin has been kept on the deserts of Mars, or so it seems!
This is the original picture clicked by the Curiosity Mars Rover and it is what in the the red circle that exited an American UFO hunter Will Farrar. Of course he reported the incident to NASA but to his astonishment, they calmly declined to look the object from close. Well that reaction was equally uncanny. What seemed a mind-boggling realization by the person wasn’t in the least puzzling to the scientists in NASA.
“Mind sees what it wants to see.” Claiming just another mind teaser, NASA decided to ignore it. But, isn’t it quite clear, a coffin lying among rocks! But still, those scientists may have a stronger argument.
A similar news flashed few months back when a rock carved in the shape of Obama’s face was spotted in the same planet. This, like the former was an example of pareidolia.
Pareidolia is a phenomenon in which our brain tends to find known objects in unexpected places owing to any specific pattern that the object may have. So, in this particular case, we see a rock, rather a highly symmetrical rock, which was completely mysterious. But our brain doesn’t like to be baffled, instead due to its resemblance with a coffin it, a definite relation was made. Now whichever way you look at it, it would clearly appear as coffin.
Dr Nouchine Hadjikhani told the BBC: “If you take a baby just after a few minutes of life, he will direct his attention toward something that has the general features of a face versus something that has the same elements but in a random order”.
Consider this image. You may fall to a similar trap.
A ‘HANDY’ INVENTION
Smart, innovative and fancy was the call from tech-lovers, and French tech-designers are aiming to return it with an incredible gadget. This device turns your hand into a smart phone as shown in the picture.
It may be hard to imagine, but you would be able surf through Internet, read emails, and play video games through a screen projected upon your arm using this technology named ‘Cricret’. The Cicret website says the designers are still working on the prototype of the waterproof bracelet that promises to “make your skin your new tablet.”
The device is activated by a twist of the wrist and is equipped with a memory card, processor, micro-USB port etc. Basically, it is a smart-phone in the form of an ordinary bracelet which in seconds, would turn your hand into an interface.
The key part of this invention is no doubt the “pico-projector”. The pico-projector projects the interface onto your arm. When you put your finger on the interface, you stop one of eight proximity sensors. The sensor sends the information back to the processor in your Circet bracelet.
The first prototype would be readied by late December and co-founder, Guillaume Pommier, is looking forward to launch it soon in the markets.
THE GOD’S BARRIER?
Amidst the extensive research on God’s Particle, another such creation is yearned to be unraveled by the scientist.
An invisible shield, being imagined as similar to that in Star Trek, around the earth 11,600 km above the surface has been detected. It is being credited with a crucial job of blocking ‘killer electrons,’ as the scientists like to call them.
These electrons are known to travel with nearly the speed of light and are undoubtedly hazardous for our planet. These would have knocked out majority of power grids, drastically alter the climate and push up the rate of cancers around the globe, if it wasn’t for this shield. It is as significant as ozone, may be even more.
‘Somewhat like the shields created by force fields on Star Trek that were used to repel alien weapons, we are seeing an invisible shield blocking these electrons,’ said Professor Daniel Baker from the University of Colorado Boulder.
The shield is located with Van Allen radiation belts, which are two donut shaped rings made up of high energy electrons and protons. These belts are held by the magnetic field of earth and change their size in order to nullify the energy disturbance by the sun.
(Van Allen Belts, shrink or swell according to energy disturbance from the sun)
Location being known, scientists are utterly perplexed to about how the system actually works and the theory of its formation is unresolved as well. ‘It’s almost like these electrons are running into a glass wall in space,’ said Professor Baker. ‘It’s an extremely puzzling phenomenon.’ The best effort in this subject suggests it has to do with earth’s magnetic field lines controlling protons’ and electrons’ movement around the planet. Another theory holds the radio signals by human transmitters responsible for this phenomenon which may get successful in scattering the electrons, hence providing the barrier. However, Prof. Baker supports none of them as they have no scientific substance.
‘I think the key here is to keep observing the region in exquisite detail, which we can do because of the powerful instruments on the Van Allen probes,’ he said.
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