Infographic : Satellites Orbiting Earth

This infographic depicts the number of  man-made satellites orbiting Earth as of this writing. The satellites are segregated country wise and are further divided into three groups namely -

1. Orbiting functional satellites
2. Orbiting dysfunctional satellites, and
3. Space debris greater than 10cm size.

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Music – Its interaction with our brain and emotions

Is our response to music hardwired or culturally determined ? Is the reaction to rhythm and melody universal or influenced by environment? Join host John Schaefer, Jamshed Barucha, scientist Daniel Levitin, Professor Lawrence Parsons and musical artist Bobby McFerrin for live performances and cross cultural demonstrations to illustrate music’s note-worthy interaction with the brain and our emotions.

Watch the musical rendition at the world science festival.

Stars – life to death in 6 minutes video

Stars – when I look at them, they reminds me of a nursery rhyme which I learned when I was young.  It goes something like this (If my memory is correct) …..

Twinkle twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!

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Two Informative Videos on the Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator complex, intended to collide opposing beams of protons with very high kinetic energy. Its main purpose is to explore the validity and limitations of the Standard Model, the current theoretical picture for particle physics. It is theorized that the collider will confirm the existence of the Higgs boson, the observation of which could confirm the predictions and missing links in the Standard Model, and could explain how other elementary particles acquire properties such as mass.

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Video of Water Droplets in Zero Gravity

This is a series of experiments conducted on the International Space Station which shows how water droplets behave in a weightless environment when their state is disturbed. Watch the following video to learn what happens when the water bubble comes in contact with air and an antacid tablet respectively.

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Video of How Superconducting Levitation Works

A super conductor is an electrical conductor that allows current to flow without any resistance in low temperatures.  This allows development of technologies such as high temperature magnetic levitation vehicles which accelerate to high speeds without any Resistance. The following video explains the three defining characteristics of magnetic levitation namely :

1. The Meissner Effect
2. Magnetic Levitation & Suspension, and
3. Flux Trapping Effect.

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