Ramblings of a College Student: Music, Science, and Technology | The best blog on this side of the Mississippi

Solar Cells of the Future!

By now, we all know what a solar cell looks like and does. Simply put, it’s a squarish tile that converts light energy to electrical energy. That’s great and all, but one problem with modern solar cells is that they’re kind of difficult to integrate into buildings and other appliances. A new type of solar cell may get rid of that problem.

Researchers have developed a new type of transparent solar cell. Transparent solar cells have actually been around since 2012 but those were the first model and were extremely inefficient as any new technology would be. Back in 2012, researchers at UCLA created these see-through solar panels that were also lightweight and flexible, almost like plastic. You might be wondering, if solar panels absorb sunlight then how is it possible to make them transparent unless they are extremely inefficient? Well, light from the sun contains more than just visible light; it also contains ultraviolet rays and infrared rays which are invisible to the human eye. Transparent solar cells work by absorbing these forms of the electromagnetic spectrum instead of the traditional visible light rays, making the solar cells transparent.

Since that breakthrough in transparent solar cells, research on the topic has continued. In February of 2013, an MIT start up company began to create a similar product. Their vision was to use the solar panel on electronic displays, such as on cell phones and tablets. However, the technology was still developing and the solar cells created by the start up only had a 2% efficiency rate while being 60% transparent. Their goal is to reach 10% efficiency and they plan to do that by utilizing more of the infrared spectrum. While a 2% efficiency rate is enough to power the lights in your house or a computer (if you replaced all your windows with the solar cells), it’s still no where near the level of efficiency needed to be marketable.

Ubiquitous Energy's transparent solar cell (an early iteration)

Using a transparent solar cell to (barely) power a digital clock

But now, “windows that double as solar panels could soon be a reality following a breakthrough in quantum dot research that could have significant implications on the way the sun’s energy is harvested in the future.” I’ll admit, I’m not qualified to explain what “quantum dot research” is since I’ve never heard of it before. According to the article, quantum dots are “nanocrystals made of semiconductor materials” which are already widely used in transistors, LEDs, and lasers. Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Milano-Bicocca have created a new type of quantum dot that can be embedded into transparent polymers (like glass or plastic) to absorb the sun’s energy. This type of transparent solar cell is different from the previously mentioned solar cells that absorbed energy from the non-visible spectrum of light. This type of solar cell uses something called “large-area luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs)” that take advantage of the new type of quantum dots. Instead of having the transparent solar cell absorb light energy directly, the LCSs “captures” light energy and transports it through the quantum dots to solar cells at the edge of the transparent material.

Solar panel

So essentially, this isn’t a new type of solar cell, it’s just a new way of redirecting and focusing the light energy onto the solar cells. “Sunlight captured is radiated through the LSC towards a small solar cell on the slab’s edge, which increases power efficiency in a way that could have broad applications in future solar cells.”

If this kind of technology becomes available to the public in the future, it can be used to make many interesting new concepts. Going back to the introduction, solar cells like these would be so much easier to integrate into buildings. For example, imagine replacing all of the windows in your house with transparent solar cells, or even all of the windows on a skyscraper with solar cells. As you can see, this would greatly decrease our reliance on non-renewable energy resources. Transparent solar cells can be utilized in other ways than on buildings, too. Imagine an electric car that has solar cells as windows or even a cell phone or table that doesn’t need to be charged since the screen is a solar cell. The possibilities with this new technology are endless.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/solar-panel-windows-made-possible-by-quantum-dot-breakthrough-1445213

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/ucla-develops-transparent-solar-cell_100007824/

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/149163-mit-startup-makes-transparent-solar-cells-that-will-allow-your-smartphone-to-power-itself

Navigation / Passion Blog / Uncategorized — 3 comments
20
Apr 14

Blood Factory

Every day, millions of people end up in hospitals from some accident or another. Depending on the severity of the injury, the patient may or may not need a blood transfusion. Hospitals use hundreds of gallons of blood a day in order to meet the demand for blood transfusions. More often than not, there ends up being a shortage of certain blood types; people must then donate more blood to meet this demand and the hospital must hope that the donors have the correct blood types. As you can see, this cycle is extremely inefficient. Luckily, this cycle may end in the future.

Professor Marc Turner and his team of researchers have created a way to manufacture red blood cells. “Production of blood on an industrial scale could become a reality once a trial is conducted in which artificial blood made from human stem cells is tested in patients for the first time.” This is the latest breakthrough in what some people are calling “bio-hacking”, a term that describes things like 3D printed bones and prosthetic limbs. Dr. Turner has developed a technique that creates red blood cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). iPS cells are cells that have been taken from adult humans and “rewound” into stem cells, which can then be turned into any kind of cell given the correct conditions. “Biochemical conditions similar to those in the human body are then recreated to induce the iPS cells to mature into red blood cells – of the rare universal blood type O-.” O- is the universal donor so now if this process of creating red blood cells works, hospitals won’t have to worry about getting enough of certain blood types. Because of the safety standards, hospitals also won’t have to worry about receiving infected blood that carry diseases.

The production of blood on an industrial scale could become a reality

“‘Although similar research has been conducted elsewhere, this is the first time anybody has manufactured blood to the appropriate quality and safety standards for transfusion into a human being,’ said Prof Turner.” If everything goes as planned, the trials will conclude in late 2016 or early 2017.

But this technique isn’t without problems. Currently, a huge problem faced by Dr. Turner is the cost of creating the blood. The current system of donating blood makes the blood free of cost. Turner’s method will “cost approximately £120 (approximately $202) to transfuse a single unit of blood” but more than 2 million units of blood are transfused in the UK alone each year. Most of the cost stems from the need to keep the process 100% sterile. The cost also means that Turner’s method isn’t replicable on an industrial scale. However, “if Prof Turner’s technique is scaled up efficiently, it could substantially reduce costs.” Although current results do look promising, “Dr. Ted Bianco, Director of Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust, said, ‘one should not underestimate the challenge of translating the science into routine procedures for the clinic.'” Although “blood factories” still remain the stuff of fiction, there is hope that some day in the future Turner’s method of creating blood will become viable.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10765132/Artificial-blood-will-be-manufactured-in-factories.html

Passion Blog / Uncategorized — 1 comment
11
Apr 14

Like air for water

I think that we can all agree on the fact that water is a valuable resource that’s necessary for life. However, I also think that we often forget how necessary it is for survival since water is such a readily available resource here in the United States. The reality is that nearly one billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water. That’s one out of every eight people on the planet. In places like Ethiopia or Kenya, finding drinkable water may take up to six hours! “The United Nations estimates that Sub-Saharan Africa alone loses 40 billion hours per year collecting water; that’s the same as a whole year’s worth of labor by France’s entire workforce!”

The problem of supplying clean drinking water to communities in third world countries has plagued inventors and philanthropists for years. How can we create a low maintenance, yet durable system that will provide clean water to rural communities? It’s impossible to integrate modern technology since remote villages don’t even have a repair man that could fix such complex technologies.

However, industrial engineers Arturo Vittori and Andreas Volger may have solved this problem by creating a product that extracts fresh water from air.

It’s called Warka Water. “At first glance, the 30-foot-tall, vase-shaped towers, named after a fig tree native to Ethiopia, have the look and feel of a showy art installation. But every detail, from carefully-placed curves to unique materials, has a functional purpose.” The outer frame is made from lightweight junca stalks which are woven in a pattern that provides stability. The inside is made from a mesh or polypropylene net that collects dew droplets as warm air cools. As the water vapor condenses, the droplets roll to the bottom of the net into a container where people on the ground can access the water from a faucet.

So just how much water can you harvest from the air? Field tests have shown that one Warka Water tower can supply more than 25 gallons of water throughout the day. Vittori says that “the most important factor in collecting condensation is the difference in temperature between nightfall and daybreak; the towers are proving successful even in the desert, where temperatures, in that time, can differ as much as 50 degrees Fahrenheit.”

In addition to providing a surprising amount of water, the entire structure is made of biodegradable materials. The entire contraption is also easy to clean and can be set up in less than a week without any mechanical tools. Vittori hopes that once the Warka Water has been accepted by one community, they will spread the news and teach other communities how to build their own Warka Water. It’s also very affordable too; each structure only costs $500 while other proposed ideas cost more than $1000.

“‘It’s not just illnesses that we’re trying to address. Many Ethiopian children from rural villages spend several hours every day to fetch water, time they could invest for more productive activities and education,’ he says. ‘If we can give people something that lets them be more independent, they can free themselves from this cycle.'”

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/this-tower-pulls-drinking-water-out-of-thin-air-180950399/?no-ist

http://www.architectureandvision.com/projects/chronological/84-projects/art/492-073-warkawater-2012?showall=&start=1

http://thewaterproject.org/poverty

Navigation / Passion Blog / Uncategorized — 3 comments
03
Apr 14

Chocolate!

Last week I said that I would be talking about a breakthrough in cancer treatment this week. However, I forgot to bookmark the website and I can’t seem to find it again. In order to make up for this folly, I’ll be writing about some good news I recently learned: chocolate is healthy for you*! (*chocolates with a high cocoa percentage)

For the longest time, people have believed that chocolates make you gain weight. And they may be right; the chocolate candies we eat are full of fats and sugars which are bad for your body in excessive amounts. However, chocolate in its purest form, cocoa, has many health benefits. Scientists have already known that dark chocolates, which contain higher cocoa percentages than milk chocolates, can “improve thinking, decrease appetite and lower blood pressure.” In the latest study involving cocoa, scientists have discovered that an antioxidant in cocoa prevented mice from gaining weight and it also lowered blood sugar levels as well! It seems counter-intuitive, right?

cocoa-powder

It turns out that cocoa is one of the most flavanol rich foods available. Flavanols are a type of antioxidant that help fight weight gain as well as type 2 diabetes! However, not all flavanols are created equal. Some provide more benefit than others. The research team involved in the study attempted to find out which flavanols do what. They did this by feeding mice different types of diets supplemented by different types of flavanols. Through their research they discovered that a set of compounds known as oligomeric procyanidins (PCs) consistantly kept the mice’s weight down, even with a high fat diet. Other foods that include oligomeric procyanidins are red wines, cranberries, blueberries, tea (green and black), onions, grape seed, and grape skin to name a few. But cocoa contains the most PCs by far.

Oligomeric procyanidins found in cocoa are also known to improve glucose tolerance which aids in the prevention of type 2 diabetes. “‘Oligomeric PCs appear to possess the greatest anti-obesity and anti-diabetic bioactivities of the flavanols in cocoa, particularly at the low doses employed for the present study,’ the researchers say.”

darkchocolate

A different set of researchers at the Louisiana State University have found “dark chocolate can reduce blood pressure and improve heart health.” Cocoa becomes beneficial through the way our digestive system ferments the fiber in cocoa. “Researcher Maria Moore said: ‘We found that there are two kinds of microbes in the gut: the ‘good’ ones and the ‘bad’ ones. ’The good microbes, such as Bifidobacterium and lactic acid bacteria, feast on chocolate. ’When you eat dark chocolate, they grow and ferment it, producing compounds that are anti-inflammatory.’ This naturally forming anti-inflammatory enters the bloodstream and helps protest the heart and arteries from damage.”

This is great news for me since I love chocolate. I’m not a huge fan of dark chocolate but dark chocolate is better than no chocolate. Well, that concludes this week’s passion blog; hopefully you know a bit more about cocoa and why it’s beneficial. Now go and eat some (dark) chocolate!

http://dathealth.com/scientists-say-antioxidant-cocoa-stops-weight-gain-lowers-blood-sugar/

http://www.med.nyu.edu/content?ChunkIID=21765

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-5-best-dark-chocolate-bars-in-the-world/

Navigation / RCL Blog — 3 comments
03
Apr 14

BATs

In my previous RCL posts, I’ve often talked about new technological advances in solar energy. One form of alternative energy that has not gotten too much publicity on my blog is wind energy. That’s why this week I will discuss a new invention involving wind energy.

Meet the BAT.

The BAT

Short for Buoyant Airborne Turbine, the BAT is a new piece of technology developed by Altaeros Energies. While it may look like a blimp, the BAT can do so much more than just float around in the sky. It can generate electricity from a turbine located within the center of the structure. Unlike regular wind turbines, the BAT utilizes high altitude winds which are stronger and much more consistent than typical winds. This translates into more power generation. In fact, the BAT produces twice as much energy as a regular wind turbine. Ideally, the BAT will be placed 1,000-2,000 feet in the air. “Professor Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institute for Science at Stanford University published research on the sector and concluded,’There is enough energy in high altitude winds to power civilization 100 times over.'”

As you may have concluded from the picture, the BAT is extremely lightweight and portable. The outer shell is made from “high performance industrial fabric” it is lightweight as well as durable. Helium fills the inside of the shell which helps to lift the turbine into the air. This makes it ideal for powering “remote communities, off-grid industries, and disaster relief.”

A 3-D model of how the BAT will be transported

The next logical question is then: how does it send the electricity to the ground? The answer is strong conductive tethers. Tethers will connect the turbine to winches on a portable ground station, which the BAT will send the generated electricity to. Additionally, tethers will stabilize the turbine in the air. The winches on the ground station will allow an operator to control tether length so that the BAT can be raised or lowered depending on where the most favorable winds are.

However, there is still an entirely different aspect of BAT that we didn’t discuss yet. The BAT will also be able “to expand internet and phone services, weather monitoring, and much more.” In a way, this is very similar to the Outernet post I made a few weeks back except the BAT won’t be in outer space and will be able to do more than just expand internet connectivity. I really like how the designers were able to come up with such a unique addition to the BAT.

The BAT is currently being tested in remote Alaskan villages where electrical energy comes at a high price.

Wind turbine GIF

Personally, I think the BAT will soon be replacing wind turbines. In addition to being lighter, more portable, and able to generate more electricity, the BAT has less of an impact on both humans and wildlife. Altaeros Energies seems like it will be the next big company in terms of alternative energy. I’m definitely excited to see what they come up with in the future.

http://www.businessinsider.com/altaeros-energies-wind-turbine-is-also-a-wifi-hotspot-2014-4

http://www.altaerosenergies.com/index.html

Navigation / Passion Blog / Uncategorized — 3 comments
27
Mar 14

27 Degrees from Death

I found two very interesting articles that I could post about today, but since I talked about cancer last week, I’ll be saving that article for next week. This week’s blog post (as will next week’s) deals with a major breakthrough in modern medicine. One difficultly all hospitals face is a lack of time and doctors during a disaster. For example, during the Boston bombing last year, hundreds of injured people were rushed to nearby hospitals. During this time, many hospitals had a shortage of doctors and supplies; time was also a concern. This happens nearly every time there is an unforeseen disaster like a hurricane or act of terrorism.

This problem may soon be a thing of the past as new technology allows doctors to place seriously injured victims in suspended animation. Patients that have received gun shot wounds or stab wounds can now be placed somewhere in the murky void between life and death allowing doctors to either tackle more pressing matters or wait to receive the correct supplies for the operation. Doctors at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh are now using this technique to buy them time when there are too many patients to handle or when the patient has lost too much blood. “‘We are suspending life, but we don’t like to call it suspended animation because it sounds like science fiction,’ says Samuel Tisherman, a surgeon at the hospital, who is leading the trial. ‘So we call it emergency preservation and resuscitation.'”

The new technique involves removing all of the patient’s blood and quickly replacing it with a cold saline solution. The saline solution quickly cools the body and stops almost all cellular activity, essentially freezing the patient in time. “‘If a patient comes to us two hours after dying you can’t bring them back to life. But if they’re dying and you suspend them, you have a chance to bring them back after their structural problems have been fixed,’ says surgeon Peter Rhee at the University of Arizona in Tucson, who helped develop the technique.”

Floating in that murky void between life and death

Let’s look at this from a different perspective. Imagine that you’ve suffered a gun shot wound to the thigh and are profusely bleeding. “This is it,” you think to yourself, watching the sidewalk turn red, “I’m going to die.” The ambulance picks you up and rushes you to the hospital, but you’re certain that it’s too late. Your vision blurs and you pass out but not before hearing “he has lost too much blood, we have to suspend him.” You’re now in the ER as surgeons open your chest and pump cold saline solution through your heart and brain, the areas most vulnerable to low oxygen. You don’t realize any of this, though, since you’ve already passed out and the nurses have drugged you up. Within fifteen minutes your body temperature drops to 10 °C. The normal human body temperature is 37 °C. You are literally twenty seven degrees from death. At this point, there is no blood in your body, you’re not breathing, and your brain stopped. Congratulations, you are now clinically dead. The doctors now have two extra hours to work on the gun wound. When the surgery is done, the saline solution is replaced with blood. If your heart doesn’t restart itself, as it usually does, then the doctors manually resuscitate you. The blood slowly warms your body, preventing any injuries from the sudden exposure to heat and oxygen. The nurses wheel you to the patient room where you slowly awaken, amazed that you didn’t die. Or did you?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129623.000-gunshot-victims-to-be-suspended-between-life-and-death.html?page=2

http://www.tomorrowstarted.com/2011/05/thisll-give-denis-a-run-for-his-money/.html/floating-man

Navigation / RCL Blog / Uncategorized — 2 comments
21
Mar 14

Google

Remember my last RCL post when I said I was surprised when I found out that Google was one of the companies that helped to pay for the solar power plant? Well apparently, Google has been making huge investments in clean energy sources. So why is Google investing in alternative energy sources all of a sudden? Well, apparently it takes a lot of energy to run the infrastructure at Google. Thus, they are looking into alternative energy sources to lower their energy consumption costs. They hope to power all their data centers and banks of servers across the world with renewable energy sometime in the near future. Other companies, like Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft also use a ton of energy on a daily basis so they are also looking into alternative energy sources. Google, however, is by far the biggest spender. “Google has made 15 wind and solar investments totaling more than one billion dollars.”

“While Google isn’t alone among Silicon Valley’s top tech companies to embrace alternative energy usage, no other company is looking at solar and wind as integrated in fueling its internal operations and also making sizable external investments.”

Their investments in total are said to be able to generate over two gigawatts of energy. Because of this, Google is currently at the head of the pack of companies that are embracing alternative energy sources. Despite Google’s good intentions there are still critics wondering why Google is putting so much energy and resources into alternative energy. Maybe Google has a hidden agenda, but let’s hope they don’t. “One analyst says it may be a smart way of looking at the future. ‘Overall, I think Google is clearly forward-thinking, certainly trying to get the message out that they are environmentally sensitive'”

Currently, about thirty four percent of Google’s operations are being powered by renewable energy. This is a huge amount compared to most other companies. The end goal is, of course, to be one hundred percent powered by renewable energy. This may seem like a lofty goal since currently no company is even near being fifty percent powered by renewable energy. However, with a company as large as Google and one with as much influence and money as Google, I think they will be able to meet their goals.

I think that it’s great how huge companies like Google are investing in alternative energy sources. I think that it’s really important for a company with as much influence as Google to set the standard for other companies when it comes to renewable energy. Hopefully this will start a precedent for other big companies to invest in alternative energy sources as well. If other companies join Google in their energy saving investments then maybe alternative energy sources for the entire world will come around much quicker than we would expect. Maybe by 2020 we will be able to live in a truly green planet.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101417698

Navigation / Passion Blog — 5 comments
21
Mar 14

The Future of Cancer

The cure to cancer may be coming soon, but not in the form that you would expect. IBM has announced that they will be “teaching” Watson how to choose treatments for cancer patients. For those that don’t know, Watson is the system developed by IBM that participated in Jeopardy and beat the top two human competitors (If you haven’t seen Watson playing Jeopardy, I highly recommend watching it). Watson can do more than play Jeopardy, though; he is the only computer system in the world that can integrate and analyze knowledge to come up with a solution. Healthcare professionals are now hoping that Watson can analyze a patient’s cancer well enough to suggest the best treatment.

Watson wins in Jeopardy

So how does a computer go about finding a specific treatment for cancer anyways? Well, the machine has been given lists of biochemical pathway information as well as the entire National Institute of Health’s PubMed database, “which contains abstracts of nearly every paper published in peer-reviewed biomedical journals,” to sift through. Ideally, Watson would then analyze a specific patient’s cancer based on previously learned information by using black magic of some sort (AKA a convoluted computer program) and suggest the best treatment specific to that patient’s cancer.

The problem most doctors deal with while treating cancer is the signaling redundancies within a cell. If the doctor uses one drug to block a protein, then other signalling networks within the cell will make up for its absence. Doctors use multiple treatments to fight cancer but its hard to ultimately see which signalling pathways within the cell are being blocked and which ones aren’t due to the number of treatments being used. The hope is that Watson will be able to create the correct combination of drugs to “target multiple arms of the network” in order to block the correct pathways. Thus, only cancer cells are targeted so the patient will suffer little to no side effects.

A cell signalling pathway

Doctors, in addition to having trouble analyzing the signally pathways, are also not suited to handle the sheer volume of information when dealing with the genome of a cancer. In order to fully analyze the genome of a cancer cell, a team of highly skilled geneticists, genomics experts, and clinicians are needed in addition to a lot of time. This just isn’t viable for patients with cancers like glioblastoma where “the median survival time after diagnosis is only 14 months.” Thus, this flood of information needed to decode the genome will be left to Watson who can hopefully find the correct treatment within a few days’ time.

The only problem here, though, is that I don’t believe Watson actually understands the information. Philosopher John Searle argued that Watson cannot actually think despite the fact that Watson can “learn” by listening to suggestions and integrate them with his previously learned material. If this is the case and Watson cannot actually “think”, then this project may end badly. Watson may end up suggesting incorrect treatments since he cannot interact with the patients the same way doctors can.

As of right now, the project is only starting. Twenty to twenty-five patients with glioblastoma will be selected to be the first patients to have a treatment suggested by Watson. However, at this stage in the process Watson can only suggest treatments. The final decision is still left to the doctor. If everything goes as planned, systems like Watson will soon be in all hospitals diagnosing patients with cancer. Why stop there? Maybe someday Watson will be able to diagnose and suggest treatments for any disease. Maybe we’ll see other implementations for Watson in the future as well; I’m sure we can find a use for him in physics or chemistry.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/03/ibm-to-set-watson-loose-on-cancer-genome-data/

http://www.geekwire.com/2013/ibm-takes-watson-cloud/

Passion Blog / RCL Blog — 2 comments
06
Mar 14

The Next Generation

Earlier this year, I made a blog post on the new (well it’s not too new anymore) Apple iPhone 5s. Now, Samsung is rolling out their next generation phone, the Galaxy S5. I don’t know about you, but this made me very excited. I love seeing what innovations in technology come about the Apple vs Samsung rivalry.

Galaxy S5

There are several new features that make me very excited for the Galaxy S5. First is the new dimpled, soft-touch plastic back casing. I know that this may seem trivial, but I couldn’t stand the previous Samsung Galaxy phones that had the solid plastic casing; the plastic casing made the phone feel like it was low quality.

The next new feature is the camera. As you would expect the camera quality has been upgraded. Specifically, the rear facing camera increased from thirteen megapixels to sixteen megapixels. What really excites me about the camera, though, is the new sensor that allows for extremely fast auto focus and high dynamic range among other things. The front facing camera didn’t change.

The previous generation S4 is on the left and the S5 is on the right

The next feature, I believe, is one that all phones should have. Are you tired of accidentally breaking your phone by dropping it into a puddle of water or having dust build up in all its little crevices? Well now you don’t have to worry about accidentally spilling water on your phone or getting sand in its charging port. The Galaxy S5 has an IP67 certification (I’m not exactly sure what that certifies, but the S5 has an IP67 certification), making it “resistant to sweat, rain, liquids, sand and dust, so your phone is protected for any activity and situation.”

In addition to all of the previously mentioned features, the new S5 upgraded most of its technical specifications. The processor has been upgraded from 1.9 GHz to 2.5 GHz; it’s crazy how fast technology advances since that’s almost as fast as my computer. The battery of the S5 is also worth mentioning. According to Samsung, they have developed a “ultra power saving mode” which allows over 24 hours of use with only 10% battery remaining.

Galaxy S5

Now that we’ve mentioned all the features I’m excited about, we can talk about the features I’m not so enthusiastic about. One of the new features that didn’t surprise me was the finger print sensor. Apple started a trend with the 5s and now Samsung is just copying them. I was hoping for something more innovative. The Galaxy S5 does have a heart rate monitor, though, but I’m not sure how useful that will be. The last thing I’m not too happy with on the S5 is the screen size. The screen size grew from a 5″ display to a 5.1″ display. Personally, I don’t like the giant phone screen trend that’s happening. After a certain point, the phone gets too big and becomes a hassle to carry around in your pants pocket. Before we know it, we’ll be carrying around tablets as phones. Are you getting a new phone soon? What’s your opinion on the Galaxy S5?

P.S. Don’t forget to comment on my previous week’s blog. I put them up on Saturday since the blog website wasn’t working on Friday.

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/smartphones/1306306/samsung-galaxy-s5-vs-galaxy-s4-specs-comparison

http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s5-hands-and-initial-review

http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxys5/features.html

Passion Blog — 3 comments
02
Mar 14

Storm the B∆STILLE

If you have been listening to music on the radio recently, you’ve probably hear the song Pompeii by Bastille. If you haven’t, then you should probably click on the link and listen to it right now. I don’t usually listen to or enjoy listening to pop music often, but there was something about Pompeii that really grabbed my attention; it might have been the catchy chorus, the singer’s unique accent, the thumping drums, or a combination of all three. Either way, the song got me hooked.

BΔSTILLE started as a solo project by Dan Smith in 2010, but he later decided to form a band. They released their first official studio album, titled “Bad Blood”, on September 3, 2013. Soon after, they released a double album, titled “All This Bad Blood”, with Bad Blood on the first disk and new recordings on the second disk.

Bastille’s double album “All This Bad Blood”

Bastille has been described as a fusion between alternative, pop, and indie. I guess what really got me hooked was how different they sounded from all the other pop songs. Critics describe their songs as “the exploration of any and all sounds; the delicate use of strings to heighten emotion, the touching piano-based ‘Oblivion‘. There are moments, instruments, timings, buried within his experimentation that take you entirely by surprise.” Personally, I really enjoy how they incorporate instruments like the piano, violin, and cello (which are absent in basically all other current pop songs) into many of their songs. They have been compared to bands like Coldplay in how they feature “booming male choirs, string effects, echoey pianos, [and] allusions to Greek mythology.”

Another reason why I enjoy listening to Bastille is how many of their songs tell a story or a lesson. I’ve stated this sentiment before in a previous blog post about Of Monsters and Men, and my opinion still stands. You can experience the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in Pompeii or learn to control your pride in Icarus.

Lead singer, Dan Smith

Although many of their individual songs are great, their album doesn’t seem to support and overarching theme. Additionally songs like Oblivion are trite and boring; it sounds like any other melancholy piano ballad. Many critics chastised them for these faults. But despite these faults, I still think the majority of their songs are great. One of my personal favorites is the song “Of the Night” which is a mash-up of two 90s dance songs (The Rhythm of the Night by Italian Eurodance act Corona and Rhythm is a Dancer by German Eurodance act Snap! if you were wondering). I think they did a great job reinventing two nineties songs into a modern alternative/indie/pop song.

I believe Bastille still has a huge amount of untapped potential. They are still a relatively new band with only one album out, but they already have a few great songs. I’m definitely looking forward to their sophomore album. Hopefully it will be as good as or better than their first.

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2014/02/24/pop-psychology-bastille-shows-off-their-history-chops-with-pompeii/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/23/bastille-bad-blood-album-charts_n_4843374.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/7808accb-6395-4b25-858c-678bbb73896b

Ramblings of a College Student: Music, Science, and Technology The best blog on this side of the Mississippi