I am writing about Derek Paravicini, a blind and severely autistic master pianist who was born three and a half months prematurely. He has the amazing ability to simply listen to any piano melody and then recreate it perfectly on the keyboard. His method comes from his enhanced sense of hearing due to his blindness, and his brain works like a highly complex musical computer. This allows him to play any melody in any key on the scale of the piano. This is truly amazing because any other pianist will have a heart attack on the idea of playing a complicated piano melody in a completely different key than it was meant to be played. Because Derek’s brain is wired in such a different way, he is able to do these things and I believe this kind of ability is a true gift.

This brings about the question of how normal people like you and me interpret music and play instruments. Most of us don’t have super computers in our heads like Derek so we must rely purely on our auditory senses to attempt to recreate melodies we previously heard if we were to do so. Also, because Derek is blind, his other senses are additionally improved including his auditory sense. This, including his uniquely wired brain, contributes to Derek’s mastery of the piano.

In the video, Derek’s long time friend and piano instructor Adam Ockelford gave a speech on Derek’s upbringing and early life, as well as how his brain worked when he processed music as I described above. Derek and Adam have spent nearly ten thousand hours together conducting musical lessons and in this time Derek learned the whole piano scale by heart. When Adam played a complicated set of keys or a chord on the piano, Derek would subsequently repeat the exact keys that Adam had played perfectly in the same spot. They call people like Derek savants and this means  a person who is learned or wise. This is the denotation. The idea that is invoked in us when we hear the word savant, or the connotation of the word, is that the said person is somehow mentally disabled and is in another aspect a genius of some sort. So it is more commonly believed that savants are more often than not wired different mentally thus leading us to think of autistic or disabled people. Before you finish reading my post you should watch this video for yourself as you will surely be amazed by the skill and dedication of Derek Paravicini, a truly masterful pianist. The video should motivate anyone to wants to play the piano but doesn’t know how complex and amazing it can sound. The following link will take you to the TED Talks webpage with the specific video of Derek and Adam.

http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_paravicini_and_adam_ockelford_in_the_key_of_genius.html

I came upon a very interesting video while perusing youtube and wanted to write this post about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCmJmTYS7Zw

The video details stars and their sizes, also comparing them to earth. It is remarkable to think about how small we are in size compared to the universe. To highlight a key point of the video I found a photo depicting the sizes of several stars in comparison with the earth and sun.

I believe this image is a very powerful one because it demonstrates how small earth, and also us people, actually are compared to the universe and the other planets in it. For me personally, the picture put the universe and the planets into perspective like never before because visual rhetoric like this is very effective at showing the massive size of the planets described. I always knew that the the planets and the universe are enormous because that was the information I was told as child growing up, however I never before tried to visually imagine the sizes of the planets. This is what makes this picture very fresh and incredible despite the fact that we already know the background behind it.  It also helps me think positively about life in general. The reason being it shows how insignificant all of our lives are compared to the grand schemes of the universe. It helps me understand that we really shouldn’t be taking stress in life because there is so much going on besides our problems. We should just sit back and enjoy the ride while we’re here for the short amount of time that we are.

Did you know that it would take 11,666,192,832,000,000 earths to fill the star called VY Canis Majoris? Thats almost 12 quadrillion earths!! The enormity of space and the certainty of such humongous stars actually existing make this image a truly remarkable piece of visual candy.

In the 1960’s, a new music format was created called DSD, or Direct Stream Digital. Other formats included the traditional mp3 or wav sound files which were of lower quality. This new DSD sound file though, came in a very high definition quality and was used in something called Super Audio CD’s for a time being. DSD never really took off though, largely due to the widespread popularity that the mp3 sound format had begun to invoke. Mp3’s had a small file size, allowing for fast file downloads through even the slowest internet connections; and the internet was pretty slow until recent high speed internet technology. This made the Mp3 sound file the mainstay for itunes, who exclusively sells Mp3 music files to this day.

Now, almost 50 years later, long time recording engineer Cookie Marenco is bringing the long lost audio format back to life. She has her very own recording studio and it’s souped up with the best equipment to record the high quality DSD files that she records with various artists.

She then sells these tracks for $5 each or $50 for an entire album. The price tag might seem high for this special kind of music, but it has undeniably attracted much attention among people all over the world. Initially Marenco had a customer base of a few hundred people, but the popularity of her high quality music has driven her sales into the thousands. The reason her high quality music received so much attention was due to a few things. For convenience sake, she created a simple service in which people can buy DSD’s online. This eliminated the need to walk or drive to a record store to purchase a Super Audio CD, which DSD was formerly only available for. According to a study done by the Consumer Electronics Association in 2011, 90% of people stated that music quality is the most important part of their music listening experience. Therefore, in a world seemingly filled with audiophiles, it is no surprise that Marenco’s idea is such a success. Stemming from all this high definition music hype, Sony Industries announced early this year that a new line of high end audio equipment is to be released in the near future, that promises to deliver a better audio experience.

Would you be willing to buy high quality DSD music tracks in the future?

All info was taken from http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/09/11/219727031/what-does-a-song-that-costs-5-sound-like

On my trip to India this summer I visited my relatives and got a chance to explore the city by myself for the first time. While I was in the city, I encountered a Lasik eye surgery clinic and asked the doctor who also ran the store about the cost for a single Lasik procedure. His answer was astounding. 25,000 Rupees or $600 is the price of a basic Lasik procedure in India. I can’t help but wonder if Lasik will be the future of eye care soon if the price is so low and affordable. A one time procedure eliminates the need to order glasses or contacts which cost hundreds of dollars themselves.

I personally plan on getting a lasik procedure done soon in the future because my dream as a kid has been to join the air force. I’m not able to join the air force unless I have 20/20 vision which i haven’t had since fourth grade. A person’s contacts or glasses cannot withstand the amount of gravitational pressure that is put on them when turning the airplane at high speeds. My friend is a currently a pilot with his own license and is planning on becoming a commercial pilot for an airline company. The thing is he wears glasses. It is not required to have perfect vision to become a commercial pilot. This can be due to many factors like the option of using auto pilot while cruising at a stable altitude, and also because the airplane doesn’t nearly go as fast as a fighter so the physical demand isn’t there. The requirements to become an air force pilot are all around rigorous and more strict then the requirements to become a commercial pilot. This also applies to astronauts, who need to be extremely physically fit and mentally strong to operate spacecraft controls and remain calm in the face of duress.

So we all want the zombie apocalypse to happen so we can shoot the brains out of zombies right? Great. Now we have to figure out how to go about doing that.

First, we have to see how possible it is to introduce a virus like the zombie virus into our world. What’s kind of scary is that there is something similar to a typical zombie virus like found in popular zombie movies like “I am Legend” or  t.v. shows like “The Walking Dead”. It’s rabies. According to national geographic, “Like the mythical zombie virus, rabies is transferred through biting. Once inside your body, the virus travels directly to your brain and “makes you go nuts and go and bite more people.” This is similar, but not large scale and deadly enough to plague the entire planet.

The biggest possibility to create a zombie virus would be if two viruses joined together to form an unstoppable hybrid. Until that happens, we’ll all have to keep day dreaming about zombie land instead of living it.

Sources:

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/25/world-war-z-could-a-zombie-virus-happen/

Humans emit radiation that is only visible in the infrared spectrum of light. This can be called thermal radiation and our bodies emit it because of our relative temperature. Warmer objects emit more thermal radiation than cooler objects. For example, our sun, the biggest source of thermal radiation in our solar system has a much higher temperature than the human body. This is why we emit a lower radiation and therefore a light only visible in the infrared spectrum. Unfortunately we can’t see it in our day to day lives, unless you have infrared goggles.

There are many applications of infrared technology as well. For example, the United States army uses the technology for night vision goggles. These goggles help solders see enemies’ heat signatures in the night if they’re hidden. It’s also used in remote controls and other wireless devices.  In popular movies like The Predator, the antagonist of the movie can only see objects in infrared vision. When facing off against Arnold Schwarzenegger in the pivotal ending scene, Arnold attempts to hide his heat signature from the predator’s infrared vision by applying cold mud on his entire body and thus appearing invisible to the infrared vision. Humans like us can only see in the full color spectrum.

Sources:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/remote-control2.htm

http://www.hko.gov.hk/education/edu02rga/radiation/radiation_02-e.htm

I’ve always wondered why the Earth’s sky is blue and when looking up from the surface of the moon, why there is no sky. Simply put, the moon doesn’t have an atmosphere, so there is no sky to see. But what does this mean and how does it apply to the Earth’s sky and its perceived blueness?

The Earth has light from the sun shining on it whenever there is a blue sky. This causes the light, which when coming from the sun is the full spectrum of light, to hit the atmosphere before reaching us. When this happens, the blue light, which has a higher energy than the rest of the colors of the spectrum, dissipates throughout the sky and turns it blue. The atmosphere allows the rest of the colors to come through it and hit the surface of the earth. This is why when we look at a sunset from Earth, it appears red because its on the horizon which is the farthest away the sun can be during the day. This makes more red light pass through the atmosphere and causes less blue light to reach our eyes.

Sources:

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/BlueSky/blue_sky.html

There’s a lot of talk these days about electronic cigarette devices that have started appearing in gas stations and local corner stores recently. Much of the talk about electronic cigarettes has to do with their safety since it is such a new product. These small devices contain a heating element called an atomizer that heats a substance commonly referred to as “e-liquid” inside. The e liquid contains a combination of ingredients including flavorings (such as vanilla ice cream or watermelon), propylene glycol (a solvent), vegetable glycerin, and nicotine. The nicotine itself is not in the form of tobacco but simply the chemical itself. According to HowStuffWorks.com, “Liquid nicotine is extracted from tobacco, but unlike tobacco leaves, liquid nicotine can be lethal. It can cause harm when it’s inhaled, but it can also be harmful when ingested or absorbed through your skin.” From the previous information it is evident that there are pretty big risks if the nicotine in the e cigarette leaks or is somehow ingested beyond its intended use. The e-cigarette craze passed me by before I got into it. I recently bought an APV or Advanced Personal Vaporizer. These devices are essentially vaping devices that tailor to the users every tiny detail. The picture above shows an APV that I own and use. The customization options, style, and vapor production are much more emphasized in the APV’s. In these devices however, e liquid must be manually put into the device before being able to vape it. Along with rechargeable batteries, it makes the devices reusable and even cheaper than a $1000/year cigarette habit. Liquids come in 6, 12, 24, and 32 ml nicotine content options in 10 or 20 ml bottles costing around 5 dollars each. The handling of these liquids must be done under precaution and knowledge that the liquids might cause damage if absorbed through the skin, but that is why I personally use only the smallest nicotine content per volume or 0 mg nicotine e liquids. This allows for flavorful clouds of fun without the scare that nicotine brings to the e cigarettes or in my case, APV’s.

Sources:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/smoking-cessation/10-facts-about-e-cigarettes.htm#page=3

http://platinumepuffs.com/refill-flavors/creamsicle-en.html

Hi everyone,

My name is Yash Tripathi and i’m currently a sophomore here at Penn State. I’m majoring in psychology at the moment but who knows when that will change, especially with my dad breathing down my back about it. I wanted to take this course because there aren’t many like it at least according to the course descriptions I read. This course is a unique opportunity in which we can learn many cool facts and arguments in science, and not go into too much mind bending detail as a higher level course would. It’s a perfect course for a person like me, who isn’t overly concerned with science in his future, but wants to make the best effort to know some things about it. I’ve made a blog in the past so I have some experience with posting. Here’s a link to my blog from last year: https://sites.psu.edu/thelatenightblog/wp-admin/

Thanks for reading guys