Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Want something? Then talk to my right ear


Humans prefer to be addressed in their right ear rather than their left. Current research suggests that we are more likely to perform a task when we receive the request in our right ear. Luca Tommasi and Daniele Marzoli from the University Gabriele d’Annunzio in Italy observed ear preference during social interactions in noisy night clubs. All the three studies showed a right ear/left hemisphere advantage for verbal communication and distinctive specialization of the two halves of the brain for approach and avoidance behavior.



Thursday, March 26, 2009

Flutes


Atleast 35,000 years ago, in depths of the last ice age, the sound of music filled a cave in what is now south western Germany, the same place and time early Homo sapiens were also carving the oldest known examples of figurative art in the world. Music and sculpture are the expressions of artistic creativity, it seems were emerging in tandem among some of the first modern humans when they began spreading through Europe or seen thereafter. Archaeologists reported the discovery last fall of a bone flute and two fragments of ivory flutes that they said represented the earliest known flowering of music-making in Stone Age culture. They said the bone flute with five finger holes, found at Hohle Fels cave in the hills west of Ulm, was by far the most complete of the musical instruments so far recovered from the caves in a region where pieces of other flutes have been turning up in recent years.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Get airborne in sixty seconds


The Developers of Terrafugia Transition, dubbed the flying car, have claimed that the vehicle, which can drive, fly, and automatically transform between the two in 60 seconds, could be on the road and in the skies as early as 2011. The two-seater vehicle completed its first flight last arch and recently completed 27 additional flights, wrapping up the first of a four stage process to bring the Transition into production. It’s been very successful. We’ve got a very good handling vehicle and our test pilot said that the flights were just remarkably unremarkable and it just flies like a really nice, little airplane, Carl Dietrich, cofounder and CEO of Terrafugia, said.

According to its developers, the vehicle targets pilots who currently face a number of obstacles that prevents them from flying on a more regular basis. Weather sensitivity is a huge one. This vehicle allows a pilot to at any time, if the weather changes, to divert to the nearest airport, fold up their wings and drive safely under the weather, Dietrich said. However, dietrich said a second barrier is the expense of owing an aircraft. With the wings folded up, the vehicle actually fits inside a single car gargage. If you want to drive on the road, just touch the road. The vehicle will fold up its wings in 30 seconds and transform itself into a car. In the car, the Transition can cruise up to 725 kilometers at more than 185 km per hour.