The science of why stepping on Legos makes you want to die “I hope you step on a Lego” is such an apt curse that it has become a meme. Pages upon pages of YouTube videos detail the experience’s excruciating agony. The comedian Steve Ranazzissi perhaps described the moment the best: “Last week I stepped on a Lego with my bare foot and I almost murdered my whole family.” But why are the Lego blocks your 4-year-old leaves strewn around such nuggets of hell under the soles of your feet? And how does she manage to trip through them herself and continue on her merry way unscathed? Well, science has the answer. There are a few factors that come together to make this such a painful experience, wrote Karl Smallwood of Today I Found Out (via Yahoo). And those plastic blocks are designed to be pretty astonishingly hard, with sharp corners to boot. The sharp corners also exacerbate the pain, New York University physics professor Tycho Sleator tells Quartz via email.
Hopscotch - Learn to Code Through Creative Play - Gr2-8 Thymio II - Robots en classe Vue d’ensemble du robot Le Thymio II est un robot éducatif et à prix abordable. Il se base sur trois piliers: 1) une grande quantité de capteurs et d’actuateurs, 2) une interactivité très poussée, surtout en ce qui concerne la compréhension du fonctionnement des capteurs, 3) une programmation facile grâce à l’environnement d’Aseba. Un des principaux atouts pédagogiques du robot Thymio II tient à l’usage qu’il fait de la lumière pour rendre visible son fonctionnement. Cet artifice permet de faire comprendre aux élèves que pour fonctionner, et à l’instar de ce qu’ils font eux-mêmes avec leurs sens, un robot doit être en mesure d’appréhender le milieu dans lequel il évolue. Capteurs et actuateurs Thymio utilise aussi la lumière en affichant extérieurement les six différents types de comportement qu’il peut adopter par le biais de six couleurs: Vert: Thymio l’amical suit un objet situé devant lui Jaune: Thymio l’explorateur explore le monde tout en évitant les obstacles Enseigner avec Thymio II
Circuit Scribe | Draw Your Own Circuits With Our Conductive Ink Pens Microfluidics from LEGO bricks MIT engineers have just introduced an element of fun into microfluidics. The field of microfluidics involves minute devices that precisely manipulate fluids at submillimeter scales. Such devices typically take the form of flat, two-dimensional chips, etched with tiny channels and ports that are arranged to perform various operations, such as mixing, sorting, pumping, and storing fluids as they flow. Now the MIT team, looking beyond such lab-on-a-chip designs, has found an alternative microfluidics platform in “interlocking, injection-molded blocks” — or, as most of us know them, LEGO bricks. “LEGOs are fascinating examples of precision and modularity in everyday manufactured objects,” says Anastasios John Hart, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. Video: Melanie Gonick/MIT Indeed, LEGO bricks are manufactured so consistently that no matter where in the world they are found, any two bricks are guaranteed to line up and snap securely in place. Modular mechanics
Hour of Code Robot : les machines de demain | A Fond la Science La robotique est une des grandes thématiques science qui intéressent le grand public. La couverture est très attrayante avec un robot humanoïde en relief. Ce documentaire va montrer, en six grandes parties, tout ce que les robots sont capables de faire dans différents milieux et comment ils fonctionnent. Plusieurs pages sont consacrés à l’histoire des robots depuis les premiers automates, les merveilles mécaniques, les créatures fantastiques jusqu’aux robots actuels, classés en dix catégories. Ils sont présentés dans cet ouvrage selon leurs milieux d’utilisation, à la maison, au travail, au quotidien, dans les lieux extrêmes et les super robots. Chacun est présenté avec une carte d’identité en haut de page avec des icônes indiquant l’origine, la taille, la source d’énergie, le constructeur, son année de fabrication, son poids et ses spécificités.
Create an Amazing Low-tech Library Makerspace Unless you live under a rock or are completely off the grid when it comes to technology, you’re probably aware of the maker movement. However, if you need a refresher, I made an infographic. The maker movement is such an exciting time for students and teachers alike! Yet, while a part of you is excited, the other part of you is flooded with the reasons why you just can’t start a makerspace right now. “I have no money.” I find this to be incredibly unfortunate. My husband loves woodworking and I like building computers.
MIT Scientists Use Lego Bricks To Build a Modular Experiment K.S. AnthonyThursday, 29 May - 4:15PM Color me hypervigilant, but I'm just a little skeptical when it comes to the benevolence touted by tech companies when it comes to devices, applications, or technology that purport to make my life easier by predicting my needs, analyzing my spending behaviors, tracking my whereabouts, or recording data about my physical health. It's not just that those data points are valuable to marketers, advertisers, and other breathless adherents to the Cult of Big Data that aren't giving me a cut of the profits, it's that I don't want corporations or governments embedding themselves in my every transaction, walk around the block, or trip to the gym. In a world where every other person seems to be demanding 15 minutes of fame, I'm still holding out for 15 minutes of anonymity. Suffice it to say the announcement by Bloomberg News that Amazon is working on – and perhaps beta-testing – an emotion-detecting wearable device raised the bar for my skepticism. U.S.