THE SUNDAY TIMES OF MALTA
Science
I May 29, 2016
43
Lost in translation
Andrea DeMarco
TINKER, MAKER
The coin
drop
Dropping a coin into an
empty glass sounds pretty
ordinary at first. How about
trying out a more creative and
scientifically sound way to get
a penny into a cup? This
experiment will demonstrate
Newton’s law of inertia. You
will need a notecard, an
empty glass, some coins and
safety glasses.
Place the card on top of the
glass. Make sure there is
enough space to give one
edge of the card a good flick
without smacking your finger
on the glass. Place a single
coin on top of the card so that
it rests over the cup’s opening.
Flick an exposed edge of
the notecard. Don’t flick the
card from underneath. Flick
directly from the side of the
card’s edge. The coin drops
straight into the glass.
Newton’s first law of
motion can be summed up
like this: an object at rest will
stay at rest unless an outside
force acts upon it. An object
that is moving will stay
moving until something stops
it. In the case of our coin drop
trick, the coin is at rest while
it sits on top of the card and
glass. When you flick the card
out from under the coin, you
enable gravity (an outside
force) to act upon the coin
and pull it into the glass.
When the coin drops, the
bottom of the glass stops the
coin. That doesn’t explain
why the coin doesn’t take off
with the card though, does
it? If you flicked the card
right, it slides out from
between the glass and coin
without enough friction to
pull the coin with it.
Try challenging yourself to
drop as many coins as
possible into the cup using
this method. What’s your
record? Does the type of coin
you use matter? Is there a
type of card that doesn’t
work? Try flicking index
cards, Pokemon cards, or
whatever you can think of.
For other fun experiments visit http://www.steves
panglerscience.com
Most of us can speak at least two languages.
Perhaps three, four or five if you’re a language
geek. But mostly, we’re confined to international and business languages. What about
trying to get by in a foreign country with no
grasp of the local language? There’s only so
much you can do with dramatic hand gestures or by speaking loudly and slowly. But
this may soon be a problem of the past with a
nifty new gadget from New York City-based
startup Waverly Labs, who claim to be releasing the world’s first ‘smart’ earpiece that
translates languages for you.
The device is called ‘Pilot’ and sits in your
ear – no wires and cables. The device translates words being spoken to you in another
language on the fly. The initial release of the
Pilot will cover English, Spanish, French and
Italian. However, more languages will be
available later.
The retail price is expected to be $249-$299,
although early bird specials will start at $129
on Indiegogo. The earpieces will come in
three colours and can be pre-ordered.
Other companies are also working hard on
DID YOU KNOW…
• Female sharks have thicker skins than
males. Scientists think it is because males
have this odd tendency to bite females while
mating.
• On September 13, 1922, the mercury soared
to 57.8 Celsius in El Azizia, Libya. Scientists
say this is the hottest temperature ever
recorded on the planet (where measuring
stations are present).
• Prosopagnosia is a disorder in which people
struggle to recognise faces. Faces are so
important that humans have a brain area
called the fusiform gyrus that specialises in
recognising them.
• Scallops have as many as 100 simple eyes.
They are frequently blue.
For more trivia: www.um.edu.mt/think
real-time translation. The Google Translate
app can translate speech on your phone.
Skype now also allows callers to communicate in different languages and currently handles seven languages. Sources at Microsoft
UK also claimed that in the next five years
translating between any pair of languages will
be possible on smartphones.
While Waverly Labs hasn’t entirely commercialised the product yet, the tests have
been impressive and pre-orders are available
through its Indiegogo campaign.
There is still a short delay from the speaker
to translator, but the speed is quicker than
anything currently on the market. The thing
that sets Pilot apart from services like
Skype and Google Translate is the wearability
of the product.
While others often require you to reach for
your phone or be on a computer, Pilot is
placed directly into your ear for simple translations with loved ones and new friends.
In Pilot’s case, the inspiration behind the
product came from a relationship. The project founder, Andrew Ochoa, met a French girl
and really wanted to have easy, flowing, communication with her.
Pilot helps them break down their language
barrier and could allow most of us to widen
our Tinder radar beyond borders.
SOUND BITES
• Everybody remembers this fact we have known since grade school: that 29,029-foot Everest is the
tallest mountain in the world. It is, of course, when measured as distance above sea level. But
define tallest as the point on the planet closest to space, and Ecuador’s 20,702-foot Mount Chimborazo takes the top slot, with Everest banished from the Top 20. Chimborazo’s peak sits 3,967 miles
from the centre of the earth, while Everest is a full two miles shy of that. Chimborazo’s nearness
to the equator is why: though the earth is a sphere, it’s not a perfect one and it ‘bulges slightly
around its waistline’, giving the Andean peak an advantage that the Himalayas, thousand of miles
north of the equator, don’t enjoy.
http://www.newser.com/story/225197/by-one-measure-this-is-worlds-tallest-mountain.html
• Doctors have given a man his sight back, implanting a bionic eye in Texan resident John Jameson
to restore some of his vision after some 40 years of blindness. Four decades ago, an aggressive
infection took Jameson’s sight, and it was his wife who discovered the possibility of installing a
bionic eye – a type of operation that has only recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the US. Jameson admits he has been suffering from some double vision since the procedure, which was carried out last month in Shreveport, Louisiana, but adds that his sight is
improving all the time as his brain adjusts.
http://www.sciencealert.com/after-40-years-of-blindness-bionic-eye-gives-man-his-sight-back
PHOTO OF
THE WEEK
This 100x photograph features
a liverwort (Lepidolaena
taylorii) plant showing
modified leaves (water sacs),
which are often home to
aquatic microorganisms such
as rotifers. It received an
honorable mention in the 2015
Nikon Small World
Photomicrophotography
Competition, which recognises
excellence in photography with
the optical microscope and was
taken by Susan Tremblay of the
University of California,
Berkeley, using a brightfield
technique.
Photo: Susan Tremblay/Via
nikonsmallworld.com