Vi Wickam - Left-Handed Fiddling Online Marketing Strategist » Science

Terrafugia Transition – The Flying Car

Vi — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:25:57 +0000

I want one of these…..I have dreamt of having a flying car since I was 5 or 6.

Terrafugia has completed flight testing of the Transition POC (Proof of Concept). Introducing the Transition®. Simply land at the airport, fold your wings up and drive home.

Learn more at: http://www.terrafugia.com/aircraft.html

Fly a distance of 725 kilometers at speeds of 115 mi/hour;
requires a special license to drive and fly.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Do Lefties Have Superior Spatial Perception?

Vi — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:21:32 +0000

A new study suggests that Right Handed people perceive their right arms to be longer than their left arms, while left handed people have an accurate perception of arm length.

I know it sounds bizarre, but it is a fact. The study suggests that this perception difference is due to the face that in left-handed people, and equal amount of their brain is devoted to controlling the left and right sides of their body, while right handed people have much more of their brain dedicated to controlling the right side of their body.

I can’t help but wonder if this is why there are so many lefties who are successful in the fields of art and architecture.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104152304.htm

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Can you hear music before it happens?

Vi — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 05:53:03 +0000

I know it sounds like time travel, but most of us can do it to some extent…

As a musician, I am acutely aware of melody. I am always listening for good melodies, and with my musical experience, I can often predict where the melody is going to go before it goes there. Good composers use this human tendency to hear where the melody should go to lull you into a sense of melody, and then add in twists that you are not expecting, which makes the melody more interesting. Combining the expected with the unexpected, the tonic with the dissonant surprises your mind and keeps you actively listening.

The premise of how humans do this was the topic of a new paper published in NeuroImage. “Have you ever accidentally pulled your headphone socket out while listening to music? What happens when the music stops? Psychologists believe that our brains continuously predict what is going to happen next in a piece of music. So, when the music stops, your brain may still have expectations about what should happen next.”

Read the rest of this article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100115204704.htm

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TV Has a Negative Effect On Parent-Child Interaction

Vi — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:32:19 +0000

TV Has a Negative Effect On Parent-child Interactions (Even when you aren’t watching it). A new study looks for the first time at the effect of background TV on interactions between parents and young children. Using an experimental design, researchers found that when a TV was on, both the quantity and quality of interactions between parents and children dropped. This study challenges the common assumption that background TV doesn’t affect very young children if they don’t look at the screen.

This seems like a no brainer to me, but I’m sure there are a lot of people who are tied to having the TV on all of the time who would disagree.

Can you cut the cord between you and your TV for a week? Your kids will thank you for it.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915100951.htm

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Hundreds gather to protest global warming

Vi — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:57:57 +0000

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Wingsuits are Awesome!

Vi — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:26:44 +0000

I am sure that I’m not the only guy who think that this would be completely awesome to have, or the only guy who dreamed of flying with a jetpack as a kid.

Technology truly is amazing. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/look-out-below-wingsuits-pushed-for-airbone-assaults/

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