Science PHYSICS PSU researchers harness I AARON KUBAS science reporter • under ided nujor Harnessing the power of light? This is what scientists and engi neers at Penn State are trying to do. They are experimenting with the transmission of data over a wire less network, with hopes of im proving speed and allowing Wi-Fi to be more accessible all over the SCIENCE IN THE COMMUNITY Behrend to host PJAS science competition ELIZABETH MASTELLER Penn State Erie will be hosting the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science competition this week end to display their various proj ects in the Junker Center among other places on campus. PJAS, this year held at Behrend on Feb. 20, is a “statewide organi zation of junior and senior high school students designed to stimu late and promote interest in sci ence among its members through the development of research proj ects and investigations,” according to their website. The organization opens up the ability for students to explore the is at the forefront of this technol ogy that could make future com munications networks use the light spectrum. Scientists have been trying to tap into the light spectrum for communications purposes be cause the speed of light is much faster than the speed of sound. If the spectrum of light can be har nessed for the use of communica tions, the possibilities are endless. world of science and use the scien tific method to learn about re- s( ivtl( r n t f)OlU , l search Students usually begin by hearing about PJAS in their schools; it starts out as a school sci ence project Students do re search and decide what project they would like to do, with their options open. Once they de cide on an idea, they must gather information on their topic and fig ure out what re- ight for data transmission The switch of broadcast antenna TV from analog signal to digital signal lessened the congestion of the RD spectrum. This freed up the RF spectrum for more emer gency personnel. However, the RF spectrum is still very congested and slows down the transmission rate of data, which is why scientists and engi neers have been trying to harness the light spectrum for use in corn- sources they will need. After this, the student must form a hypothesis. ptot o3s* - n ®t What; High school science competition Where: Penn State Behrend When: Saturday, Feb. 20,8am-4pm Why should I go: Lots of interesting science experiments. Learn something! Once all of this is done, the student must submit it and hope to get approved. Then they must begin to carry out I the experiment, possibly repeat ing it numerous times to collect data. After they collect all their data, they need to analyze it. Once analysis is done they need to interpret the data Call (814) 824-8282 Offer may not be combined with any other discounts, coupons, deals, or specials. the director of the university's Center for Information and Com munications Technology Re search, constructed a device that bounced infrared light off walls and back to a transceiver which detected that light. They calculated data transmis sion rates of one gigabit per sec ond - the fastest Wi-Fi transmission of data in the world. With the construction of this de vice, Wi-Fi networks around the world would be able to transmit data at speeds which, until re cently, no one thought possible. Fadlullah and Kavehrad both say that their system can support transmission speeds far beyond one gigabite per second. However, researchers like Fad lullah and Kavehrad still have a long way to go in perfecting de vices that will transmit data using light and getting them ready for commercial use. The possibilities are endless; the light spectrum could transform our whole society from, say, video game consoles to how hospitals and nations communicate, to fu ture wireless networks. and make conclusions that relate to their hypothesis, either agreeing with it or refuting it. From this they must make a final statement, again regarding their hypothesis, whether they found it to be verified or disproven. After this whole process the stu dent must prepare to share their data. They can do this through a report, graphs, posters, and any thing else they can think of. It’s good to try to keep it original and interesting. The students that will be here at Behrend have already won their school competitions and will be competing on the regional level on Saturday. Behrend Beacon i A Febraury 19, 2010 www.thebehrendbeacon.com Top Science News: New world record for breath-holding set Pete Colat, a Swiss freediver, held his breath in a tank of water for 19 minutes and 21 seconds. He broke the previous record by 21 seconds. How can someone hold their breath for so long when most of us can only do so for a few mere minutes? "It is, as a matter of fact, possible - with certain tricks,' said Claes Lund gren, a physiologist at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine in New York. To fight the instinct to breathe, com petitive breath-holders hyperventilate for up to 10 minutes in a tank of 100 percent oxygen before entering a tank of water. Iran: the fastest grow ing nation in science Iran's scientfic output is at a rate 11 times faster than the world's average, the highest in the world. According to a survey of a number of publications in the Web of Science database, growth in the Middle East is nearly four times faster than the world average. The world put out 450,000 scientific papers in 1980. In 2009, 1.5 million were published, with Asia surpassing North America. Today in Science Today will mark the 537th an niversary of the birth of Polish as tronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus proposed that the planets’ motions were fixed around the Sun. He also proposed that the Earth rotated on its axis once daily, and orbited the Sun annually. Fellow astronomers Galileo Galilei and Filippo (Giordano) Bruno, who came after Copernicus, embraced his theories wholeheart edly. Unfortunately for them, they suffered at the hands of church in quisitors, which Copernicus never had to face. Bruno was burned at the stake, while Galileo was held under house arrest for the last nine years of his life. Beacon Science Staff Science Editor Ryan Cula Science Reporters Elizabeth Masteller • biology major Aaron Kubas • undecided major
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