Atoms are commonly thought to look like a planetary system, tiny spherical electrons orbiting a spherical nucleus, like the planets orbit the Sun. But it's more complicated than that.
Once the spine has been severed signals can no longer pass from our legs and our feet to our brain. This makes it impossible for paraplegics to know how they are distributing their weight when wearing an exoskeleton. However, by using the Wii Balance Board the patient can receive visual feedback about balance and movement, allowing the patient to learn how far they can shift their weight before falling.
New video from The Royal Institution explains how the particle accelerator at the STFC ISIS muon and neutron facility works.
This 8 minute animated short, titled "We Can't Live Without Cosmos" encompasses many childhood dreams of going to space with your best friend.
Follow the link to watch an illustrated version of Professor Stephen Hawking's second Reith lecture, "Black holes ain't as black as they are painted".
In 2004 graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms, was isolated by two researchers at the University of Manchester. Learn more about it in this video.
Our recent studies of Mars inform us that there used to be oceans on this now dry planet. It is thought that the weak magnetic field is to blame. The strong magnetic field of Earth protects our planet from the high energy particles from the Sun. But the weak field on Mars resulted in the atmosphere and most of the water being blown away. Check out the video below to find out more.
NASA are currently recruiting the next generation of astronauts. It is a competitive job, with only around 8 in 6,000 applicants getting accepted. But what kind of training is required to become an astronaut and prepare for the unpredictability and harsh nature of space?
Women scientists at the dream and nightmare laboratory at the University of Montreal (yes, it is a real place) are investigating dreams. They study what we see, hear, feel and even smell.
Everyone has experienced a nightmare, but some people have nightmares so frequently and intensely it makes their waking hours a misery.
Combining neuroscience, with humanities, with philosophy makes this area of research particularly collaborative.
Everyone loves bubbles, but have you ever seen them up close? Check out the video below to see the hypnotic surface of a bubble.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory is constantly keeping a close track of the surface of our Sun. In order to observe the wide variety of features exhibited photos are takes at 10 different wavelengths every 12 seconds. A collection of these photos have been stitched into a video showing the beauty of our Sun, and the many interesting features it
Most of us know someone with a pacemaker, it is an invention which has extended millions of lives. But these battery-powered devices are going to become battery-free. Where will they get their power from? The heart?!
The vibrational energy created in the chest by each heart beat is enough to provide the electrical energy required to power the pacemaker. Watch the video below to find out more.
Thanks to NASA and GoPro, now you can share in the breathtaking views/sheer terror that astronaut Terry Virts enjoyed during a recent hour-long spacewalk.
Periodic table of videos
A team of scientists at the University of Nottingham have created a series of videos about all of the different elements in the periodic table, including why do ice cubes crack in drinks, and what happens when ice cubes are put into liquid nitrogen? As well as the barking dog, in slow motion.
NASA wants to capture an asteroid in 2019
Summarised from the link below:
NASA plans to snatch an asteroid out of space and send it into orbit around our moon for study. Examining an asteroid could give scientists a view into the earliest stages of the universe. Sometime in the 2020s, a crew of astronauts will follow the rock, hooking up to the spacecraft and mining the 32-meter asteroid. The video below shows a concept animation featuring notional crew operations during NASA's proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission
NASA also plans to launch a robot into space in 2016, have it latch onto an asteroid, and return samples by itself in 2023.
Central Limit theorem explained with bunnies and dragons
Many real-world observations can be approximated by the normal distribution, a bell shaped curve. However, many important things we would like to measure and test that do not follow a normal distribution, but there is often a normal distribution lurking within it. The existence of this hidden normal distribution is known as the Central Limit Theorem. In this episode of CreatureCast, Shuyi Chiou, an animator, presents the Central Limit Theorem.
Richard Feynman 1983 BBC TV Series 'Fun to Imagine'
Richard Feynman is a Nobel Prize winning phycisist and is brilliant at engaging with his audience when he speaks. In all of these short clips from the BBC TV Show he is sitting in his armchair in his California home explaining different aspects of physics that explains the world around us.
