In Latest Robotics, New Hope for Stroke Patients

In the article "In Latest Robotics, New Hope for Stroke Patients" from the New York Times, it depicts the use of a robotic arm brace to help stroke patients regain some function in arms in which they have loss motility. The robotic arm device is called the Myomo e100 and helps with assisting stroke patients by sensing the faint electrical muscle signals being triggered in the arm to then help complete the task with some robotic movement. There are physic elements including electrical waves from the muscles and generating torques that can be seen when utilizing the Myomo e100. Electrical signal waves, even when faint, from the arm muscles travel throughout the muscles and cause the activation of the device to help with arm movement - those waves are physical elements that induce the movement. With the device helping with movement, the arm seemingly is able to produce more force from the muscles thus increasing the torque (which is defined as the lever arm multiplied by the force) about the arm joints to better help perform the simple tasks some stroke patients were unable to do for long stretches of time. The picture to the right depicts the Myomo device in motion. The diagram shown to the left shows the structure of the Myomo device and the first recording is a vocal description of the way the device works. The video shows a demonstration of the device in a physical therapy setting.

Crunch! Oof! Well, That's Physics

The article outlines the physics of football. Dr. Timothy Gay is an advocate for football physics and is intrigued by the collisions, momentum, energy transfer, forces, center of mass, trajectory, acceleration, velocity, Newton's laws of motion, and everything else physics related involved in football. We have studied each of those physics elements listed in our Physics 110 class. Collisions are likely the most obvious element of physics seen in football. When football players hit each other, the collisions are inelastic because kinetic energy is lost through heat in deformations of their pads, bodies, and the football (when it is involved). Most collisions are considered inelastic - 95% of them - any "real" collision is inelastic. When conserving momentum in a 3-body collision with two players and the ball, the force and acceleration of the colliding players will not only impact each other but also will transfer momentum and energy to the ball (with small mass) to cause it to move greatly. Here there is energy transfer to all subjects involved in the hit, but also there is energy transfered into heat from varying deformations. Also, in football throws, trajectory and center of mass with rotational motion are found. Following the ball's trajectory, in a simplified manner, shows whether the ball makes the target player (for example) or not, and the rotational motion of the ball in the spiral of the throw demonstrates the rotation about the center of mass of the football. The article says that the Nebraskan team has switched from a game based on hit hard and fast (mass and force) to a more calculated game of precise timing of the receivers and the quarterback (motion and time - kinematics). That is a brief overview of some of the key aspects covered in the article about the physics of football.

Origins of the Universe: A Crash Course

We haven't yet gone throughout the entirety of our solar system, but I've just read that we essentially have created a 17-mile-long tubular track of "one of the emptiest and coldest regions of space in the solar system" 300 feet below Geneva with magnets. I find it hard to believe that such a description can apply to it because much is still unknown about the solar system, but I'm not surprised that the scientists of our day have taken the steps to create the Large Hadron Collider for the hopes of new discoveries.

With Higgs' "molasses" field unproven yet incorporated into the standard model - the behavior of nature's basic constituents with unprecedented accuracy as stated in the article - I'm curious what would it mean if the Large Hadron Collider experiments showed no such field. Would the whole standard model and everything that had followed it need to be reexamined? And to what extent?

Supersymmetric particle theory as explained in the article sounds like a reasonable concept that if proven would make a lot of sense in the idea of equal and opposite pairs. Plus, with the speculation surrounding dark matter, this discovery could possibly lead to more understanding about dark matter.

I think it would be fascinating to discover that there are extra dimensions, but I don't understand to what extent scientists would explore them or to what purpose. I mean sure it is interesting, but what would they do with the find?

In the creation of mirco black holes, the article states that they dissipate quickly, but isn't there the possibility that in creating so many that a larger black hole could form and then what would that do? Maybe not suck in the whole earth but could earthquakes or tremors form from this and cause damage? Also, cosmic rays from space coming down on the earth are described as stronger than anything that could be created in the Large Hadron Collider and no harm has come from the cosmic rays; but these are two distinctly different settings - one is natural from space and the other is a man-made reconstruction 300 feet below the earth's surface and variables may have been overlooked.

My last comment is about all these particles/theories that are hoped to be created. Has there been any thought about how these particles will interact with each other if multiple are produced? Like sending a micro black hole into an extra dimension or something?