University of Helsinki
This month, the University of Helsinki and the European Space Agency (ESA) will test a new space tether that has less chance of snapping under the stresses of operating in orbit. Installed aboard Estonia’s ESTCube-1 cubesat, the new tether is scheduled to be launched with ESA’s Proba-V satellite atop a Vega rocket as part of an experiment in developing an electric solar sail. Read More
A group of computer scientists based at the University of Helsinki, Finland, have developed new software which creates automatically composed music from data concerning a person's sleep measurements. The software makes use of figures gleaned from an internet-equipped Beddit sensor, which is placed beneath a subject's mattress in order to record the stages of their sleep, their movements, heart rate and breathing. Read More
Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) have collaborated with Finnish company Multitouch Ltd to create a giant touch and gesture controlled microscope. The Multitouch microscope uses a combination of web based microscopy and a 46-inch multitouch display to create what researcher Dr Johan Lundin calls "an iPad on steroids." A useful tool for interactive teaching and learning, the microscope allows users to zoom in or out with a two handed stretch or pinch gesture – all the way down to 1000x magnification. Read More
