In a number of science fairs the projects involve a robot trying to perform sports stunts like shooting a hoop, kicking a goal and even playing chess. Given that the computer brain of a robot allows them to make faster decisions than a human being, eventually robots will be better than human beings at sports.

That may be the logical conclusion to follow. Of course this means that professional athletes may soon be replaced by robots who perform better, have less margin for error and throw no tantrums! Perhaps in the not so distant future we may see a couple of robot players on all sports teams.

Who knows what the future could hold? Athletic ability in human beings may be soon restricted just how well he can control a robot player in the field. And with Artificial Intelligence improving the robot’s decision making it may be just a matter of time before the robots are completely autonomous.

Scary thought that the new heroes of basket ball may not be men like Lebron but some nameless robot which can shoot baskets with far more accuracy than a human player. Will robotic teams take over all sports? Lets hope not! Still a science fair project where two robotic teams play football and in a rather disastrous manner leads me to hope that the days of professional robot players are still some years away.

In a bid to make it the most target effective bullet the Sandia National Laboratories have come up with a bullet that can twist and turn to hit the target. The science project is interesting enough but when you add the tiny guided missile to the mix it really livens things up.

Building the navigation system for this little projectile was no mean feat. Imagine trying to load a processor and chip on something as tiny as the size of a gun bullet. It would take more than miniaturization to make this work, it would take innovation.

That is just what the researchers on the project did. They have added an optical sensor that follows a laser beam on to the target. The bullet that they have come up with is 4 inches long, half an inch wide and can make up to 30 corrections in direction per second.

Basically if the laser is aimed at you , you can bet that the bullet has your name on it. Think of a heat guided missile but this one is smaller and quite accurate for a target located even a mile away. This is quite an achievement as an unguided bullet is likely to miss a target that is located even half a mile away. It would be interesting to see how this particular science project develops.

No matter what you pick up as your science fair project there is likely to be mountains of data on the topic online. So when you sit down to get what data  you can use from the internet you need to be careful about where you get that data from.

A number of sites can provide incorrect data that may cause your project more harm than good. So stick to sites that have a good reputation of giving honest and correct information. Some of these sites include Discovery, National Geographic, Popular Science, and Popular Mechanics. All of these sites have reputed writers providing correct and substantiated information on the website.

The websites like Wikipedia or Cheat Sheets need to be checked before the data on them can be used. This is because anybody can write and edit this site. This leave so much more room for incorrect information to creep in. So watch out what data you use from them and try to have it collaborated from a more reliable source if you must use their data.

The internet is the gateway to the highway of information. However like all highways you need to get on the right one to take you to your destination. So pick the information from online sources with care when you sit down to work on your science fair project.

Robotics is a fast developing science discipline. Each week we hear about one more robotics based science project which is enthralling the world. Be it a team of robots playing football or a robot singing to a karaoke song. Robots are slowly but surely learning to do what humans can do.

Soon there may come a day when robots are independent of their human masters. They may no longer be remote controlled the way they are today, but be self regulated with some fancy algorithm in their computer chip brain. This is why it is important to think today about how ethical it is to use a robot.

Ethics have always been open to interpretation by the person talking about them. None of us would have a problem with a robot being used as a primary care giver to an invalid patient. However would it be correct to give the robot control over the human being? Can a robot understand the human emotions behind a frustrated statement that a bed bound patient would make?

It is easy to think that robots will make the world a better place for humans by taking on their work, but is that really going to happen? All the time saving gadgets that humans have come up with so far have only managed to add another layer of stress to their lives. Will robots be the same? Only time and science will tell.

The fossil fuels are going to run out and the world will need alternative means of power generation. There have been countless number of science projects dealing with possible successors to fossil fuels including solar, wind and biomass fuels. And yet there is no clear sign as to what will power the future.

The sure shot answer at one time seemed to be nuclear fuel. It was compact, generated great quantities of power and could be used to generate power over large areas. Unfortunately it is very unstable and difficult to handle. This was driven home very vividly in the Fukushima disaster.

So if nuclear fuel is not the answer to the future, what is? Solar energy has been harvested but it does not still have the technology required to power large areas indefinitely. Wind and water turbine power also have their own technological limitations besides availability limitations.

Can the power of the future come from another source altogether? Perhaps from plants? Like the character, Doc, manages to power his car in the movie “Back to the Future” with some banana peels and a device that looked suspiciously like a blender? It may not be so funny when you think about it. Only future science projects will tell.

Since medieval times students have wished that it was easier to learn their lessons. There have been all kinds of memory cramming gimmicks that they have used to do their home work. Yet science projects to date have yet to come up with the ideal memory booster.

The Germans were keen on mastering the concept of the “Nuremberg Funnel”, by which the teacher could literally pour knowledge into the brain of a student. This would need little or no effort on the part of the student, but he would be able to use the knowledge on his own.

The Indians speak of “Yognindra” where in the student is made to hear an audio version of whatever lesson it is that he needs to learn, just as he falls asleep at night. It is believed that knowledge that is gained at this point of time gets embedded permanently in the brain.

And if all that fails, put your trust in the researchers of the University of California who want to bring in knowledge direct to the brain by implanting microchips there. Of course as of now the chips are being put into the brains of mice that are part of the science experiment and it will be a while before students can give up their books.

Based on basic principles of science we expect everything that flies in the skies to eventually come down to earth. However the new science project called the Albatross may be trying to defy this assumption. Australian scientists are trying to work on a glider which can stay in the air for as long as you need without landing.

At the Australian Center for Field Robotics in Sydney, Salah Sukkarieh is part of the project. The device is to use sensors to tell its auto pilot about changes in the wind speed and direction so that the best possible path can be worked out for the glider.

The glider can also alternate between the high speed air currents above and the slower winds below to generate kinetic energy which will increase its lift. A working prototype of the device is already in existence and improvements are being constantly made and tested on the glider.

Soon it may be possible for the glider to stay in the air for as long as possible. Probably stay in the sky for ever. It may seem like an impossible dream, or some kind of science fiction gadget, but it is in truth just another interesting science project.

With the fast depleting fossil fuels the scientific minds in the world are turning to generating alternative means of energy. However when we say alternative energy we think of things like solar energy, wind energy and water turbine energy. Rarely, if at all do we think of tapping into the ever present gravitational energy present all over the earth.

So how can we use gravity, which is the pull that physical objects have between them, as a source of energy to run simple devices? The answer may be as simple as the hourglass that the Swizz designed to keep time, or as complex as the gravity powered motors that scientists are experimenting with these days.

One of the most enthralling uses of gravitational power was envisioned by Clay Moulton, a graduate student at Virginia Tech. He came up with a Gravity lamp which was powered by a series of weights that slid down to the floor and had to be replaced at the top again. The pull of gravity is endless and as long as the human element keeps placing the specific weights on top.

While the gravity based lamp is not yet ready for mass production, the technology can definitely be improved upon. So what are you waiting for? Get going on your own version of a gravity powered device for your science fair project today.

What goes up must come down. That we know is the power of gravity. Gravitational pull is the force that the planet exerts upon all the objects that are in its vicinity. This pull extends from the surface, where it is the strongest, to some distance in the atmosphere, where it becomes weaker as you go higher.

The force was first noticed by Newton who fell asleep under an apple tree and was rudely awoken when an apple fell on his head. That is when he began thinking about why things always fall downwards. This eventually led to his tabulating the laws of gravity.

There are many fascinating questions that you can come up with about gravity. These can lead to equally interesting science projects and experiments. There is of course the famous experiment about a feather and a brick being dropped from a great height to check which comes down faster.

In addition to this experiment you can come up with others of your own. Newton and Einstein may have done their bit but it is by no means the end of the topic. You can still come up with a great many different ways to test gravity and make it an interesting science project.

The best kinds of science fair projects are the ones which are interactive. This is one such science project which utilizes the principle of magnetism. It is easy to make and fun to use. Here is how we will make a magnet cars racing track.

Things you will need include two toy cars, four magnets and one cardboard sheet for the track. Now attach one magnet to the back of each toy car. Remember to use light weight cars that move well without much friction. That way when you bring the magnet in your hand close to the car it will repel against the magnet in the car and move forward.

Now design your race track on the cardboard sheet. Use your imagination and art supplies to create the track and its surroundings. Put up trees, tyre stacks and other buildings on the track.You can even make an area for spectators and populate it with action figures.

Color it up in the manner that you like and leave it to dry. Once the track is ready put the two race cars on to it and have a race with your friend.This is a simple to make science project that can spell lots of hours of fun.