Blog Category:
Computer Science
Even I Can Make Music on the Web
posted by Katy Williams on April 22, 2010
Looking for something new to do? Try making music on the web. While you do, you’ll be stimulating both of the brain’s hemispheres - the ‘rational’ left hemisphere will be analyzing the structure of the music while the ‘intuitive’ right hemisphere creates the melody. (While many activities engage one side of the brain or the other, scans actually show that music stimulates both hemispheres more than any other activity.) While you’re at it, you might even increase the size of your corpus callosum - the canal that ferries information between the two hemispheres and is thought to be larger in musicians! Throw in music’s scientifically-proven ability to relax us, as well as its innate appeal to those of us who like math and physics, and what better way to get a workout!
Social Media Packs a Punch When it Comes to Disaster Response
posted by Katy Williams on March 02, 2010
In Chile’s magnitude 8.8 earthquake, the country’s telecommunications have been hard hit, landlines suffering the most damage while mobile telephony has stayed relatively usable and intact. Add to that the fact that (according to MSNBC) 92 percent of the Chilean population has mobile phones and it is no surprise that Twitter and texting are playing a critical role in the aftermath of the quake. Here are some of the ways that social media is providing powerful support to Chile’s disaster and recovery efforts:
Celebrating Women in Computing
posted by Gail Carmichael on October 09, 2008
Have you ever been in a room with more than 1500 other ‘nerd girls’? Let me tell you, it’s the most amazing and unexpected feeling you could imagine. This is exactly what I got to experience the first week of October when I traveled to Keystone, Colorado for the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. If you get excited while reading what I have to say about it, then mark your calendars for next year’s edition to be held around that first week of October in Tucson, Arizona. You won’t want to miss it.
Connect with Computer Science
posted by Gail Carmichael on September 25, 2008
If you thought that computer science was all about sitting in boring old cubicles, pounding away on the keyboard and writing code all day, think again! You can connect computer science with just about anything you’re interested in.
Take video games, for instance. If you have a passion for entertaining others, you can use the coding skills you learn in college to help develop the next blockbuster hit in one of the fastest growing industries around. But it goes much further than just programming.
Making Games Think
posted by Gail Carmichael on September 04, 2008
As more women than ever before begin to find themselves interested in video games, it’s likely that many women are also wondering, “What is it that makes games think?” For many games, from adventure and role playing genres to challenges like chess, game developers need to incorporate techniques that allow help a computer to think for itself in a timely fashion. Some of these techniques will be revealed below as light is shed on what gives games brains.
First, let’s reflect on why having good artificial intelligence (also known simply as AI) can be so important for a game to be fun. Many board games and first person shooters can’t be played without an actual opponent, but a human contender is not always available.
