here i go..

okay so i found a hearing test that i think i can use, which is veryyy gooodd
im basically going to have different pitches and start off with playing them really quietly and get louder and louder until the person can hear them.
but i need to get those permission notes for my people...
anyway im going to test my sister and see how it goes

hopefully i get some slight change in results
(fingers crossed)

pheewwwww

i sorted out my time!
yay

my bad...

ok so just ignore that previous weather graph because i realised we had to do it in a SINGLE chart.
so the new and improved weather graph......

p.s. thanks paint :)

its called a weather graph

voila!!!!!! my weather graph

sayyy, what time is it?

oh and if anyone knows how to chnage the time on your blog can you let me know
coz mine is so wrong.
it says i posted that last one at midnight but it was at 5: 30pm
?????

method and other little side notes

okayyyyyyy so here is a very lovely sum up of all of the excellent hard work i have been doing on our most wonderful SRP!!
the srp experiment that i am doing is testing whether peoples hearing is improved when they are blindfolded and therefore do not have any visual distractions.
i think it will actually be really interesting but also very time consuming and repetitive beacuse i will in total have to do a hearing test 60 TIMESSSS!!!!!!!!!! (omg why on earth did i choose this one)

alright so my method:
well i have been doing some more research on previous experiments done that are similar to mine.
however, most of the experiments i have looked at have been comparing hearing between people who are blind and people who are sighted 1, 2, 3. some experiments though have done comparisons between blindfolded people and sighted people which is still not the same aim but again, similar 4. what was really interesting is that almost all the studies also did PET brain scans and the results showed that blind people, especially those blind from an age younger than 10 3, actually use the visual cortex (the area of the brain that deals with sight) to process sounds 3, 4, 5. in particular determining where a sound has come from.
However, that doesn't really help me at all because i'm not doing any PET scans.

ok so back on the topic of my method.
i was looking at these previous studies to look at their methods and i came across this really good site. it is: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V31-4JKJSVD-1&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F2006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1332146679&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ba8318ad6c95c589dddd88c3aa519ca2
(wohh that's rather long)
anyway so it was about this experiment these people did "to identify major sensory differences between the visually disabled and sighted persons," 6. it was really science reporty and it had all these links to see their method and their results and everything, but guess what?! i had to pay to read the rest of the infromation!!!!! how scandalous! it said to me "If you do not have a User Name and Password, click the "Register to Purchase" button below to purchase this article. Price: US $ 31.50" *i was going to reference this too but i think that's going a little over board, so please excuse me for this one ms zhang*

anyway that really didn't have anything to do with anything, i was just really annoyed at those stingy american scientists!!!

(here is another one that looked promising until i had to sign up to read the rest of it: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P1-19524384.html. disgracful. sharing is caring people!)

so back on track, my method is:

1. set up a hearing test*
   
2. seat the participant
   
3. play the hearing test the the participant, recording the results as the test goes
4. take the participant to a separate room where they cannot hear the hearing test (if it is not done using headphones)
5. blindfold the participant completely so they are in complete darkness
6. leave the participant blindfolded for a particular amount of time**
7. once the participant has sat blindfolded for the decided amount of time, lead them back into the original room
   
8. perform the hearing test again with the participant still wearing the blindfold, and record the results as it goes
9. repeat with another participant
   

* i haven't yet got a hearing test and so im not quite sure what mine will be like. i need to have a little look around at the best ones. i think one of those ones that just beep at different pitches and volumes should be fine.
** i also need to find out how long the participants should sit for...

so yaaahhh that is the work that i have been doing. i also need to find 30 people who are willing (or who i can force...hehehehe...) to do my srp with, and get them to sign notes. fun fun fun :)

alright well i think i have sufficiently rambled on for long enough.
toodles


References
1. http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20041020/Note3.asp
2. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v395/n6699/abs/395278a0.html
3. http://www.accessible-devices.com/HearingStudy.html
4. http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdfs/data/1998/154-12/15412-03.pdf
5. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19626264.800-blind-people-tap-unused-brain-to-hear-better-.html
6. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V31-4JKJSVD-1&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F2006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1332146679&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ba8318ad6c95c589dddd88c3aa519ca2

ohh i just realised my time and date is reaaaalllllllyyyyy out.
my last post was actually on monday at 6 36pm
?????????

ok so i have been looking around for some information about organic food expiry dates and the whole "does being in the dark improve your senses" idea.
i found two websites that mentioned organic milks have a longer expiry date to normal milk. however, they said the reason for this was not because it is organic but because of the way it is heated to kill bacteria (pasteurisation). so that wasn't exactly very helpful.
the sites are:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=experts-organic-milk-lasts-longer
http://www.greencuisineorganics.com/organic-milk/does-anyone-know-why-organic-milk-has-such-a-long-expiration-date
and yes i looked on yahoo answers too...
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070930193211AArIeaV

with the senses idea, i found lots more good info. but all of the articles i found were about blind people's senses. most of them agreed that blind people have more acute senses compared to sighted people. i wonder if there would still be a slight increase in senses after sitting in darkness, where there are no visuals to distract you????
the articles i read are:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12410464
http://www.news-medical.net/news/2004/10/08/5421.aspx
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100234436
http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/02/blind-peoples-other-senses-not-more.php
http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/blindness-and-better-hearing/

sooooo there is some research i have been doing. i'm still not sure about anything though

I've been thinking about some ideas and I've actually come up with a few that could be good...

• something to do with different colours - how do they make you feel??
• the waterproofness of different brands of "waterproof" make-up - lipsticks, mascara, eyeliner, etc.
• compare waterproof make-up to non-waterproof make-up - which lasts longer and is more effective?
• how long does sunscreen need to sit before it is absorbed into the skin? or how waterproof is it?
  
• comparing the effectiveness of different mould/bacteria cleaners
• do spray germ cleaners (like glen20) actually kill germs and how effective are they compared to wipes or liquid cleaners?
• does sitting in a dark room improve your smell, hearing and touch?
• do organic foods like fruits, milk and meats, stay preserved for less/longer than non-organic foods?

I think the make-up ones should be fairly straightforward to do, the sunscreen one should be harder because I would have to do it on skin, which means I might have to do it to lots of people because all our skins are different.
I'm not sure about the germ/bacteria ones because I would probably need a microscope. If I did it with mould though I might not need one because mould is easy to see.
I think the dark room one would be interesting but because it's to do with people I would need 30, which would be annoying.
The organic food is pretty simple as well, but it would be boring if there was no difference in the lengths of time it takes for them to go off.

So, I'm going to do some thinking and maybe some research and see what I come up with.

hello world