No
longer being at MIT, I am far from inundated with 
nerdy jokes and references. In fact, people here seem... normal. The longer I am gone from this nerd culture, the more I find myself seeking it out. On Saturday I decided to attend the Fête de la Science, literally translated as the Party of Science, a weekend for giving the outside world a glimpse of the "mad science" going on behind the lab doors and for giving the lab rats, or grad students, a glimpse of the real world, or at least the self-selected subset curious enough to wander into a lab on a Saturday afternoon. Personally, I bee-lined for the Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique. Here, I got to learn about various bio-inspired robotics systems and was particularly impressed by a certain recording device that looked like a nondescript mannequin head with highly detailed ears. (I’ve yet to spot one of these in a store window.) Sounds passing through those ears to the recording device are recorded with precise spatial resolution. I got to put on a set of headphones to compare the same event as recorded normally, in stereo, and then by the mannequin-head. The mannequin-head-recorded sound was a wild: though the sounds were entering my head through a set of headphones, I could have given you precise locations around my head from whence they were emanating! I also got to meet iCub, a robot-child constructed from various labs around Europe that specialize in production of robotic hands (Italy), heads (Portugal), eyes (I forget where), etc. The next phase of the project is teaching the robot to learn. For this part, six various learning labs around Europe have received iCubs which they will now proceed to teach. (I believe this lab in Paris specializes in some sort of motor learning. Way to be precise, I know.)
Also this weekend: la Fête de Beaujolais Nouveau. (Paris was just partying it up: science, wine, just add a fête de la baguette and I don’t see things getting much better.) Beaujolais Nouveau is a special, fruity kind of wine produced to be consumed within a year or so of being bottled. It is released in Paris on every third Thursday of November. Last year, I happened to be in Paris on this day as part of a long-weekend holiday to visit some potential labs-of-interest, chiefly the DiGregorio lab, which is where I am about to begin working! So, as luck would have it, I found myself already celebrating my second annual weekend of Beaujolais Nouveau. On Sunday, I went to a wine tasting with a law student from Guadeloupe who I met at the Cité U. The tasting was organized by an Alpha Chi- Theta Omicron (MIT Chapter) alum, Frances, with whom I’ve been playing internet-invite tag for months. We finally met and I also got introduced to her very friendly circle of ex-pat friends. It was a great way to enjoy a new crop of Beaujolais Nouveau (free of charge) as well as some other Beaujolais (apparently only ~1/3 of the Beaujolais grapes are actually made into Beaujolais Nouveau) and to get a chance talk with some new people. I’m looking forward to bringing some Beaujolais home to share with friends and family on the other side of the Atlantic soon.
longer being at MIT, I am far from inundated with 
nerdy jokes and references. In fact, people here seem... normal. The longer I am gone from this nerd culture, the more I find myself seeking it out. On Saturday I decided to attend the Fête de la Science, literally translated as the Party of Science, a weekend for giving the outside world a glimpse of the "mad science" going on behind the lab doors and for giving the lab rats, or grad students, a glimpse of the real world, or at least the self-selected subset curious enough to wander into a lab on a Saturday afternoon. Personally, I bee-lined for the Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique. Here, I got to learn about various bio-inspired robotics systems and was particularly impressed by a certain recording device that looked like a nondescript mannequin head with highly detailed ears. (I’ve yet to spot one of these in a store window.) Sounds passing through those ears to the recording device are recorded with precise spatial resolution. I got to put on a set of headphones to compare the same event as recorded normally, in stereo, and then by the mannequin-head. The mannequin-head-recorded sound was a wild: though the sounds were entering my head through a set of headphones, I could have given you precise locations around my head from whence they were emanating! I also got to meet iCub, a robot-child constructed from various labs around Europe that specialize in production of robotic hands (Italy), heads (Portugal), eyes (I forget where), etc. The next phase of the project is teaching the robot to learn. For this part, six various learning labs around Europe have received iCubs which they will now proceed to teach. (I believe this lab in Paris specializes in some sort of motor learning. Way to be precise, I know.)
Also this weekend: la Fête de Beaujolais Nouveau. (Paris was just partying it up: science, wine, just add a fête de la baguette and I don’t see things getting much better.) Beaujolais Nouveau is a special, fruity kind of wine produced to be consumed within a year or so of being bottled. It is released in Paris on every third Thursday of November. Last year, I happened to be in Paris on this day as part of a long-weekend holiday to visit some potential labs-of-interest, chiefly the DiGregorio lab, which is where I am about to begin working! So, as luck would have it, I found myself already celebrating my second annual weekend of Beaujolais Nouveau. On Sunday, I went to a wine tasting with a law student from Guadeloupe who I met at the Cité U. The tasting was organized by an Alpha Chi- Theta Omicron (MIT Chapter) alum, Frances, with whom I’ve been playing internet-invite tag for months. We finally met and I also got introduced to her very friendly circle of ex-pat friends. It was a great way to enjoy a new crop of Beaujolais Nouveau (free of charge) as well as some other Beaujolais (apparently only ~1/3 of the Beaujolais grapes are actually made into Beaujolais Nouveau) and to get a chance talk with some new people. I’m looking forward to bringing some Beaujolais home to share with friends and family on the other side of the Atlantic soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment