BLOGS Anton Gagne

Thought I’d share a music genre that I had no idea existed until last week but apparently’s been around for a bit. It’s a fusion of old swing and jazz with electronic dance music that at first you think wouldn’t work, but actually sounds pretty amazing. Give it a listen

Last night was the kick off for Stockholm’s electro swing night, Sthlm Noir which was a great way to end the exam period, felt a bit like being in a modern episode of Boardwalk Empire but my dance skills were definitely lacking.

The couple photos I got were of the poor quality smartphone variety, which surprisingly gave them a pretty interesting vintage filter like effect.

So I haven’t been able to update this page as often as I should due to several deadlines and exams piling up this week, but I thought I’d share a small post about places to take a break during the day near campus.

First, restaurant Q has a pretty cheap lunch and coffee, perfect when you’re too busy or lazy to cook.

Then there’s KTH Hallen (the KTH gym). After sitting for a while, it’s really nice to get up, play some basketball, lift some weights, then go to the sauna (seems like a building having a sauna is almost an occupancy law here in Sweden).

 Good news though: Exam week is over soon!

If you still have not applied, don’t worry, some applications are still being accepted! Among them, several EIC KIC InnoEnergy programs. Check the University Admissions website and don’t procrastinate!

Exam and project week is upon us, that time when everything you’ve procrastinated will come back to haunt you. If you’re like me, getting work done at home is too distracting, so you may need to leave your place to be productive.

At KTH there are many options. For example, during the weekdays before 8, you can go to the KTH library, with a quiet reading room, many computers, group tables, group meeting rooms where you can work on that team project, an academic resource center to help with your writing, not to mention a nice cafe to take a break in.

After that closes, you can go to one of the many computer and study rooms around KTH that you can access with a card you get upon arriving. Most have nice couches and tables for team meetings in addition to the computers.

So, now you know where I’ll be spending much of my time until the last exam is over.

I thought I’d take a break from writing about KTH today and post a short note about one of my favorite areas of Stockholm: Södermalm.

An island to the South of city center, since the 19th century it’s been known for its bohemian heritage and has had an interesting history stretching back to the 17th century. You can find plenty to do there both by day and night, and the best part, unlike many of the more touristy areas of Stockholm, the prices are quite reasonable.

The island’s hillsides facing the city offer incredible views overlooking the city and harbor.

Walking around Söder, you’ll find restaurants, cafes, art galleries, every kind of small shop imaginable and art in places you least expect.

The evening offers a smörgåsbord of new places to go depending on what you’re looking for. To start off, you can have an all you can eat buffet at a student price while overlooking the city (Mondays only though) then you can go to one of Söder’s theaters, or have a pint at some of the many brew pubs serving a variety of microbrews.

Later in the night, again the power is yours depending on what you’d like to get into. There are plenty of pubs around and clubs open till the wee hours of the morning. For example, Debaser near the Slussen metro stop regularly has live music, sometimes big names and sometimes even with a free entrance (queue early if you want to get in though, had to get there at 18:30 for of Monsters and Men). Near the southern tip of Söder, a huge indoor/outdoor place under a bridge called Trädgården offers dancing, places to lounge around and circle ping pong (a Swedish institution). During the winter, the indoor part remains, for that time renamed Under Bron.

I could go on, but I suggest if and when you do come to Stockholm, to explore Södermalm yourself, you likely won’t run out of new things to discover for quite some time.

In case you haven’t seen the post on the KTH international front page, despite the long ago passing of the January 15th deadline, there are still applications being accepted to some Master’s programs. Hurry though, some of the deadlines are closing in fast!

You can also still submit late applications to other programs, but they will only be considered after all on-time applicants.

The EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) Master’s programs including InnoEnergy are still open for applications with deadlines in April, but don’t procrastinate, the deadlines usually come up much faster than you think.

It has been a pleasure bringing you live updates!

Come check out this episode of Crosstalks in its entirety at the website and join the discussion online! You can tune in for the next episode on May 30th.

Closing discussions:

Is there an industry demand to maintain the status quo? Is treatment rather than prevention more profitable?

Prevention and healthy behaviors will be much more cost effective in the long run.

Can we invest tax money better into these issues?

We need to question our motives in aid.

Education for boys and girls is key including global health equity.

Governments need to invest into their own infrastructure and programs.

Update 19:45

Audience question: What role do international agreements have on local government health issues?

Interesting discussion had here including examples from the WHO and smoking prevention efforts.

Key areas needing to be addressed were then discussed.

Update 19:35

Large disparities in rural and urban access to healthcare, some countries have even recently moved backward in life expectancy.

Some hope ahead: provide affordable, easily manageable medical devices to help expand access to quality healthcare and expanding connectivity between health providers and projects such as rainwater catchment and sanitation. The primary responsibility still rests with the local governments.

Update 19:15

Discussing how lack of access to clean water and sanitation facilities has a direct detrimental effect on educational opportunities and educational opportunities provide means for improving the countries. These are all very complex and intertwined issues.

Update 19:10

Sadly, most of the millennium goals for maternal and child mortality will not be reached by 2015. The lack of political recognition and will appears to be holding back progress. Water, sanitation, malnutrition, access to qualified doctors in the countryside and quack “healers” are also large contributors.

Many people are still lacking proper water and sanitation. Local national governments need to be held accountable. International awareness should be raised. Sadly, this is also an education and cultural issue.

Update 18:58

Getting ready to discuss global inequality and global health with Denny Vågerö, Dr. Mannan Mridha, Lars-Åke Brodin and Marita Troye-Blomberg

Update 18:46

Closed out with conversations regarding the possibility of instilling ethics in robots, the necessity of regulations of robot use in war and Asimov’s laws.

Update 18:40

The ethics of using robots in war, drone warfare and body enhancement.

Bottom line: we want useful machines to do our boring and dangerous tasks and improve our lives.

Update 18:25

How will the future generations perceive robots? How will we interface with them?

How much is science fiction affecting our perception of robots and can they be used to hurt humanity?

Update 18:15

Discussing how robots may distinguish human emotion. Can they potentially care for the needy? Listen to Alastair Reynolds, Danica Kragic, Dr. Ruzena Bajcsy, Torbjörn Tännsjö and Tore J Larsson discuss.

Update 18:05

Beginning our discussion on the changing nature of human-robot interaction.

What does machine intelligence mean to us? What is the difference between true intelligence and simple programming? How can we teach machines?

Update 17:47

Now taking audience questions:

Update 17:39

The LHC costs the same as 26 787 Dreamliners. The benefit through humanity’s increased knowledge of our universe and spinoffs is well worth it.

Update 17:28

The mass of the Higgs Boson will determine the future of physics research. Also discussing the search for dark matter and dark energy or large scale of gravity through supernova observation.

Update: 17:05

Follow crosstalks live at: http://crosstalks.tv/talk/28-february/

Starting discussions about the Higgs Boson and the age of the universe with  John Ellis, Jonas Strandberg, Rahman Amanullah and Sten Hellman!

Hey everyone!

Tomorrow I will be following KTH Crosstalks live from my blog, with topics on physics, robotics and global inequality!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the European Space Range from which sounding rockets are launched to study the polar atmosphere is located in the northern part of Sweden near Kiruna. One of these sounding rocket projects is REXUS (Rocket Experiments for University Students) and gives university students the chance to propose, design, and if all goes well, launch an experiment.

The program is run by ESA (European Space Agency), the SNSB (Swedish National Space Board) and DLR (German Aerospace Center).  Each year, 2 rockets are launched, carrying up to 20 student experiments up with them. To be eligible, each experiment needs to have relevant technical and scientific objectives.

KTH has fielded one experiment a year for four years, this year being the fifth with team ISAAC (Infrared Spectroscopy to Analyse the middle Atmosphere Composition). My friend and involved group member Georg Balmer filled me in on the details. The team proposed an experiment to test camera tracking of two free falling units from an apogee of 80 km until an altitude of about 40 km, when the drag force will become too strong to continue. The scientific objective of this experiment will be the technology’s potential future applications to the study of CO₂ concentration in the middle atmosphere (mesosphere down to the stratosphere).

The experiment’s design to launch cycle is about 1.5 years. This year, work began in October of 2012 with launch scheduled for March 2014. The proposal and selection of the preliminary design occur in October –December. The following February, a preliminary design review (PDR) is conducted at DLR when the design must get an approval to continue (team ISAAC got a conditional pass from DLR, meaning they need to clarify some aspects of the design). After PDR, the team will begin detailed design and will begin testing prototypes around April. The critical design review (CDR) will then take place in June, after which the design will be frozen with only minor changes allowed.

Team ISAAC presenting at DLR

The next step is where you can be involved with team ISAAC if you are starting your studies at KTH in the fall. After CDR, manufacturing and testing will become very important to the project. The team will even receive another review in August or September on the progress of the testing, manufacturing and rocket integration. Final approval will be granted in December after which the only thing left will be a trip to Kiruna to integrate the experiment onto the rocket and launch!

Team ISAAC members at DLR

If you want to find out more, check out team ISAAC’s Facebook page, blog or official KTH page and the REXUS/BEXUS page.

If you’ve opened up YouTube in the past couple weeks, you’ve no doubt seen many of the Harlem shake videos from everyone including the Norwegian army and the Daily Show.

Today at 3 pm, a giant Harlem shake was organized at Sergels Torg (main square above the central station), a few of my friends and I took part, the video won’t be posted for a little while, but I’ll put up the link once it’s done!

Update: the videos are now up: 1 and 2

Last Wednesday, the physics section of KTH held a small job fair that prominently featured   Swedish telecom giant Ericsson and a few other opportunities such as studybuddy (a way to earn some extra cash while in university by tutoring kids). They also gave out cinnamon rolls (kanelbullar in Swedish, a very important word to remember) to everyone in attendance.

The day after, another expo was held in the KTH library featuring several companies, among them the energy company Vattenfall, water provider Xylem and Ericsson.

Opportunities like these pop up throughout the academic year, so keep your eyes open and check the KTH website often once you begin your studies here!