Nicole Hayward Staffwriter

Articles

• PeaceMaker: Real-life challenges become virtual

  Think of a challenging video game with violence. Now think of a dangerous, real-life situation. Put them together, and you have PeaceMaker, a video game that dares you to tackle one of the toughest situations in the world: the conflict between the Arabs and Israelis.
  PeaceMaker is a current project at Carnegie Mellon?s Entertainment and Technology Center (ETC). Less than one year ago, PeaceMaker ...

  SciTech | October 31, 2005
• My Secure Cyberspace educates kids and adults

  How would you like to be a cyberspace cadet; part of a space-suit wearing team that protects the cyber-world from cyber-villains such as MC Spammer and Elvirus? If you?d like to take the challenge, as many elementary school children in Pittsburgh have, you?re not too far away.
  My Secure Cyberspace is a project created jointly by Carnegie Mellon University?s CyLab and the Information Networking In...

  SciTech | September 26, 2005
• How Things Work: The Claw Game

  The claw game ? you know, that game where you thought you?d grabbed a stuffed bear but now you?re mad because that worthless claw dropped it ? has ruthlessly taken 50 cents at a time from children for years. The game is fairly simple: it?s a big box packed with stuffed animals, a claw, an xy-plotter, and a spool. All you need to do is use controllers to direct the claw above a stuffed animal, and ...

  SciTech | April 18, 2005
• Local team takes first in high school robotics competition

  ?We were a rookie team ? we had borrowed tools in a Shop ?n? Save bag ? but the rookie team won out,? said Michael Dischner, the advisor of the McKeesport High School team that won the FIRST Pittsburgh Regional Robotics Competition on March 12. While this year?s FIRST competition is a true story of an underdog?s amazing triumph, its happy ending has yet to come: The McKeesport team may not have en...

  SciTech | March 28, 2005