Short term pedometer-based walking interventions can have long-term health benefits for adults and older adults, according to new research published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine on 25 June. Tess Harris and colleagues from St George's University of London, UK and other institutions, conducted two trials of walking interventions which aimed to increase step count and physical activity. Not only did the investigators see sustained increases in physical activity at 3-4 years in the intervention group participants, they also noted fewer cardiovascular events and fractures.
* This article was originally published here
Tuesday 25 June 2019
First-ever successful mind-controlled robotic arm without brain implants
A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota, has made a breakthrough in the field of noninvasive robotic device control. Using a noninvasive brain-computer interface (BCI), researchers have developed the first-ever successful mind-controlled robotic arm exhibiting the ability to continuously track and follow a computer cursor.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Teaching robots what humans want
Told to optimize for speed while racing down a track in a computer game, a car pushes the pedal to the metal … and proceeds to spin in a tight little circle. Nothing in the instructions told the car to drive straight, and so it improvised.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Hubble finds tiny 'electric soccer balls' in space, helps solve interstellar mystery
Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of electrically-charged molecules in space shaped like soccer balls, shedding light on the mysterious contents of the interstellar medium (ISM) - the gas and dust that fills interstellar space.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
National emergency alerts potentially vulnerable to attack
On October 3, 2018, cell phones across the United States received a text message labeled "Presidential Alert." The message read: "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed."
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Islands in the sun: Heatwave gives cities that sinking feeling
Boffins call it a heat sink—a passive exchanger designed to dissipate heat—but when the sink is an actual city, its concrete and asphalt sweltering in the heat, it feels more like an oven to those who live and work there.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Symbiotic upcycling: Turning 'low value' compounds into biomass
Plants use light energy from the sun for photosynthesis to turn carbon dioxide (CO2) into biomass. Animals can't do that. Therefore, some of them have teamed up with bacteria that carry out a process called chemosynthesis. It works almost like photosynthesis, only that it uses chemical energy instead of light energy. Many animals rely on chemosynthetic bacteria to supply them with food. The symbionts turn CO2 into biomass and are subsequently digested by their host. Kentron, a bacterium nourishing the ciliate Kentrophoros, was thought to be 'just another' chemosynthetic symbiont. However, recent results indicate that it is not.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Instagram chief insists it doesn't spy on users
Instagram doesn't snoop on private conversations as part of its advertising targeting strategy, the head of the popular social media site said in an interview Tuesday.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Hate speech on Twitter predicts frequency of real-life hate crimes
According to a first-of-its-kind study, cities with a higher incidence of a certain kind of racist tweets reported more actual hate crimes related to race, ethnicity, and national origin.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Milk: Best drink to reduce burn from chili peppers
People who order their Buffalo wings especially spicy and sometimes find them to be too "hot," should choose milk to reduce the burn, according to Penn State researchers, who also suggest it does not matter if it is whole or skim.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Finding missing network links could help develop new drugs, stop disease, ease traffic
A new mathematical model of the structure of networks could help find new cancer drugs, speed up traffic flow and combat sexually transmitted disease.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Stem cells moonlight to protect the stomach from bacterial invaders
Our mucosal surfaces are constantly exposed to numerous bacterial species, some of which can induce DNA damage in host cells. Normally this remains inconsequential, as the rapid turnover of the mucosa means damaged cells are shed within days. However, if the long-lived stem cells that continually give rise to new replacement cells receive damage it could lead to the development of cancer. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology and the Charité-Universitätsmedizin in Berlin have now revealed that the gastric stem cell pool does do not merely divide to generate new daughter cells, but that they can secrete antimicrobial molecules to actively defend the stem cell niche against bacteria.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Researchers see around corners to detect object shapes
Computer vision researchers have demonstrated they can use special light sources and sensors to see around corners or through gauzy filters, enabling them to reconstruct the shapes of unseen objects.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Trump 5G push could hamper forecasting of deadly storms
As atmospheric rivers dumped record volumes of rain on California this spring, emergency responders used the federal government's satellites to warn people about where the storms were likely to hit hardest.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
New therapy promotes vascular repair following stroke
Following a stroke, antibodies that inhibit the signaling molecule Nogo-A can help repair blood vessels in the affected brain regions. This also promotes the regaining of motor functions, researchers at the University of Zurich have shown in a mouse model. The study opens up new avenues for treatment.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Russian, North American astronauts return to earth
The first crew to blast off to the International Space Station following a launch accident that deepened doubts over Russia's space programme returned to earth safely on Tuesday.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Better care needed for people displaying first symptoms of bipolar disorder
Better care and more research into treatments for people experiencing a first manic episode are urgently needed, according to researchers at the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Young women who smoke face highest risk of major heart attack
Smoking increases both men's and women's risk of a major heart attack at all ages, but women smokers have a significantly higher increased risk compared to men, especially women under 50 years old, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Despite the increased risk, smokers can reduce their risk to that of a never smoker in as little as a month after quitting.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Jump in wildfires means smoke's health impact will spread
Climate change in the Western U.S. means more intense and frequent wildfires churning out waves of smoke that scientists say will affect tens of millions of people and cause premature deaths to spike.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
Short-term effects of hurricanes Irma and Maria on Puerto Rico's forest birds
In September of 2017, hurricanes Irma and Maria delivered a devastating one-two punch to Puerto Rico, causing significant defoliation of the island's forests. While the detrimental effects of these storms on human populations was well-documented, little was known about how the island's bird populations were affected - until now. A new paper published in PLOS ONE by Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) and colleagues compares occupancy of birds in forested areas across Puerto Rico during a winter before (2015) and shortly after (2018) the passage of these hurricanes. Using dynamic community models analyzed within a Bayesian framework, the authors find significant changes in species detectability, with some species becoming more readily detected after the storms and others becoming more difficult to detect.
* This article was originally published here
* This article was originally published here
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