Most, if not all, of us desire to have a longer life. You’d agree with me, however, that it’s even better to live a long and healthy life. 

While most people know what to do in order to achieve such a goal, some of these do not necessarily follow the advice given to them. Sometimes, a person can cheat in a program or routine that he dedicated himself into. For example, he might skip his early morning workout, or sneak a doughnut during a coffee break. This is why personality is important.

Researchers in behavioral medicine and health recognized decades ago that personality must be taken into account in understanding the factors which influence adopting a life-prolonging lifestyle. This field originated in the now-classic, though imperfect, studies on the “Type A Behavior Pattern,” in which hard-driving, impatient, achievement-oriented, and super-punctual individuals appeared to have higher risk of cardiovascular disease than their laid-back Type B counterparts. Researchers continue to expand on related personality and behavior patterns, with the latest entry being the “Type D” (for distressed), which refers to people who suppress their negative emotions, compromising their recovery from a cardiovascular event. More generally, however, researchers are interested in the overall personality traits or dispositions that can affect people’s health through lifestyle risk factors.

More of this over at Psychology Today.

What are your thoughts on this one?

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As earthquakes frequently occur in Japan, it is no wonder why they think more about earthquake safety more than anyone else. 

One of the most crucial things to do during an earthquake is protecting your head from falling objects. There are a lot of ways you can do this. For example, you can get under a desk or table, or cover your head using a helmet. A helmet, however, is bulky and takes up a lot of space. Fortunately, there is the Derucap —a lightweight and portable helmet.

The Derucap is designed specifically for protecting your head in the event of an earthquake, and what makes it unique is how it stores flat when not in use, measuring just about 1.6″ thick. To open it up, simply place it over your head, and pull down until it’s expanded. The lightweight helmet is made from a flame retardant polyethylene, and can cushion the blow in the event that something falls on your head. It’s not going to protect you from a 2-ton steel beam, but it should reduce the chances of injury from things like items falling off of shelves or other small debris.

The Derucap comes in two designs – a compact model that you can toss in a desk drawer, or a stackable square model which comes in boxes of 10. If you live in Japan, you should be able to grab one for about 3,900 yen – or about $36. But if you want to import one to the states, you’ll need to turn to Japan Trend Shop, who sells singles for $69 each.

(Image Credit: Technabob)

You know that a man is a genius when scientists still marvel at his creations over five centuries later. Leonardo da Vinci was truly a man ahead of his time, as proved by his creations.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineers have analyzed a bridge designed by Da Vinci in 1502, which is over 500 years ago. The bridge was designed for Sultan Bayezid II, head of the Ottoman Empire, and was intended to connect Istanbul and its neighboring city Galata.

In the end, da Vinci's design wasn't used, but the MIT team has carefully modelled the polymath's design, finding it to be structurally sound – no mean feat, considering it would've been the world's longest bridge at the time, by some distance.

Check out more details of the investigation over at ScienceAlert.

(Image Credit: Gretchen Ertl/ ScienceAlert)

Shortly after Anthony Swofford turned 18, the United States Marine Corps trained him to live, think and operate. This made him into one of the most lethal humans who walk on the earth. The Marine Corps transformed him from a typical suburban American kid into an ideal fighting machine “through a perfected, scientific regimen of psychological rewiring, physiological restructuring, and moral recoding.”

After 10 months in the grunt lab, I was assigned to an infantry battalion. I operated with a new kinesiology of the body and soul that had not only prepared me for war but created a thirst for any brand of conflict. I had an understanding of what perfection on the battlefield would look, sound, and taste like. I had become a Battle Bot.

My lethality increased with each personnel addition: from me, the rifleman, to the four-man fire team, the squad, the platoon, the company, the battalion. Each time, add new men, add new hunger, more firepower, more expertise, more technology with which to lay waste to the enemy. As the fighting organism grows in size, so does the inability to pause mission and consider whether the killing is just or moral: the killing just is.

Swofford writes that American warfighters of every generation is handed excellent new gadgets with which they can play around with. After all, “who doesn’t love a new toy?” And for a soldier, sniping people down can be a fun activity. 

And now, with technology providing us with new ways to kill people, without even stepping into the battleground, Swofford says that this creates moral distance, and that technology would increase killing.

Check out more of his analysis over at Technology Review.

(Image Credit: Pexels/ Pixabay)

It might sound like a really crazy idea that could come out from a person’s mind while he’s drunk. Nevertheless, this idea is already scientifically proven.

The idea is creating a refrigerator made from a rubber band. When you stretch a rubber band and hold it against your lips, you would notice that it is warmer. When you release it, it cools. This is called the “elastocaloric” effect, and this effect is very similar to how fluid refrigerants in a fridge or air conditioner transfer heat through compression and expansion.

Now, scientists have created a version that not only stretches the rubber band, but also twists it. It may one day lead to greener cooling technology.

To find out how twisting might enable a new kind of fridge, engineering graduate student Run Wang at Nankai University in Tianjin, China, and colleagues compared the cooling power of rubber fibers, nylon and polyethylene fishing lines, and nickel-titanium wires. For each material, they pulled a 3-centimeter length taut in a vise and began to wind it with a rotary tool. The fibers not only twisted, but also began to coil around themselves—and coil around the coils (a process known as “supercoiling”). The different fibers warmed up by as much as 15°C. When allowed to unwind, the fibers cooled by the same amount.

Check out more details of this study over at Science Magazine.

(Video Credit: Science Magazine/ YouTube)

Turns out that tardigrades, thanks to their having the molecular equivalent of cotton candy, can survive in outer space. In fact, they can survive just about anything, from being doused with hydrogen peroxide to being bombarded with X-rays, and even cosmic rays. These types of radiation and chemical exposures can create hydroxyl radicals (molecules composed of hydrogen and oxygen) that can greatly damage DNA.

Previous research indicated that a protein called Dsup, for damage suppressor, shields the tardigrade species Ramazzottius varieornatus from radiation. When added to human cells, the protein also protects against radiation. Now researchers have found out how.

Dsup surrounds nucleosomes — DNA wound around proteins called histones — “like a fluffy cloud of cotton candy,” molecular biologist James Kadonaga of the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla and colleagues report October 1 in eLife. That cloud keeps hydroxyl radicals away from DNA.

More details of this over at ScienceNews.

(Image Credit: Schokraie E, Warnken U, Hotz-Wagenblatt A, Grohme MA, Hengherr S, et al. (2012)/ Wikimedia Commons)

See also: Stress Tardigrade Squishy

Did you know that guppies, angelfish, and even honeybees can distinguish between qualities of three and four? However, according to Scarlett Howard from RMIT University, Australia and the Université de Toulouse, France, the trusty insects have a hard time distinguishing between four and five, and this made her wonder.

According to Howard, honeybees are quite accomplished mathematicians. 'Recently, honeybees were shown to learn the rules of "less than" and "greater than" and apply these rules to evaluate numbers from zero to six', she says. Maybe numeracy wasn't the bees' problem; was it how the question was posed?

The study by both Howard and Adrian Dyer from RMIT documents their discovery that bees can discriminate between four and five, given that the training procedure is correct. The study is published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

What is the correct training procedure? Find out over at EurekAlert.

(Image Credit: Alexas_Fotos/ Pixabay)

On October 11, at about 12:16 AM, Beijing Time, a dazzling meteor lit up the sky over Northeast China, turning night into day, casting dark shadows as it flew over the city. The meteor appeared as a bright fireball in surveillance videos of the event.

See the video over at Space.com.

(Image Credit: CCTV)

A Russian cosmonaut just created an artificial meat aboard the International Space Station, and it’s only a matter of time before these products come to a supermarket near you.

Tests carried out in space in September led to the production of beef, rabbit and fish tissue using a 3D printer.

Didier Toubia, the head of Aleph Farms, an Israeli startup, states that this new technology could possibly “make long-term travel possible and renew space exploration,” to Mars for example. The Israeli startup was the one who provided cells for the tests.

"But our goal is to sell meat on Earth," he told AFP.

The idea "is not to replace traditional agriculture," he said. "It's about being a better alternative to factory farming."

More details over at PHYS.org.

What are your thoughts on this one?

(Image Credit: PHYS.org)

Samsung creates good smartwatches. The smartwatches, however, remain underrated. It’s hard to be recognized in a category dominated by a single player. In this case, the smartwatch category belongs to Apple. 

Despite the fact that Apple holds the smartwatch category, Samsung was able to hold onto its number two spot on the global market share even though they are just 11.1 percent, which is only less than a third of what Apple has been able to generate.

The line has been a fairly stark contrast to Apple’s offerings. Samsung’s smartwatch philosophy is in line with its mobile counterpart: offer variety and don’t be afraid to try new things. Compare that to the Apple Watch’s annual improvements. The company offers one, key product, opting to make a little bit better, piece by piece.

Announced at the Unpacked event that gave us the S10 back in February, the Galaxy Watch Active presented a streamlining of the line. And simplified —and, most notably, cheaper — take on the Tizen-powered wearable line. Honestly, that $200 price point was really the key, putting the device in line with Fitbit’s relatively recent foray into the category.

A mere six months later, it returned with the Galaxy Watch Active 2. The device brings a smattering of upgrades, including improved heart rate monitoring (with the ECG sensor currently still in beta) and the addition of both an LTE model and a larger 44mm version. Thankfully, it maintains a streamlined design that’s a welcome alternative to some of Samsung’s bigger, bulkier offerings. 

Check out more details about this over at TechCrunch.

(Image Credit: TechCrunch)

Speed kills.

That is something that had to be etched in the minds of the Bugatti and Michelin engineers, as well as driver Andy Wallace, as they pushed a modified Chiron to 304.77 miles an hour.

As you would expect, driving a production car that fast involves more than just finding a straight path, strapping in and hoping for the best. Instead, it required adjustments to the car, the wheels and nerves of steel.

When you’re going that fast, the driver also has to make perhaps less-than-a-split-second decisions; he has to really pay attention to both the road and the car. Every micromovement matters.

Check more details over at Engadget.

(Video Credit: Top Gear/ YouTube)

It’s hard to be a bike commuter amidst the busy roads. To make sure that you’ll surely get noticed by drivers and avoid accidents, you need a lot of work to do, like putting reflectors on your clothes, installing lights on your bike, and even putting on neon yellow vests.

Now, there’s a new accessory for bikers, which just became available recently on Wednesday. It is the Lumos Matrix helmets by Apple, which come in two colors, black and white, and costs $249.95 each.

The Lumos Matrix reimagines the function of helmets for today’s electric scooter and bike riders, co-founder and CEO Eu-wen Ding says.

“Design is really about solving human problems, but no one is really looking at [the commuters’] problems,” Ding says. “What the traditional guys are trying to solve is, ‘How can we make this super lightweight? How can we make this super aerodynamic?' We are asking different questions: ‘How can we make a helmet that has a lot of lights, that can be seen from far away, and that drivers can recognize?’”

[...]

Bikers can activate the lights with a simple touchpad that can be attached to their bike handlebars or an Apple Watch app that automatically detects hand signals. A mobile app allows users to adjust the lights’ brightness and flash frequency; it even offers users a new option to customize the animation displayed on the rear panel.

What are your thoughts on this one? Do you think the helmet’s price is just right, or is it overpriced?

(Video Credit: Lumos Helmet/ YouTube)

In 2013, notable people in the computer science world assembled together to launch a new nonprofit called Code.org. Their goal: to get more computer science students into schools. 

People who have contributed a lot in the computer science world, like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, donated millions of dollars to the nonprofit group. According to Code.org’s last annual report, the nonprofit has spent over $91 million between 2013 and 2018, and of that amount, $6.9 million went for the advocacy of state legislation across the country.

As part of the organization’s mission to “make computer science count” in K-12 education, code.org takes credit for having influenced graduation policies in 42 states. Today, 47 states and the District of Columbia allow computer science classes to count in place of math classes like Algebra 2. Prior to the organization’s work, only a few states allowed computer science to count for math credit.

In addition, 29 states passed legislation allowing computer science to count in place of a science course.

The question is, is this good?

Find out more about this topic over at Ohio State News.

What are your thoughts on this one?

(Image Credit: geralt/ Pixabay)

You might want to strap a light resistance band between your feet the next time you go out to jog. While this may seem as odd, this is a rather effective method to make you an efficient runner by about 6.4%, according to UC Santa Barbara mechanical engineer Elliot Hawkes.

“In running, the energy is mostly wasted,” said Hawkes, who conducted research on this topic while at Stanford University. His paper appears in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Running is an extremely inefficient activity for the human body (which is why it’s also a calorie-torching workout). According to Hawkes’ study, for every 10 calories burned, less than one calorie is needed to maintain a constant forward velocity. The other nine calories are spent keeping us from falling as we pound the pavement with our bodymass, as well as braking and accelerating the swinging leg. Hawkes noticed this inefficiency while biking at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco at a cycling track concentric with a running track.

“It was kind of an interesting challenge because as an engineer, when you see a very inefficient system, you think, ‘Oh gosh that’s really bad; there’s got to be some low-hanging fruit that would improve it a bit,’” he said.

So how did they come up with their solution? Find out on The Current.

(Image Credit: Journal of Experimental Biology/ The Current)

As a high school student in the 90s, Theodore Kim liked both art and computers. But how can both interests be connected? Kim wasn’t sure how, and then he saw the first “Toy Story” movie, which is one of the earliest films to feature computer animation. That’s when all of the pieces fell into place.

“It wasn’t even a thing before that,” said Kim, associate professor of computer science. “I thought that you couldn’t combine art and engineering in some interesting way, but now it was like ‘Oh, actually you can!’” 

Twenty four years after the first Toy Story movie, the 4th film in the franchise is now available on DVD this week, and Kim’s work is featured in this film.

In this case, it includes an innovation of his that gives life to the pull string that provides Woody (the cowboy voiced by Tom Hanks) his catchphrases. For the first three Toy Story movies, it took a lot of arduous work to get the string to move in a way that looked realistically, and even then, it could look a little too stretchy or awkward at times. Strings have what’s known as anisotropic properties - that is, they contain fibers with varying degrees of resistance. It’s what makes things like breaking wood or plants swaying in the wind tricky to animate.

“Usually, the artist has to go in and sculpt everything by hand, so they have to intuit what the physics is supposed to be, and then animate it by hand,” said Kim, formerly a senior research scientist at PixarResearch, who joined the Computer Science department this summer. “This time around, we figured out the physics of the fibers so that animators can use a simulator to see how it should behave.”

Aside from computer animation, Kim’s work can also be applied in the medical and the aeronautical field.

Head over to Yale to know more about Kim’s work.

(Image Credit: Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science)