Pizza is so good that most of us would be happy to eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner, if it weren’t for the fact that it was more than a little unhealthy. But now a scientist has created what he claims is the first nutritionally balanced pizza—and it’s OK to eat it three times a day, ever day. More »
Printing a chocolate heart is easy enough, but how about an actual organ? There are folks working on it, but it turns out those veins of yours aren’t exactly a breeze to replicate. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and MIT may have found a semi-sweet solution — dissolving a sugar lattice in a batch of living Jell-O. The research team uses a RepRap 3D printer and a custom extruder head to print a filament network composed of sucrose, glucose and dextran which is later encased in a bio-gel containing living cells. Once the confectionery paths are dissolved, they leave a network of artery-like channels in their void. Tissue living in the gel can then receive oxygen and nutrients through the hollow pipes.
The research has been promising so far, and has increased the number of functional liver cells the team has been able to maintain in artificial tissues. These results suggest the technique could have future research possibilities in developing lab-grown organs. MIT Professor Sangeeta Bhatia, who helped conduct the effort, hopes to push the group’s work further. “More work will be needed to learn how to directly connect these types of vascular networks to natural blood vessels while at the same time investigating fundamental interactions between the liver cells and the patterned vasculature. It’s an exciting future ahead.” Scientists at other labs could also get their mitts on the sweet templates since they’re stable enough to endure shipping. Head past the break for a video of the innard infrastructure.
Researchers use 3D printer, sugar, to create a fake artery network for lab-grown tissue originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 04:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New research suggests that exposure to certain microbes during infancy—particularly, to those from a particular strain of bacteria found in dogs—can alter the intestinal flora of a baby’s developing GI tract such that asthmatic symptoms of a common virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), are undetectable. More »
Windows that make you feel happier and healthier? Working in an office might just become a more pleasurable experience if the research geeks at the German Fraunhofer institute have their way, cooking up panes with a special coating that specifically allows through wavelengths known to have a positive impact on the body’s hormonal balance. The end result, it’s claimed, is a sheet that “makes you feel as if the window is permanently open” researcher Walther Glaubitt says.
Traditional treated glass uses anti-reflective coatings for aesthetic purposes, the researchers point out, preventing reflections and allowing through the maximum amount of light to avoid needing so much artificial illumination. However, the human eye is particularly sensitive to blue light, and so the Fraunhofer tech focuses on allowing that through.
“Our biorhythms are not affected by the wavelengths that brighten a room the most, but rather by blue light,” engineer Glaubitt says. The coating they’ve given is an inorganic later, 0.1 micrometers thick, that exhibits maximum transmission at wavelengths between 450 and 500 nanometers, where the effects of blue light are at their strongest.
Shortages in blue light can lead to SAD (seasonal effectiveness disorder), issues with sleeping due to excess melatonin production, depression and other problems. Traditional methods to combat this include blue-LED “energy lights” such as the Philips model we reviewed last year.
UNIGLASS and Centrosolar Glas are planning to bring the specially-treated glass to market as “VITAL feel-good glass” in triple-glazed units, which would usually make the room feel no darker but which would prevent more blue light from making it through. In fact, while regular triple-glazing allows through 66-percent of light at the 460 nanometer wavelength – the blue area – the VITAL glazing will allow through 79-percent.
Future versions, however, will extend the coating to the outer-sides of the glass sheets, further improving transmission. In fact, it’s expected that UNIGLASS can achieve 95-percent transmission eventually.
VITAL feel-good glass replaces pain with happy pane is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Samsung mentioned its S Health app in passing during the grand unveiling of the Galaxy S III — presumably due to the glut of similarly S-suffixed apps and services that were also unveiled. The service has now apparently launched in Samsung’s homeland, alongside more details of what it’ll offer. This includes a raft of metric-measuring charts, as well as the ability to connect through Bluetooth and USB to health devices like heart-rate monitors and connectivity-friendly scales. The app will record and even graph your health ups and downs, aiming to help “regulate” what you eat and gauge exactly how much you exercise. It has now launch on Samsung’s App hub and will make its way to the US and five to-be-confirmed European countries soon. Let Samsung explain the “warm emotional experience” in a Google-translated release right after the break.
Update: We’ve just received the English version of the PR, which adds that the app is now live in the UK, alongside an initial list of compatible health devices. Take a look after the break.
Continue reading Samsung launches S Health services: Monitors weight, blood sugar and graphs it all
Samsung launches S Health services: Monitors weight, blood sugar and graphs it all originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 04:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung has launched its S Health app for the Galaxy S III, allowing the Android smartphone to connect to select health readers and sensors and track glucose levels, blood pressure and more. Revealed at the Galaxy S III launch in May, where we grabbed a little hands-on time, S Health currently works with five different devices and can also be used with manually-inputted data, building up a log of physical fitness.
Connectivity is either via USB or Bluetooth, depending on external device, and the app supports blood glucose measurements, blood pressure tracking, and body composition. It’s also possible to augment that data with manually-entered diet, exercise, medication intake, and other information.
Samsung expects the app to be used not only by those with medical conditions such as diabetes, but anyone who wants to maintain a record of their health and perhaps target a weight-loss goal. Just in case you’ve always wanted to tell the world about your physical fitness, you can hook it up to social networks including Twitter and tweet out updates.
At launch, S Health works with the Lifescan Blood Glucose Meter (aka the OneTouch UltraMini/UltraEasy Blood Glucose Meter in the US) via USB, and the OMRON Blood Pressure Monitor (HEM-7081-IT), OMRON Body Composition Monitor (HBF-206-IT), A&D Blood Pressure Monitor (UA-767PBT-C) and A&D Body Composition Monitor (UA-321PBT-C) via Bluetooth.
The S Health app itself is a free download from the Samsung “More Services” app on the Galaxy S III itself.
Samsung S Health for Galaxy S III goes live is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Nike’s FuelBand is already gracing the wrists of athletes and wannabe-athletes, but if you insist on standing out when you’re working out then you need the new, limited edition. The Nike+ FuelBand ICE is, as the frostily cool name suggests, a translucent version of the original FuelBand.
Inside there’s the same three-axis accelerometer and array of white and colored LEDs to help track your movements and keep record of your fitness. The difference is, rather than the sober black rubber of the regular FuelBand, you get so see some of the electronics as they track whether you’re a couch potato or a hot potato.
That tracking is measured not only in steps or calories, but Nike+ Fuel points. The company claims it has done fancy research into what sort of movements correspond to what sort of activity, and that allows the FuelBand to recognize exactly what you’re doing – as long as you’re moving your arm – and score you accordingly.
Hit your target, and you get a light-show on the band itself, and more congratulations on Nike’s socially-enabled tracking site to which the FuelBand synchronizes. There, you can monitor your progress, set goals, and share your successes with people on Facebook.
The Nike+ FuelBand ICE will go on sale at NikeTown locations in New York, San Francisco and London on July 27. It will also be available at London’s Boxpark, the House of Innovation at Selfridges, and New York’s 21 Mercer Street. Meanwhile regular availability will follow on come August 12 from Nike’s online store. Stocks will be limited, though Nike isn’t saying exactly how many ICE units will be made.
Nike+ FuelBand overview:
Nike+ FuelBand ICE makes fitness transparent is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Childbirth is a painful process for a mom, even with epidural pain
killers that effectively reduce that pain. Fear of that pain, called tocophobia,
is why some women choose not to have children at all. But for women
who do become pregnant and carry their children to term, the fear of
childbirth may actually cause greater difficulty to the mother in the
delivery room, according to a new study from Norway.
Sometimes you want to smoke when you drink. Somewhere down the road, that turns into always smoking when you drink. Eventually that turns into just smoking. Cigarettes can be a tough habit to kick. But smokers might soon have some help. Scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York have cooked up a possible vaccine for nicotine dependency. More »
In an alternate universe somewhere, the Father of Obamacare might have
actually had a shot at becoming the next president of the United States,
had he just stuck to his guns. Because on Planet Earth, the candidate
responsible for this
accomplishment is not Obama. Obama cannot take credit for inventing the
Affordable Care Act. It was ironically his opposition who laid the
groundwork in Massachusetts, and then decided to take the wrong fork
in the road to diminish its application for the nation.
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