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Biotech

Monitor Your Health 24x7 With the WIN Human Recorder 66

Posted by timothy from the paranoia-count-high dept.
kkleiner writes "Japanese venture firm WIN Human Recorder Ltd is set to bring a health monitor patch to market that is capable of keeping tabs on all your vitals. The HRS-I is a small (30mm x 30mm x 5mm) lightweight (7g) device that adheres to your chest and relays the data it collects to a computer or mobile phone via wireless connection. While the HRS-I only directly monitors electrocardiograph information, body surface temperature, and movement (via accelerometers), it can connect to sensors for heart rate, brain waves, respiration and many other important health indicators. WIN is selling the HRS-I for around ¥30,000 (~$330) and providing monitoring software for around ¥10,000 (~$110)."

Comment Re:Sad news (Score 1) 920

by Aelcyx (#30927850) Attached to: Obama Choosing NOT To Go To the Moon

Good points, all, 'cept for the AC who claims I'm talking out of my arse. Then again, on the Internet, no one knows if you're Ace Ventura.

Perhaps Japan was a bad example. There really is no good example of tax dollars being used to benefit the public directly through massive research projects, i.e., like DARPA without the "D." Perhaps "CARPA" - "Consumer Advanced Research Projects Agency." It's a little annoying to realize we can spend billions on getting people to the moon and figuring out a zillion ways to kill someone, yet the smog is giving me asthma, traffic sucks and public transportation is still lame (Japan IS better at this), our food supply is not robust (it's a chain of services only as strong as its weakest link), etc. It'd be great even if the military would spend its research man-hours figuring out better ways to teach and learn material, not just for their agents, but for every student. And then there's the levy system. Don't get me wrong, the indirect benefits of their research are great, but are we really better off benefiting from offshoots of military projects? All I'm asking is why can't we benefit from more directed research. (Note: of course research into defense projects is necessary - I'm not advocating cutting off military funding altogether).

Comment Re:Sad news (Score 1) 920

by Aelcyx (#30923064) Attached to: Obama Choosing NOT To Go To the Moon

Your #2 point sounds like a rainbow on an oil slick to me. The Japanese have been forbidden from having a military since WW2 and developed many, many consumer achievements. Why not cut out the middleman, i.e., the military when it comes to that?
Biotech

Scientists To Breed the Auroch From Extinction 277

Posted by samzenpus from the back-by-popular-demand dept.
ImNotARealPerson writes "Scientists in Italy are hoping to breed back from extinction the mighty auroch, a bovine species which has been extinct since 1627. The auroch weighed 2,200 pounds (1000kg) and its shoulders stood at 6'6". The beasts once roamed most of Asia and northern Africa. The animal was depicted in cave paintings and Julius Caesar described it as being a little less in size than an elephant. A member of the Consortium for Experimental Biotechnology suggests that 99% of the auroch's DNA can be recreated from genetic material found in surviving bone material. Wikipedia mentions that researchers in Poland are working on the same problem."
Image

Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child 331

Posted by samzenpus from the snack-is-going-to-be-on-the-floor-today dept.
Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child's skin too clean impaired the skin's ability to heal itself. From the article: "'These germs are actually good for us,' said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are 'good bacteria' when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation."
Transportation

220-mph Solar-Powered Train Proposed In Arizona 416

Posted by kdawson from the gonna-soak-up-the-sun dept.
Mike writes "An ambitious Arizona company has recently revealed plans for a solar powered bullet train that will streak across the desert at 220 mph, traveling from Tuscon to Phoenix in 30 minutes flat. Proposed by Solar Bullet LLC, the system comprises a series of tracks that would serve stations including Chandler, Casa Grande, Red Rock, and Marana, and may one day be extended to Flagstaff and Nogales. The train would require 110 megawatts of electricity, which would be generated by solar panels mounted above the tracks." Local coverage of the plan takes a harder look, noting that Solar Bullet LLC is two guys who are now asking local governments in the towns at which such a train would potentially stop for $35K for a legal and feasibility study. Total cost is estimated at $27B.
Education

Submission + - MIT sues architect of $300 million tech building (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by
bednarz
bednarz writes: "Architect Frank Gehry's celebrated design for the Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is making headlines again — this time because of a lawsuit claiming deficient design work is the cause of leaks, cracks and mold in the 730,000-square-foot building. MIT dedicated the $300 million Stata Center building, home to its Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), in May 2004. Soon after its completion, the center's outdoor amphitheater began to crack, leaks sprang up throughout the building and mold grew on parts of the exterior, the lawsuit alleges."
Robotics

Submission + - Microbes as tiny machines

Submitted by bing4545
bing4545 writes: Physorg is reporting that microorganisms act as tiny machines in future MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) devices. For instance, the single-celled Spirostomum is a tiny brown worm that can contract its 500-micrometer-long body to 25% of its length in a millisecond, making this protozoan the fastest-contracting microorganism known. Scientists think of microorganisms like this as tiny functional machines. After all, many of them have capabilities far surpassing the current state-of-the-art in MEMS technology.
Bug

Submission + - A futher clarification on the bees..........

Submitted by
Vvaghel1
Vvaghel1 writes: "Seeing as there have been a few posts on the Bees and their [alleged] population decline in western nations, a recent news story both claims that a pathogen that is responsible has been identified as well as makes clear that there may be a concensus among researchers that this decline is a real abberation [something that many /.ers are skeptical of]. From the article: A team of scientists from Edgewood Chemical Biological Center and University of California San Francisco identified both a virus and a parasite that are likely behind the recent sudden die-off of honey-bee colonies ........... Using a new technology called the Integrated Virus Detection System (IVDS), which was designed for military use to rapidly screen samples for pathogens, ECBC scientists last week isolated the presence of viral and parasitic pathogens that may be contributing to the honeybee loss. The story: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/07042 6100117.htm Those claiming to have identified the pathogen: http://www.ecbc.army.mil/"

Feed Ceiling Height Can Affect How A Person Thinks, Feels And Acts (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
For years contractors, real estate agents and event planners have said that whether building, buying or planning an event, a higher or vaulted ceiling is always better. Are they right? Until now there has been no real evidence that ceiling height has any influence or advantage with consumers. But recent research suggests that the way people think and act is affected by ceiling height.

Feed Studying Early China, To Learn Why Civilizations Rise And Fall (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
In the Yellow River valley of northern China, Zhichun Jing digs through the remains of long-ago cities to find insights for modern survival. Over the past 10 years, Jing has been excavating the cities of the late Shang Dynasty. Flourishing between 1,200 and 1,050 BC, the Shang was one of the first literate civilizations in China and East Asia.

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