Archive for the 'Health' Category
Meet the Robot Telemarketer Who Denies She’s A Robot
December 13th, 2013Via: Time: The phone call came from a charming woman with a bright, engaging voice to the cell phone of a TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer. She wanted to offer a deal on health insurance, but something was fishy. When Scherer asked point blank if she was a real person, or a computer-operated robot […]
Bloomberg Wants Mandatory Flu Vaccinations for New York City Schoolchildren
December 10th, 2013Via: Politicker: On Wednesday, with just three weeks to go until he leaves office, Mr. Bloomberg’s controversial Board of Health is set to vote on new rules that would force children as young as six months old to be immunized each year before December 31 if they attend licensed day care or pre-school programs.
U.S. Doctors Choose a $2000 Drug Instead of a $50 Alternative to Treat Eye Condition
December 8th, 2013Via: Washington Post: The two drugs have been declared equivalently miraculous. Tested side by side in six major trials, both prevent blindness in a common old-age affliction. Biologically, they are cousins. They’re even made by the same company. But one holds a clear price advantage. Avastin costs about $50 per injection. Lucentis costs about $2,000 […]
Stanford: Method of recording Brain Activity Could Lead to ‘Mind-Reading’ Devices
December 7th, 2013Intracranial implant required. Via: Stanford: A brain region activated when people are asked to perform mathematical calculations in an experimental setting is similarly activated when they use numbers — or even imprecise quantitative terms, such as “more than”— in everyday conversation, according to a study by Stanford University School of Medicine scientists. Using a novel […]
Microsoft Mood Bra to Help Women with Emotional Pigouts [???]
December 6th, 2013Via: BBC: Microsoft researchers have designed a smart bra that can detect stress. The prototype contains removable sensors that monitor heart and skin activity to provide an indication of mood levels. The aim was to find out if wearable technology could help prevent stress-related over-eating. Mood data was provided to the wearer via a smartphone […]
Dangerous Air Pollution in Shanghai, Schoolchildren Ordered Indoors
December 6th, 2013Via: Guardian: Shanghai authorities ordered schoolchildren indoors and halted all construction on Friday as China’s financial hub suffered one its worst bouts of air pollution, bringing visibility down to a few dozen meters and obscuring the city’s spectacular skyline. The financial district was shrouded in a yellow haze and noticeably fewer people walked the city’s […]
Determination Can be Induced by Electrical Brain Stimulation
December 6th, 2013Via: Guardian: Doctors in the US have induced feelings of intense determination in two men by stimulating a part of their brains with gentle electric currents. The men were having a routine procedure to locate regions in their brains that caused epileptic seizures when they felt their heart rates rise, a sense of foreboding, and […]
Newborn-to-Toddler Apptivity™ Seat
December 5th, 2013Television and other entertainment media should be avoided for infants and children under age 2. A child’s brain develops rapidly during these first years, and young children learn best by interacting with people, not screens. —American Academy of Pediatrics In other news: Screen Time Resulting in Children Turning Up to Doctors with Motor Delays, Decreased […]
DHS Agent Cites Private Medical History to Deny Canadian Entry Into U.S.
December 2nd, 2013Via: Network World: A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent cited private medical history, a ‘mental illness episode,’ as the reason to deny a wheelchair-bound Canadian woman entry into the U.S.
Typhoons Spread Fukushima Fallout
November 29th, 2013Via: AFP: Typhoons that hit Japan each year are helping spread radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the country’s waterways, researchers say. Contaminated soil gets washed away by the high winds and rain and deposited in streams and rivers, a joint study by France’s Climate and Environmental Science laboratory (LSCE) and Tsukuba University […]
