Tag Archives: science news update
Device to soak turns water into super-heated steam
Summary:Engineers have built a device that soaks up enough heat from the sun to boil water and produce ‘superheated’ steam hotter than 100 degrees Celsius, without any expensive optics.
MIT engineers have built a device that soaks up enough heat from the sun to boil water and produce “superheated” steam hotter than 100 degrees Celsius,… Read More
Parents and kids spend more time discussing mobile technology than talking about content
Summary:Most parents would agree that one of the of the biggest modern parenting challenges is monitoring a child’s online activity.
A new study appearing in the Journal of Child and Family Studiesfound that parents spend more time talking with kids about the mechanics of using their mobile devices than they do about what their kids watch and download… Read More
Correlation between obesity & income has developed only in the past 30 years
Summary:It is well known that poorer Americans are more likely to be obese or suffer from diabetes; there is a strong negative correlation between household income and both obesity and diabetes. This negative correlation, however, has only developed in the past 30 years, according to researchers. Since 1990, the rise of obesity and diabetes was fastest among… Read More
Excess body weight responsible for almost 4% of cancers worldwide
Summary:Excess body weight accounted for approximately 3.9 percent of all cancers worldwide in 2012, a figure that is expected to rise in the coming decades given current trends.
Policies, economic systems, and marketing practices that promote the consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor food, changing behavioral patterns that couple high total … Read More
Study finds that large restaurant portions are a global problem
Summary:A multi-country study finds that large portion sizes in fast food and full service restaurants is not a problem unique to the US. The researchers found that 94 percent of full service meals and 72 percent of fast food meals studied in five countries contained 600 calories or more.
A new multi-country study finds that large, high-calorie portion sizes… Read More
Why is the world’s water supply shrinking
Summary:A global study has found a paradox: our water supplies are shrinking at the same time as climate change is generating more intense rain. And the culprit is the drying of soils, say researchers, pointing to a world where drought-like conditions will become the new normal, especially in regions that are already dry.
A global study has found a paradox: … Read More
Sewing high-tech heating patches to your clothes may be an energy-efficient way to stay warm
Summary:What if, instead of turning up the thermostat, you could warm up with high-tech, flexible patches sewn into your clothes — while significantly reducing your electric bill and carbon footprint? Engineers have found a cost-effective way to make thin, durable heating patches by using intense pulses of light to fuse tiny silver wires with polyester.… Read More
How teens deal with stress can affect their blood pressure and immune system
Summary:Most teens get stressed out by their families from time to time, but whether they bottle those emotions up or put a positive spin on things may affect certain processes in the body, including blood pressure and how immune cells respond to bacterial invaders, according to researchers.
Most teens get stressed out by their families from time to time, but… Read More
Employee Incentives | May lead to unethical behavior at the workplace
Summary:Findings suggest that setting compensation goals can increase dishonesty when managers are also paid a bonus for hitting certain targets.
Considering end-of-year bonuses for your employees? Supervisors be forewarned, a new study finds that while incentive rewards can help motivate and increase employee performance it can also lead to unethical… Read More
Arctic Report Card tracks region’s environmental changes – the Warming and the sea-ice loss
Summary:NOAA’s annual report card on the Arctic, released today, shows that the Arctic region experienced the second-warmest air temperatures ever recorded; the second-lowest overall sea-ice coverage; lowest recorded winter ice in the Bering Sea; and earlier plankton blooms due to early melting of sea ice in the Bering Sea.
NOAA’s annual… Read More
Major step closer to a viable recording material for future HD drives
Summary:By tweaking an iron-platinum alloy, researchers are trying to clear a few hurdles slowing the material’s viability as a future perpendicular recording media.
Magnetic recording is the primary technology underpinning today’s large-scale data storage. Now, companies are racing to develop new hard disk devices (HDDs) capable of … Read More
