Check out the video below of a bionic arm and what a bit difference it can make in one person’s quality of life. Even with relatively simple motions (open, close, rotate), it facilitates things like tying shoes, walking the dog, etc. Cool technology.
Negative health impacts of too little sleep
I came across a really interesting article over at Care2 that talks about the health impacts of not getting enough sleep. I think everyone knows they ‘should’ get plenty of sleep, but why? Just to feel happier? Nope. It turns out that not sleeping enough can affect many aspects of your health:
1. Neuropsychiatric disorders, impaired alertness and cognition, and headaches
2. Vision problems, including blurred vision, floppy eyelid syndrome, glaucoma, even temporary blindness
3. High blood pressure
4. Increased levels of cortisol, a hormone associated with stress
5. Cancer
6. Difficulty with sexual functioning
7. Increased food cravings and hunger
8. Insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes
9. Hearing loss
10. Muscle weakness and decreased athletic performance
11. Heart disease
12. Skin problems and rashes, including eczema
13. Hair loss
14. Disrupted metabolism, weight gain and obesity
Or to put it another way…just about everything you can think of. My personal metric for whether I’m getting enough sleep, is if I wake up on my own, feeling well-rested, before my alarm goes off. For me, it’s just a matter of getting to bed at a decent time and letting the body do its thing.
The end of tooth decay and cavities?
Imagine a world where tooth decay was a thing of the past, without having to resort to extreme levels of brushing and flossing. We’re close to that point. A new molecule has been discovered that kills the bacteria responsible for causing tooth decay. This could potentially be added to chewing gum, candy, anything really. Human trials are starting soon, and under a best-case scenario, this could be on the market in a little more than a year.
Read more over at smartplanet.com.
Deaths by energy source
Forbes has an interesting article looking at the health effects of different energy sources, more specifically, the number of (human) deaths per unit of energy produced. For all the publicity nuclear energy accidents get, it’s worth noting that the mortality rate from nuclear energy is about 90 deaths per tkWhr (trillion kilowatt hour of energy produced), while coal is 170,000 deaths per tkWhr! To be fair, that coal rate is the global average and the US is much better than that (mainly because of existing pollution controls)…but even then, it’s a whopping 15,000 deaths per tkWhr. The complete list:
Energy Source Mortality Rate (deaths/trillionkWhr)
Coal – global average 170,000 (50% global electricity)
Coal – China 280,000 (75% China’s electricity)
Coal – U.S. 15,000 (44% U.S. electricity)
Oil 36,000 (36% of energy, 8% of electricity)
Natural Gas 4,000 (20% global electricity)
Biofuel/Biomass 24,000 (21% global energy)
Solar (rooftop) 440 (< 1% global electricity)
Wind 150 (~ 1% global electricity)
Hydro – global average 1,400 (15% global electricity)
Nuclear – global average 90 (17% global electricity w/Chern&Fukush)
You can read more over at Forbes.com.
Sequence a human genome in 24 hours!
The first human genome to be sequenced took about thirteen years, and cost a few billion dollars. A new product from Life Technologies has dramatically improved upon that, offering sequencing of an entire human genome sequence in under a day and at a cost under $1000! The machine itself costs around $150k, so would pay for itself pretty quickly (current costs for sequencing a genome are around $10k+). We’re entering a new era of medical care enabled by information like this, and it’ll be exciting to watch how these technologies are used (such as in preventative care, also with targeting medications).
(via Core77)