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Can Botox stunt your emotional expression?
By Gizmag Team
18:52 January 30, 2010 PST
A new study from the University of Wisconsin may have profound implications for the cosmetic-surgery industry. We all intuitively know there is an interaction between facial expression, thoughts and emotions and scientists have previously found that blocking the ability to move the body causes changes in cognition and emotion. In the latest UW tests, which involved the pinpoint administration of Botox to temporarily prevent frowning, it was found that facial expression also affects the ability to understand written language related to emotions. So using Botox … Read More
Get lost? Not likely with the Lok8u multi-m8 GPS wristwatch
By Mick Webb
01:43 January 22, 2010 PST
It’s a big world out there and for many different people in society that means a big risk of getting lost. Following the release of its nu.m8 GPS location device for children, Lok8u has announced its adult counterpart, the multi.m8. The device, worn as a wristwatch, aims to make a range of people from lone workers to the elderly easily locatable through the combined use of GPS and cellular identification technology. Read More
Should ‘tweet’, ‘Twitter’ or ‘unfriend’ be the 2009 word of the year?
By Jude Garvey
14:34 January 18, 2010 PST
The English language is continually evolving and thanks to the technology of the 21st century – including the media and internet - new words and phrases are being created at an unprecedented rate. Increasingly, these new words result from our love affair with the internet, online social networking sites and geek-speak. This year, the American Dialect Society (ADS) has voted “tweet” – a short message sent via Twitter – as the 2009 word of the year. But two other organizations disagreed. The Global Language Monitor nominated “Twitter” as the word of the year and the New Oxford American Dictionary claimed “unfriend” – meaning to “de-friend” someone on a social networking site such as Facebook – deserved the 2009 word of the year award. Read More
Gaming addiction: Psychological problem or social disorder?
By Paul Lester
17:08 December 3, 2009 PST
If you’re more than partial to an evening of World of Warcraft or Call or Duty, best keep track of how many hours you’re wiling away in front of the screen. Gaming addiction is a peculiarly modern phenomena suggested by some as being just as serious as alcohol, drugs and gambling, and there are examples of gamers making themselves seriously ill, or in some rare cases, dying through malnutrition or dehydration. Following the opening of Britain’s first computer rehab clinic, Paul Lester takes a closer look at the issues surrounding gaming addiction to see if things are really as serious as they seem and if dedicated treatment is necessary. Read More
Honda’s LOOP and HELLO vehicle2vehicle and vehicle2driver infrastructure
By Gizmag Team
10:55 October 1, 2009 PDT
Honda issued a press statement and images of its Tokyo Motor Show exhibits yesterday, raising far more questions than it answered with the brief and cryptic release. One of the primary announcements involved a car2car and car2driver and car2infrastructure communications system named HELLO! (Honda ELectric mobility LOop) and a LOOP portable communication tool that fits in the palm of one’s hand and “allows people and mobility devices to communicate with each other.” The various components of the system look fascinating. Read More
Philips leads the marital aid industry out of the Dark Ages
By Gizmag Team
02:21 September 4, 2009 PDT
Sexual aids have been in use for thousands of years, coming in and out of official favor in different eras and jurisdictions, and indeed, many countries still outlaw them entirely. As our understanding of our sexuality has grown, sex aids have increased in their usage, with more than 40% of European couples already using them and another 35% interested and willing, but reluctant to enter what they perceive as a seedy sex store. Now Philips has created a range of sex toys specifically designed for couples, taking the genre mainstream for the first time. Bravo Philips! Read More
Reality Mining: Tomorrow’s forecast predicts humanity’s needs
By Darren Quick
23:54 July 29, 2009 PDT
Researchers will one day be able to accurately predict such things as the economic and social effects of billions of new Internet users in China and India, or the exact location and number of airline flights to cancel around the world in order to halt the spread of a pandemic, says Indiana University’s Alessandro Vespignani. This capability will be possible thanks to “reality mining”, which involves the collection of data from machine-sensed sources to provide knowledge about aggregated human behavior. Read More
Monitoring blogs to measure global happiness
By Darren Quick
22:51 July 28, 2009 PDT
A mathematician and computer scientist working in the Advanced Computing Center at the University of Vermont have created a remote-sensing mechanism that examines the content of blogs to measure the emotional levels of millions of people. The result is the ‘We Feel Fine’ system, which purports to give an indication of how people around the world are feeling. Read More
The Royal Society for the Extremely Stupid is 2009 Most Successful SIG
By Mike Hanlon
00:25 July 16, 2009 PDT
They are now the most powerful lobbying force in the land. You can see the results of their campaigns on park benches, on street corners, on station platforms – and now their hectoring signage is sprouting on desolate beaches and once unspoiled stretches of moorland. They are more energetic than the RSPCA. They are more effective than the birdwatchers, the child‑protectors and the petrolheads put together. Indeed, for manic dedication they are only rivaled by Fathers4Justice. Ladies and gentlemen, let's have a big hand for this year's winner of the prize for the Most Successful Special Interest Group. I give you – the Royal Society for the Extremely Stupid. Read More
TTXGP - electric motor company Agni blitzes in first clean emissions Grand Prix
By Mike Hanlon
19:05 June 12, 2009 PDT
Joint Indian-English company Agni Motors’s claim of making quality, high efficiency and high performance electric motors gained massive credence today when it clearly bested the world’s fastest electric motorcycles to win the first clean emissions (AKA electric) motorcycle Grand Prix at an average speed of 87.434 mph. It’s place in history is assured by the landmark win, but it was the team’s dominance that was most surprising. It averaged 10 mph faster around the 37 mile course than its closest rival and established itself as the first superstar company to emerge in a fledgling giant industry. Read More
Cities with MLB baseball teams have a lower divorce rate!
By Mike Hanlon
18:21 April 12, 2009 PDT
The family unit is society's fundamental unit - 95 percentage of US citizens marry by age 55. A marriage breakdown is one of the most stressful life events possible, yet more than one in three will experience the trauma of divorce. Not surprisingly, the dynamics of relationships are increasingly the focus of ever more research. The University of Denver Center for Marital and Family Studies in particular is constantly shedding new light on the institution of marriage with recent research findings establishing that the quality of the relationship with parents-in-law is directly connected to marital satisfaction, and more recently, that 90 percent of couples experience a decrease in marital satisfaction once their first child is born. A new study from the centre looking at divorce rates before and after cities got Major League Baseball teams is fascinating in its implications. The study showed that cities with major league baseball teams had a 28 percent lower divorce rate than cities that wanted major league baseball teams. Can marital harmony really be this simple? Read More
Increased risk of injury even after one glass of alcohol
By Mike Hanlon
16:19 March 23, 2009 PDT
The cost to society of physical injury related to alcohol consumption is immense – the link between severe alcohol intoxication, road accidents and violence is well established. Now new research from the Swedish Karolinska Institutet medical university indicates that most alcohol-related damage occurs after moderate consumption. While people who have drunk considerable quantities of alcohol suffer higher injury risk than people who have drunk only a little, the research shows the risk of suffering injury increases significantly after small amounts of alcohol as little as one glass. Read More
How smoking accelerates the aging process
By Mike Hanlon
19:30 March 9, 2009 PDT
Wrinkly skin, breathlessness and a chesty cough are regularly associated with heavy smoking. They can belie a person's age by making someone seem older than they actually are, but until now, scientists have known little about the biological mechanisms that appear to accelerate the aging process. Read More
Equitable societies are better for everyone
By Mike Hanlon
19:01 March 2, 2009 PST
March 3, 2009 In rich societies, poorer people have shorter lives and suffer more from almost every social problem. Likewise, large inequalities of income are often regarded as divisive and corrosive. Now, in a groundbreaking book, UK-based researchers go beyond either of these ideas to demonstrate that more unequal societies are bad for almost everyone within them — the well-off as well as the poor. The authors forcefully demonstrate that nearly every modern social and environmental problem — ill-health, lack of community, life, violence, drugs, obesity, mental illness, long working hours, big prison populations — is more likely to occur in a less equal society, and adversely affects all of those within it. Read More
Give people more freedom to create less selfish societies says research
By Mike Hanlon
16:13 February 8, 2009 PST
Cooperation, despite being now considered the third force of evolution, just behind mutation and natural selection, is difficult to explain in the context of an evolutionary process based on competition between individuals and selfish behavior. But this puzzle, that has haunted scientists for decades, is now a little closer to be solved by research about to be published on the journal Physical Review Letters. Read More
dariusvons
- February 10, 2010 @ 00:56 UTC
