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Stanford outlines its massive Apple Watch heart rate study
The Apple Heart Study Stanford launched back in 2017 has garnered so much interest that it was able get 400,000 volunteers. Now, the researchers have revealed the finer details about the study, including what the testers can expect. To start with, each participant has to have access to an Apple Watch (series 1, 2 or 3) and an iPhone, because the trial is meant to examine whether the wearable can accurately detect atrial fibrillation (AFib) or irregular heartbeats.
Gravity waves could help scientists detect earthquakes faster
Tracking minor changes in gravity when an earthquake hits could buy us precious life-saving minutes, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Revisiting data from the huge 2011 Japan earthquake, the researchers indicate that shifts in gravity could've told people the scale of the quake three minutes after it began. The findings come on the heels of a separate study (presented at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America) that theorized that 2018 would see a surge in earthquakes, due to a slight slowing of the rotation of the Earth.
Facebook says messaging apps aren't turning people into hermits
Think people are replacing face-to-face communication with gadgets and chat apps? A Facebook study says you're dead wrong. Based on the survey commissioned by the Messenger team for the 25th anniversary of the first text ever sent (December 3rd, 1992), those who message their friends more often are 52 percent more likely to meet up with people in person than those who don't send messages as much. Makes sense, since the more you keep in touch, the more likely you are to set up meetings, parties and dates. "What we found is that messaging turns out to be not a wedge, but instead a bridge bringing us closer together," the team said.
Google study shows how your account is most likely to be hijacked
Security threats like phishing, keylogging and third-party breaches are pretty common knowledge. Google wanted to gain a better understanding of how hijackers steal passwords and other sensitive data in the wild, though, so it conducted an analysis of online black markets from March 2016 to March 2017. The result? It found that among the three, phishing poses the biggest threat to your online security. Together with credential leaks, the two represent a threat "orders of magnitude larger than keyloggers."
AI can detect Alzheimer's 10 years before symptoms show up
Various researchers around the globe are developing ways to detect Alzheimer's as early as possible. After all, early detection gives people the power seek treatment that can slow down the condition's effects, as well as enough time to get their legal and financial affairs in order. Some decided to focus on blood and cerebrospinal fluid tests, while others are developing gadgets that can look for early signs. A team of researchers from the University of Bari in Italy, however, believe the answer lies in artificial intelligence. They developed an algorithm that can spot tiny structural changes in the brain caused by the disease a decade before symptoms even appear.
MIT combines several vaccines in a single injection
Someday, kids might only have to endure a single jab to get the benefits of several vaccines, thanks to a new technology by a team of MIT engineers. They've created a method that allows a single injection to carry enough doses for the first one to two years of a child's life, with each dose released at a specified time. Their secret? Microscopic coffee cups made out of PLGA, a biocompatible polymer used in prosthetics and implants.
Voter registration websites make some records vulnerable
Those government websites that allow you to change voter registration details might seem convenient, but they also make you vulnerable to ID theft and could be used to manipulate elections. That's what a team of Harvard researchers found when they took a closer look at those types of websites that 35 states and Washington, DC provided to their residents during the 2016 Presidential elections. They determined that the websites give attackers an easy way to mess with election proceedings, similar to what might have happened in Riverside County, California.
Reddit has become less toxic after banning hate groups
Reddit got a lot of flack when it banned hate communities like /r/coontown and /r/fatpeoplehate -- a lot of people called the move a censorship and criticized the website's administrators. According to a study by researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and other institutions, though, that move worked well for what the platform was trying to accomplish. The social network has effectively reduced the prevalence of hate speech on its website by killing those subreddits, as well as the copycats that pop up before they even gain traction.
Intel studies how to make people accept self-driving cars
It's natural to fear what you don't understand. For example, according to a AAA study, 78 percent of drivers are afraid to ride in a self-driving car. That's completely understandable. It's tough to give up control of a few tons of metal flying down the road at 70 miles per hour and feel safe. Intel decided to investigate this fear, and ultimately see if it can solve our autonomous-anxiety problem.
Disturbing, fake YouTube shows fool kids for more clicks
We want our kids to use the internet, sure, but we want them to do it safely. No one wants young children to deal with inappropriate content, like fake Peppa Pig or Doc McStuffins videos. Unfortunately, it's increasingly difficult to police all of the various services and apps that our children use, including YouTube. A new study performed by researchers from the US, UK and Brazil analyzed YouTube videos from all three regions that had been viewed more than 37 billion times. They found that children are increasingly exposed to videos containing advertising and disturbing images that are indistinguishable from regular kids' programming. The study also found that children younger than the "allowed" ages around the globe are accessing YouTube, many through their parents' accounts.
Researchers create hydrogen fuel with artificial photosynthesis
Scientists all over the world have been attempting to recreate photosynthesis in the lab in hopes of being able to mimic the process to create fuel. Now a team of researchers from the Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Virginia Tech have figured out the secret behind a man-made molecular system or a "supramolecule" that can do the job well. Their lead researcher originally created two supramolecules a few years ago. Both of them can perform the processes needed for photosynthesis to occur: absorbing light, separating and transporting electrical charge and catalyzing the reactions needed to produce hydrogen that plants use to turn carbon dioxide into glucose. However, one was more effective than the other, so the team performed experiments to figure out why.
Implanting pancreatic cells in your gut could cure diabetes
About 30,000 adults and children are diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) each year. As many as 1.25 million Americans have the disease, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, with up to 5 million expected to have the disease by 2050. T1D is an autoimmune disease where your body stops producing insulin, which can lead to a lifetime of dependence on injected or pumped insulin as well as a host of health complications. New clinical trials, however, show some promising results in "curing" the disease by implanting pancreatic islet cells to the omentum, the tissue that covers abdominal organs.
Vibrating utensils won't stop you from stuffing your face
The weight loss world is full of plausible-sounding advice. We've got apps to count calories, smart scales that measure our body fat and even vibrating utensils that promise to slow our eating down. The problem is really knowing which gadgets work and which are just as much empty fluff as a jar of that marshmallow stuff. Unfortunately, those vibrating forks seem to fall under the latter category, according to a new study published in science journal, Appetite.
Alphabet starts collecting health info to better predict disease
It didn't take long for Alphabet's Verily to get its watch-based health study off the ground. The life sciences company has launched its 4-year research initiative, Baseline, to potentially spot early signs of diseases before obvious symptoms appear. Verily's health-tracking Study Watch plays a central role, of course, as it will track everything from heart rate to ECGs to the skin's electrical conductivity. However, that's just one piece of the puzzle -- the team will look at numerous other factors to see where disease begins.
Most of us are using our phones while driving
Between the hefty fines, disturbing PSAs and social shunning that comes from using your phone while driving, it turns nearly everyone is still texting, tweeting and generally fiddling with their phones while behind the wheel. According to Zendrive's extensive three month study of three million US drivers, we're use our phones at least once during 88 percent of our trips.
Survey says: Political polarization isn't the internet's fault
It's easy to blame social media for the rising political polarization in the US when you can use it to hide in a bubble of your own creation. Simply block people who don't share your viewpoint on Facebook and Twitter, and follow, Like and heart only people who do. According to a study conducted by economics professors from Stanford and Brown Universities, though, you can't blame it all on social media -- not when it's older Americans who barely use the internet who are becoming more polarized.
Your phone's motion sensors can give away PINs and passwords
You could be the most careful mobile user ever, but hackers can still steal your PINs and passwords simply by spying on your phone's motion sensors. A team of cyber researchers from the UK's Newcastle University have demonstrated how easy it is to steal a four-digit PIN by analyzing the way your phone tilts and moves as you type. You might think your phone's movements are random, but they apparently create distinct patterns. During their tests, they were able to crack four-digit PINs on the first guess 70 percent of the time and 100 percent of the PINs they used by the fifth guess.
Man-made global warming makes droughts and floods more likely
We already know that man-made global warming is bound to affect our planet, but it's hard to connect human activities to specific events. Now a team of Penn State scientists have published a study that says human-caused climate change makes extreme weather conditions such as droughts, heat waves and floods more likely. With the help of actual observation data and climate models, the researchers studied weather events caused by narrow bands of strong winds called jet streams in the northern hemisphere. While these winds flow eastward, they sometimes get stuck due to certain temperature conditions. When they do, whole regions in Europe, North America and Asia have to endure whatever weather event they bring for extended periods.
Climate change could make future flights a lot rougher
Airplane rides could get extra bumpy in the future thanks to climate change. Turbulence could become two to three times more common because of it, according to a new study from the University of Reading.
Hard drives of the future could be made of DNA
Our data-driven society is churning out more information than traditional storage technology can handle, so scientists are looking for a solution in Nature's hard drive: DNA. A pair of researchers at Columbia University and the New York Genome Center recently wrote a full computer operating system, an 1895 French film, an Amazon gift card and other files into DNA strands and retrieved them without errors, according to a study published in the latest edition of Science.
