Armband that can be a keypad
Chinese researchers from Centre for Intelligent and Wearable Technology have developed a fabric armband that’s actually a touchpad, considered to be the next advance in wearable technology. They have devised a way to make playing video games, sketching cartoons and signing documents easier through this technology. Their proof-of-concept silk armband turns a person’s forearm into a keyboard or sketchpad. The three-layer, touch-responsive material interprets what a user draws or types and converts it into images on a computer. The research team sandwiched a pressure-sensitive hydrogel between layers of knit silk.
Not just Smoking. cigarette buds are deadly dangerous
If you are a smoker, remember this: the cigarette butt even after you stub out the last embers after a smoke continues to pose hazards to the environment as they contain thousands of toxins and plastic fibres found to be harmful to the ecosystem. A research group at University of Gothenburg, Sweden, tested the effects of toxins that are found in the cigarette filter after smoking, as well as the substances that are in the filter from the start, on aquatic mosquito larvae. They found that the toxins led to a 20% higher mortality rate among mosquito larvae. Previous research has shown that the toxins in the filters also have adverse effects on many other aquatic organisms. For example, fish can die if they are exposed to concentrations corresponding to the toxins exuded by barely two cigarette butts in one litre of water for four days. They also found microplastics in cigarette butts that find their way into the environment.
Conscious-like brain activity found in comatose patients on verge of death
A study by the University of Michigan has found evidence of conscious-like activity in a dying brain, which indicates a surge in brain activity even in a comatose person when on the verge of death. They found intriguing brain patterns in patients who had turned comatose following a cardiac arrest and subsequently died. The study findings were compared with near-death experiences of people who revealed seeing a white light, visits from departed loved ones and hearing voices, among other attributes. Researchers now feel that all these experiences were due to evidence of a surge of activity correlated with consciousness in a dying brain. The team identified four patients who passed away due to cardiac arrest in the hospital while under EEG monitoring. All four of the patients were comatose and unresponsive. They were ultimately determined to be beyond medical help and, with their family's permission, removed from life support. Upon removal of ventilator support, two of the patients showed an increase in heart rate along with a surge of gamma wave activity, considered the fastest brain activity and associated with consciousness.