In the wake of the apartheid regime in South Africa, the newly elected president of the country and long-time opponent of the apartheid, Nelson Mandela, espoused sports — especially Rugby — as a racial unifier. The film 'Invictus' features this, wherein a racially mixed team made a successful bid for the 1995 Rugby World Cup. It showed how indulging in sports has a unifying effect transcending racial lines, assumed to have the same effects on diminishing communal and casteist lines too.
Now, a new research conducted in Japan by researchers from Waseda University and Nanyang Technological University has shown that not just playing, but even merely watching a popular sport in groups can significantly contribute to fostering community and belonging, benefiting both individuals and society through improved well-being. The research found that the sense of connection achieved through group watching of popular sports not only made individuals feel good, but also benefits society by improving health, enhancing productivity, and reducing crime. Their research offers insights for public health policies and individual well-being enhancement.
Although the positive effects of sports on well-being were recognized, limited evidence existed on the link between watching sports and well-being. To address this gap, the Japanese researchers conducted multi-method research and found that sports viewing activates brain reward circuits, leading to improved well-being. The research found sports viewing positively influences both subjective and objective measures of well-being, fostering long-term benefits for individuals.
Scientifico
Science is a world in itself. Here are some interesting facts that connect with you
Perovskite LEDs - Next-generation digital display Breakthrough
Researchers at Linkoping University (LiU), Sweden, have developed a digital display screen where the LEDs themselves react to touch, light, fingerprints and the user’s pulse, among other things. Their results, published in Nature Electronics, could be the start of a whole new generation of displays for phones, computers and tablets.
“We’ve now shown that our design principle works. Our results show that there is great potential for a new generation of digital displays where new advanced features can be created. From now on, it’s about improving the technology into a commercially viable product,” says Feng Gao, professor in optoelectronics at LiU.
Digital displays have become a cornerstone of almost all personal electronics. However, the most modern LCD and OLED screens on the market can only display information. To become a multi-function display that detects touch, fingerprints or changing lighting conditions, a variety of sensors are required that are layered on top of or around the display.
Researchers at LiU have now developed a completely new type of display where all sensor functions are also found in the display’s LEDs without the need of any additional sensors. The LEDs are made of a crystalline material called perovskite, whose excellent ability of light absorption and emission is the key that enables the newly developed screen.
In addition to the screen reacting to touch, light, fingerprints and the user’s pulse, the device can also be charged through the screen, thanks to the perovskites’ ability to also act as solar cells.
“Here’s an example – your smartwatch screen is off most of the time. During the off-time of the screen, instead of displaying information, it can harvest light to charge your watch, significantly extending how long you can go between charges,” says Chunxiong Bao, associate professor at Nanjing University, previously a postdoc researcher at LiU and lead author of the paper.
For a screen to display all colours, there need to be LEDs in three colours – red, green and blue – that glow with different intensities and thus produce thousands of different colours. The researchers at Linkoping University have developed screens with perovskite LEDs in all three colours, paving the way for a screen that can display all colours within the visible light spectrum.
Nirad Mudur
Source: Linkoping University