If The App Fits--The Advent Of Wearable Technology

The Brooklyn Better Science Club is back and we are still dedicated to making science more better for you. We're going to start with a few notes from a conference on wearable tech.

 

If your notion of wearable technology starts with buttons and ends with zippers you may soon be in for a surprise. That’s one of the big takeaways from the recent Wearable Tech Expo at NYU’s Kimmel Center The two day event brought together companies involved in different aspects of what’s projected to soon be a multi-billion dollar industry—wearable technology.  Some companies were developing  nanotechnology designed to waterproof your clothing and the gadgets you carry. Others want to sell you a wristwatch that contains enough media to make Dick Tracy’s head spin. Still others have created apps for bio-feedback devices that monitor your vital signs in a way that would let you tailor your workout on the fly.  Here are a few notes on some products that may soon be part of your wardrobe .

LUMOback

One device that made the audience sit up and take notice is a belt that monitors how you sit and stand and provides you with feedback on your posture. Even if you don’t know your chakras from a box of Chiclets, your posture can have an effect on your health, your emotions and your appearance. This monitor, from a company called Lumo Body Tech, is a small flexible sensor that attaches to a thin belt that is worn around the lower back. Called LUMOback, it can be worn over a thin layer of clothing or directly against the skin. The sensor vibrates gently to let you know when you slouch—which one suspects is more pleasant and effective than a rap on the knuckles from Sister Celine. The monitor is connected to a mobile app that is downloaded on your smartphone—complete with an avatar—that’s designed to track and provide feedback on your posture in real time, whether you’re walking, running, driving  or sitting at your desk. It can also provide graphic feedback on how your posture has been over the course of the day.

LUMO BodyTech was founded in 2011. It describes its mission as using smart sensors and software to help people improve their health. LUMOback is the first product the company has brought to market. For those who value genealogy, the company was founded by  Monisha Perkash, Dr. Charles Wang and Andrew Chang and is backed by Madrona Ventures, Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, and Jerry Yang’s AME—yeah, that Eric Schmidt. If you don’t recognize the name, just Google it.

You can learn more at www.lumoback.com.

Why We Like It

This really seems to be an example of “making science more better for you.” The sensor it self is simple and small, while the health benefits it offers are significant. The avatar is appealing in a stick figure meets the logo from "The Saint" kind of way and the feedback is useful, but doesn’t seem to blind the consumer with bells and whistles.

And another thing
The whole time I was at the conference I couldn't help but wonder what Nudie Cohn, the guy who invented the rhinestone cowboy, could have done with all of these toys.
www.nudiesrodeotailor.com/

More notes on the conference in a day or two.

 

Making Science More Better For You 09/15/09

This just in from the "It's warmer in the sun" school of science.

Spanking Found To Have Negative Effects On Low-income Toddlers

ScienceDaily (Sep. 15, 2009) — A new longitudinal study that looks at how low-income parents discipline their young children has found that spanking 1-year-olds leads to more aggressive behaviors and less sophisticated cognitive development in the next two years. Verbal punishment is not associated with such effects, especially when it is accompanied by emotional support from moms. In addition, 1-year-olds' fussiness predicted spanking and verbal punishment at ages 1, 2, and 3.

The study, which explored whether mothers' behaviors lead to problematic behavior in children, whether children's challenging behaviors elicit harsher discipline, or both, appears in the September/October 2009 issue of the journal Child Development. It was conducted by researchers at Duke University, the University of Missouri-Columbia, the University of South Carolina, Columbia University, Harvard University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Making Science More Better For You 08/18/09

You mean there's a comet with donuts? Or maybe beer?

Comet Contains One of Life’s Precursors (Wired Science))

Scientists have discovered the amino acid glycine, a critical component of all living things, hiding in samples from the comet Wild 2.

It’s the first time an amino acid has been found inside a comet, and NASA scientists say the discovery supports the theory that some of the ingredients necessary for life originated in space and traveled to Earth by comet or meteorite.

“If you’re seeing amino acids in comets, then that really gives credence to the idea that the basic componenets of life are going to be widespread throughout the universe,” said planetary biologist Max Bernstein of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, who was not involved in the research. “It’s one thing for me to do it in the lab and say it should be so, but it’s another thing for somebody to actually measure it.”

Glycine was isolated from tiny samples of material collected from Wild 2 in 2004 by the NASA spacecraft Stardust. As the spacecraft flew through dense clouds of gas and dust surrounding the comet’s nucleus, a container of aerogel trapped particles from the comet. Since the aerogel capsule was parachuted to Earth in 2006, scientists have been racing to analyze the contents of the collected samples. Although preliminary reports indicated traces of glycine in the aerogel, researchers didn’t have enough aerogel sample to determine whether the amino acid was an Earthly contaminant or had truly come from space.

To get enough glycine for their analysis, the scientists actually analyzed the aluminum foil that lined the inside of the aerogel collection grid. Volatile gas particles had diffused through the aerogel and gotten stuck to the foil — but even the foil provided only a half a nanamole of glycine to work with, and it took the researchers two years to confirm that the glycine had extraterrestrial origins.

“What we did was look at the carbon isotopes,” said NASA scientist Jamie Elsila, who presented the work Sunday at the American Chemical Society meeting in Washington D.C. “The stuff on the Earth has a special signature, and the extraterrestrial signature is very different. When we looked at glycine and measured its carbon signature, we saw that it’s in the extraterrestrial range.”

Making Science More Better For You On 07/28/09

Yeah, you try to explain causality to a headline writer. Go on, try it.

Blue M&Ms linked to reducing spine injury

(CNN) -- The same blue food dye found in M&Ms and Gatorade could be used to reduce damage caused by spine injuries, offering a better chance of recovery, according to new research.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that when they injected the compound Brilliant Blue G (BBG) into rats suffering spinal cord injuries, the rodents were able to walk again, albeit with a limp.

The only side effect was that the treated mice temporarily turned blue.

So, we guess that what we always heard about the green ones was true

Making Science More Better For You 07/27/09

Back from a long spring hiatus..let's go right to the headlines of the day

Cops mace berserk groundhog after it tries to attack them (the Obscure Store)

This raises so many issues. How does one know when a groundhog has gone beserk? And are they really better with mace, as a opposed to sage or thyme?



Canary-fighting resulsts in 19 arrests. (CNN)
We can only guess that somebody sang....

Making Science More Better For You on 04/14/09

Would that include prehistoric trash and prehistoric peanut butter?

Prehistoric Bears Ate Everything And Anything, Just Like Modern Cousins

ScienceDaily (Apr. 13, 2009) — By comparing the craniodental morphology of modern bear species to that of two extinct species, researchers from the University of Málaga have discovered that the expired plantigrades were not so different from their current counterparts. The cave bear, regarded as the great herbivore of the carnivores, was actually more omnivorous than first thought.

The short-faced bear, a hypercarnivore, also ate plants depending on their availability. The work offers key insights into the evolution of the carnivore niches during the Ice Age.

The team of palaeontologists have reconstructed the trophic ecology, or eating habits, of two extinct bear species that lived during the Pleistocene (between 2.59 million and 12,000 years ago): the short-faced bear (Arctodus simus) of North America and the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) of Europe. The morphometric analysis carried out on the eight bear species in existence today has confirmed that prehistoric bears were not fussy eaters.

'Knowing what the extinct bears ate is of utmost relevance to finding out about the evolution of carnivore niches in the Pleistocene when climatic conditions were changing', explains Borja Figueirido, lead author of the study and researcher for the Ecology and Geology Department of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Málaga. Scientists have discovered that, even at that time, bears were 'great opportunists' thanks to their morphological and ecological flexibility.

Trophic ecology and morphological flexibility. Yeah Dude, break me off some of that.

Making Science More Better For You on 04/09/09

Headline of the day

Grandmother dies trying to stop sword fight (MSNBC)
Sadly, when you name one kid Darth and one kid Luke, this is what you get.