Vision is another area of health that technology may help fix in the near future, as researchers are figuring out ways of making tiny contact lenses even more useful. In fact, France24 reports that researchers from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed contact lenses that can zoom in and out in response to simple blinks from the wearer. The technology could benefit anyone looking to correct eyesight in the future, with researchers focusing on low vision and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients, though the product is just at a prototype level. More →
What started as a joke from a group of friends who wanted to raise awareness about a certain kind of social problem smartphone users might have to deal with — ignoring friends in favor of your smartphone — is becoming an actual business. It turns out that there are plenty of people who want to own a “NoPhone.” More →
This winter started out pretty tame, but now many areas of the country are getting slammed by winter storms. Sure, the crazy East Coast “snowpocalypse” never happened, but we’ve gotten plenty of snow so far this season. To make matters even worse, northern states on the East Coast are about to get hit hard once again as Winter Storm Neptune batters New England this weekend with as much as 20 inches of additional snow in some areas.
Shoveling snow can be a huge pain. In fact, it can even be deadly; dozens of people across the country die each winter after suffering heart attacks while shoveling.
Now, however, there’s a new snow removal lifehack that could literally save your life. More →
Gay marriage is legal in the state of Alabama and Alabama resident and self-described “Redneck News” reporter Jeremy Todd Addaway has decided to give us a tongue-in-cheek report on the ground about how this has completely changed his state. Unsurprisingly, Addaway found that practically nothing had changed in Alabama despite dire predictions that the state’s entire moral fabric would unwind if legalized gay marriage ever came to pass. More →
Most 80-year-old guys wouldn’t mind having a 27-year-old woman marry them for their body, but this is something else all together. The New York Post brings us word that notorious murder cult leader Charles Manson has apparently called off his wedding with fiance Afton Elaine Burton after learning of her plan to put his corpse on display after his death and charge people money for the right to look at it. More →
Why would anyone want to intentionally lick subway poles? That’s a good question, and one that Dr. Chris Mason of Weill Cornel Medical College won’t probably answer in a new study about to come out. But he says it’s probably safe to do it, if you absolutely must. More →
Every stoner’s dream is coming true… well, as long as they have a license to use medical marijuana, that is. USA Today reports that a company called ZaZZZ has brought its pot vending machines to Seattle Caregivers, which is a medical marijuana dispensary. More →
More and more studies are looking into the potentially hazardous side effects of screen use on youngsters, from young children — who shouldn’t be given a tablet or smartphone for distraction purposes — to teenagers, who might develop certain sleeping disorders from too much smartphone, tablet, TV or console access.
A new study published in the BMJ Open journal now reveals that scientists have found out that the more hours teenagers spend looking at a device during the day, the less they sleep, and the longer it takes them to fall asleep. More →
While smartphones and tablets might be helpful when it comes to keeping your kids entertained or teaching them various skills, you may want to hold off on letting your kids use them until they’re at least 30 months old. The Guardian, citing Boston University School of Medicine researchers who talked to the Pediatrics journal, says that use of smartphones and tablets at that age might have significant adverse effects. More →
Luna is the name of a brand new crowd-funding project that has taken Indiegogo by storm, as it promises to revolutionize sleep and bring it to the Internet-of-Things future. The device is a mattress cover packed with sensors that monitors your sleep patterns and talks to a variety of connected devices, such as smart coffee machines, which it can instruct to automatically make a fresh pot as you wake up each morning. More →
America has never been as fat as it is right now. And I had never been as fat as I was seven months ago.
I don’t usually discuss personal matters here on the site, but weight is a serious issue that hundreds of millions of people around the world struggle with constantly. According to a report released earlier this month by the World Health Organization, more than 600 million adults across the globe were obese in 2014, and almost 2 billion were categorized as overweight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that more than one-third of all adults in America — 78.6 million people — are obese.
In early July, I was one of those 78.6 million obese Americans. At 6 feet tall and 235 pounds, my Body Mass Index (BMI) was 31.9, just north of the CDC’s obesity threshold of 30.
Today, at 172 pounds, my BMI is 23.3, which falls within the CDC’s “normal” range of 18.5-24.9.
I worked hard to get where I am right now, and I still have work left to do. It took a lot of exercise and discipline, but technology also played a big role in my efforts, and in this post I’ll explain how I did it. More →
