Category: Health

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India is world diabetes capital

Here’s some news that’s not ‘ sweet’ at all: Every sixth diabetic in the world is an Indian, making the country the world’s diabetes capital. New data released on Tuesday shows India has over 50 million diabetics out of the world’s 285 million. The disease is affecting more people in the working age group and is proving to be an economic burden, according to the figures released by the International Diabetes Federation. With 50.8 million diabetics, India tops the global tally. China with 43.2 million patients comes second, followed by the US where 26.8 million people suffer from the disease. The disease will cost the world economy at least $376 billion (over Rs 17 lakh crore) in 2010.

Read the article: India is world diabetes capital

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Business Education Health Innovation Nature Science Technology

MIT designs viruses to grow “greener” batteries

Researchers constructed a lithium-ion battery, similar to those used in millions of devices, but one which uses genetically engineered viruses to create the negatively charged anode and positively charged cathode. The virus is a so-called common bacteriophage which infects bacteria and is harmless to humans. “The advantage of using genetics is that things can be made better and better”…

Read the article: Virus battery could ‘power cars’

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Business Education Health Life Nature Science Social

How Much Energy Goes Into Making a Bottle of Water?

Researchers have calculated that the energy required to produce bottled water is up to 2,000 times more than the energy required to produce tap water. Most people who buy bottled water have access to clean drinking water virtually for free (in the US, tap water costs less than a penny per gallon, on average). Nevertheless, the consumption of bottled water continues to grow, far surpassing the US sales of milk and beer, and second only to soft drinks.

Read the article: How Much Energy Goes Into Making a Bottle of Water?

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Education Health Life Science Social

Older fathers link to child brain

The age at which men and women are having children is increasing in the developed world. But while the effect of increasing maternal age on reduced fertility is widely known, the impact of increased paternal age is not as well established. However, older fathers have been linked to a range of health problems, including an increased risk of birth deformities and neuropsychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia, autism and bipolar disorder.

Read the article: Older fathers link to child brain

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Business Education Health Innovation Life Science Technology

Bionic eye gives blind man sight

The Bionic eye uses a camera and video processor mounted on sunglasses to send captured images wirelessly to a tiny receiver on the outside of the eye. In turn, the receiver passes on the data via a tiny cable to an array of electrodes which sit on the retina – the layer of specialised cells that normally respond to light found at the back of the eye. When these electrodes are stimulated they send messages along the optic nerve to the brain, which is able to perceive patterns of light and dark spots corresponding to which electrodes have been stimulated.

The hope is that patients will learn to interpret the visual patterns produced into meaningful images.

Read the article: Bionic eye gives blind man sight

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Education Health Life Nature Science Social

Are bad sleeping habits driving us mad?

Take anyone with a psychiatric disorder and the chances are they don’t sleep well. The result of their illness, you might think. Now this long-standing assumption is being turned on its head, with the radical suggestion that poor sleep might actually cause some psychiatric illnesses or lead people to behave in ways that doctors mistake for mental problems. The good news is that sleep treatments could help or even cure some of these patients.

Read the article: Are bad sleeping habits driving us mad?

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How to Read Popular Magazines on your Desktop for Free

This is a very simple & non-geeky trick to help you read the latest issue of popular magazines like PC Magazine, MIT Technology Review, Popular Mechanics, MacWorld, Lonely Planet, Reader’s Digest, etc without paying any subscription charges.

Read the article: How to Read Popular Magazines on your Desktop for Free

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Art Education Health History Life Meta Nature Science Social

The Eligible-Bachelor Paradox

You can think of this traditional concept of the search for marriage partners as a kind of an auction. In this auction, some women will be more confident of their prospects, others less so. In game-theory terms, you would call the first group “strong bidders” and the second “weak bidders.” Your first thought might be that the “strong bidders”—women who (whether because of looks, social ability, or any other reason) are conventionally deemed more of a catch—would consistently win this kind of auction.

But this is not true…

Read the article: Game theory explains dinner-party dates

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Business Education Finance Health Life Meta Nature Productivity Science Social

Decision time

So how should we make a decision? The key is something called metacognition, or thinking about thinking. Because the mind is like a Swiss Army knife – it’s stuffed full of different mental tools, each of which is well-suited to a specific situation – it’s essential that we learn how to adjust our thought process to the task at hand.

Read the article: Decision time

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Education Health Life Science Social Technology

Excessive discussion may lead to depression

The opportunity for youngsters to share their problems through texting, email and social networking sites such as Facebook has never been greater. But excessive discussion – known to the experts as co-rumination – can be unhelpful. Repeated conversations among adolescent girls, particularly about romantic disappointments, worsen their mood and create negative emotions, according to the study.

Read the article: Why chatting too long on Facebook can get a girl down