Microphones are perhaps the most common electronic sensor in the world, with an estimated 320 million listening for our commands in the world’s smart speakers. The trouble is that they’re capable of hearing everything else, too. But now, a team of University of Michigan researchers has developed a system that can inform a smart...
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Forget Wearables: Future Washable Smart Clothes Powered by Wi-Fi Will Monitor Your Health
Purdue University engineers have developed a method to transform existing cloth items into battery-free wearables resistant to laundry. These smart clothes are powered wirelessly through a flexible, silk-based coil sewn on the textile. In the near future, all your clothes will become smart. These smart cloths will outperform conventional passive garments, thanks to their miniaturized...
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Socially Engaged Older Women More Likely to Be Emotionally Abused or Mistreated
For older adults, participating in social activities can protect against physical and mental signs of aging, but it may also pose risks, especially for women. A new analysis of national data led by University of California – San Francisco (UCSF) found that older women who were broadly engaged in social activities before the COVID pandemic...
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New Algorithm for Modern Quilting
Stanford University computer science graduate student Mackenzie Leake has been quilting since age 10, but she never imagined the craft would be the focus of her doctoral dissertation. Included in that work is new prototype software that can facilitate pattern-making for a form of quilting called foundation paper piecing, which involves using a backing made...
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Most Californians Unaware of Law to Prevent Gun Violence but Would Support Using It
Extreme risk protection orders, also known as gun violence restraining orders (GVROs) or “red flag” orders, exist in 19 states and the District of Columbia. The laws allow law enforcement, family and household members, some co-workers, employers and teachers to work with a judge to temporarily remove access to firearms and ammunition from people at significant risk...
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Technique Inspired by Lace Making Could Someday Weave Structures in Space
Lauren Dreier was paging through a 19th century book by the German architect Gottfried Semper when she spotted some intriguing patterns inspired by lace. A professional artist and designer who often incorporates technology into her work, Dreier, who is also a doctoral student at the School of Architecture at Princeton University, decided to recreate the...
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Gene Protection for Covid-19 Identified
The first evidence of a genetic link explaining why some people who catch Covid-19 don’t become sick has been discovered A scientific and medical team led by Newcastle University, UK, has demonstrated that the gene, HLA-DRB1*04:01, is found three times as often in people who are asymptomatic. This suggests that people with this gene have...
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Disparities in Covid-19 Rates Among Adults with Kidney Failure in New York City
Among adults with kidney failure undergoing hemodialysis in New York City, Black and Hispanic patients were more likely to develop symptomatic COVID-19 than White patients. Neighborhood-level social vulnerability factors were associated with COVID-19 incidence among White patients, but these factors did not explain racial/ethnic disparities. In an analysis of patients on hemodialysis in New York...
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Scientists Can Predict How Well a Stroke Survivor Will Recover Language Skills Using Computer Simulations of the Brain
A team of researchers from Boston University is working to better understand how language and speech is processed in the brain, and how to best rehabilitate people who have lost their ability to communicate due to brain damage caused by a stroke, trauma, or another type of brain injury. This type of language loss is...
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Global Travelers Pick Up Numerous Genes That Promote Microbial Resistance
Carried like stowaways in the guts of international travelers, new and potentially deadly strains of antimicrobial resistant superbugs may be coming to a community near you, suggests new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we knew that international travel was contributing to the rapid global increase...
