Science News

Smartphones, tablets and e-readers should have an automatic “bedtime mode” that stops them disrupting people’s sleep, a study revealed. Researchers from Evelina London Children’s Hospital sleep medicine department, King’s College London and the University of Surrey, measured short-wavelength blue light devices like tablets (iPad Air), e-readers (Kindle Paperwhite first generation) and smartphones (iPhone 5s) emit when displaying text or a …

A 63-year-old man arrived here to participate in the first India International Science Fair (IISF) on Monday, using a self-developed solar electric-powered car to cover 3,000 km from Bangalore to Delhi. It took Syed Sajjan Ahmed 30 days to cover the arduous journey, that included crossing the Vindhyas. Born in Kolar, 70 km from Bangalore, the Class 12 dropout, says …

If you are young and love Facebook, keep it to just “liking” and minimise your virtual circle of friends to cut the upcoming depression risk. According to researchers, the social networking site can have positive and negative effects on the levels of a common stress hormone in teenagers. The team found that having more than 300 Facebook friends increased teenagers’ …

Aimed at helping the common man protect himself from pollution and saving the environment, environmental consumer products company Nirvana Being has launched a bottle which filters water as you drink. Priced at Rs.950, the 550 ml bottle bobble uses active carbon filter to purify water and make it tastier. “Municipal tap water is fit for drinking but most of us …

US researchers said on Thursday they have created a plastic “skin” that is capable of distinguishing the pressure difference between a limp handshake and a firm grip and then transferring these sensory signals to the brain cells. For the many people around the world living with prosthetics, such a system could one day allow them to feel sensation in their …

Engineers have devised a new technology to develop a wireless charger that will be compatible with different consumer electronics from different brands. The team from University of California-San Diego developed a dual frequency wireless charging platform that can charge smartphones, smartwatches, laptops and tablets at the same time, regardless of which wireless standard, or frequency, each device supports. “To our …

Internet giant Google on Thursday launched a new app – Delhi Public Transport App – which aims to make it easier for the residents of the national capital to get around on public transport. The new experimental app will be built into Google Maps and will help users get transit directions easily even when the connection is slow and data …

If she is yet to respond to your email request for a date this weekend, don’t get hassled. This is because you may have to wait about four minutes longer for an email response from a woman than an email response from a man, an interesting study has revealed. While you may also be obsessing if an email never arrived …

Women college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cellphones and male college students spend nearly eight, reveals new research from a US university. “That is astounding,” said lead study author James Roberts, professor at Baylor University in Texas, US. The findings suggest that excessive cellphone use poses potential risks for academic performance. “As cellphone functions …

Parents, take note! One-on-one tutoring can relieve math anxiety in kids by fixing abnormal responses in the brain’s fear circuits, scientists, including those of Indian-origin, have found. The study is the first to document an effective treatment for math anxiety in children, researchers said. “The most exciting aspect of our findings is that cognitive tutoring not only improves performance, but …