Stars Wars comes to life, your brain is exposed for being hyperactive, and scientists discover the perfect handshake. Those are just a few of the stories in this week’s edition of News For Nerds. Let’s get our nerd on!
Remember when Luke and Han sat in those bubbles on the Millenium Falcon and shot the bad guys with lasers? Well, although you might think we’ve already got that technology, it’s probably just because you’ve seen it so much in the movies. We didn’t have it…until now.
During tests with the US Navy, new high-powered fiber-optic laser cannons shot down four fast-moving drones over the Pacific Ocean. The system, designed by Raytheon, was able to “detect, track, engage, and defeat dynamic targets at tactically significant ranges…”
Which means, we came, we saw, we blasted their…drones.
There’s still some more testing to be done, but at least we’re almost there. As Han Solo would say: “Don’t get cocky, kid.”
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A medical study in Canada finds that all you have to do is LOOK at a sick person and your body’s defense system will kick into overdrive.
Volunteers were asked to look at either random objects, or at images relating to disease and illness. Then, when blood samples were drawn, the people who had been looking at the disease photos had a higher immune response in their own system.
According to the docs, it’s just another of the body’s miraculous ways of defending itself from pathogens. As the lead scientist reported, your immune system responds aggressively when it believes that it’s coming into contact with something that might be bad.
But don’t stop washing your hands, either.
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The folks at Intel are working on a television remote control that knows who you are and can pick you out of a crowd. How?
Well, it measures your grip, the force with which you push the buttons, and the angle at which you normally hold the remote in order to recognize you. It has over 370 special sensors which allow it to differentiate between you and the other people in your house, and then instantly customize the Internet and TV experience.
“With the TV becoming more intelligent, you can have your own applications, your own background, your own set of movies or music,” said Mariano Phillipe, who helped in the design of the smart remote.
For now they have about a 70 percent success rate in identifying the user, but they expect that to grow considerably with more work.
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Bad news for women who have put on a few extra pounds. Researchers now say that women with wide hips are significantly more likely to experience memory loss and mental decline as they get older.
The team at Northwestern University studied almost 9000 women, and found a correlation between weight and memory function. And, interestingly enough, it was also based on where the excess weight was stored. Women with more of an apple shape performed better than women with a distinct pear shape. Turns out that memory and brain function are likely related to the type of fat deposited around the hips versus the waist.
As Dr. Diana Kerwin put it: “Obesity is bad, but its effects are worse depending on where the fat is located.”
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We probably all just assume that our brains are sleeping while we’re sleeping. But no.
Neuroscientists are discovering that when you’re just lying still and your mind is blank, neurons are chattering away like crazy. In fact, these so-called “quiet moments” for the brain actually eat up twenty times more energy than during conscious thinking.
That’s a lot of energy to expend on “nothing,” so the scientists are convinced that our default quiet mode is actually serving important functions. One possibility: the brain is preparing itself for future activities. In other words, the brain is imagining what it might expect from the outside world in a short time, allowing it to react in a more agile way when the time comes.
The studies are opening up ideas regarding the mind activities of people with schizophrenia, and maybe even helping to better understand the autistic mind.
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And finally, we now know what constitutes the perfect handshake. Researchers (you gotta love ‘em) have created a formula for it.
You’ll likely shake hands about 15,000 times in your lifetime, so it helps to know how to do it just right. The white coats at the University of Manchester came up with a formula that takes into account twelve various aspects of the handshake, including vigor, eye contact, hand temperature, and positioning.
They then converted this into a five-step process to help you always deliver the perfect shake. Ready?
“Right hand, a complete grip and a firm squeeze (but not too strong) in a mid-point position between yourself and the other person, a cool and dry palm, approximately three shakes, with a medium level of vigor, helf for no longer than two to three seconds, with eye contact kept throughout and a good natural smile with a slow offest, and an appropriate accompanying verbal statement.”
Got it? Good.
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And that’s it for this week’s News For Nerds. Until next week, keep gettin’ your nerd on!