Panasonic is now testing its hair-washing robot at a salon in Nishinomiya, Japan. Designed to care for the elderly or the physically less-able, it sprays water, shampoo and conditioner over your bonce while 24 robotic fingers knead at your scalp. The company claims that it offers a more satisfying and relaxing experience than a wash from a human, unless you remember what happened when Mr. Kinney tested ED 209. If you're in the Osaka region, you've got until June 10th to get down there and have a go yourself -- for everyone else, there's a video after the break.
Longer sleep times may counteract genetic factors related to weight gain Public release date: 1-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Doug Dusik ddusik@aasmnet.org 630-737-9700 American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Short sleep duration increases expression of genetic risks for high body mass index
DARIEN, IL Toss out another old wives' tale: Sleeping too much does not make you fat. Quite the opposite, according to a new study examining sleep and body mass index (BMI) in twins, which found that sleeping more than nine hours a night may actually suppress genetic influences on body weight.
The study looked at 1,088 pairs of twins and found that sleeping less than seven hours a night was associated with both increased BMI and greater genetic influences on BMI. Previous research has shown that genetic influences include things like glucose metabolism, energy use, fatty acid storage and satiety. In this study, the heritability of BMI was twice as high for the short sleepers than for twins who slept longer than nine hours a night.
"The results suggest that shorter sleep provides a more permissive environment for the expression of obesity related genes," said principal investigator Nathaniel Watson, MD, MSc, of the University of Washington. "Or it may be that extended sleep is protective by suppressing expression of obesity genes."
Watson and colleagues determined that for twins sleeping less than seven hours, genetic influences accounted for 70 percent of the differences in BMI, with common environment accounting for just 4 percent and unique environment 26 percent. For twins averaging more than nine hours of sleep, genetic factors were attributed to 32 percent of weight variations, with common environment accounting for 51 percent and unique environment 17 percent.
More research is needed, Watson said, but these preliminary results may suggest that behavioral weight loss measures would be most effective when genetic drivers of body weight are mitigated through sleep extension.
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For a copy of the study, "Sleep Duration and Body Mass Index in Twins: A Gene-Environment Interaction," or to arrange an interview with an AASM spokesperson, please contact PR Coordinator Doug Dusik at 630-737-9700, ext. 9364, or ddusik@aasmnet.org.
The monthly, peer-reviewed, scientific journal SLEEP is published online by the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC, a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society. The AASM is a professional membership society that is the leader in setting standards and promoting excellence in sleep medicine health care, education and research (www.aasmnet.org).
Read more about sleep disorders from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine on the Your Sleep website, http://yoursleep.aasmnet.org/Disorders.aspx. Help for people who have a sleep problem is available at more than 2,400 AASM-accredited sleep disorders centers around the United States.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Longer sleep times may counteract genetic factors related to weight gain Public release date: 1-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Doug Dusik ddusik@aasmnet.org 630-737-9700 American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Short sleep duration increases expression of genetic risks for high body mass index
DARIEN, IL Toss out another old wives' tale: Sleeping too much does not make you fat. Quite the opposite, according to a new study examining sleep and body mass index (BMI) in twins, which found that sleeping more than nine hours a night may actually suppress genetic influences on body weight.
The study looked at 1,088 pairs of twins and found that sleeping less than seven hours a night was associated with both increased BMI and greater genetic influences on BMI. Previous research has shown that genetic influences include things like glucose metabolism, energy use, fatty acid storage and satiety. In this study, the heritability of BMI was twice as high for the short sleepers than for twins who slept longer than nine hours a night.
"The results suggest that shorter sleep provides a more permissive environment for the expression of obesity related genes," said principal investigator Nathaniel Watson, MD, MSc, of the University of Washington. "Or it may be that extended sleep is protective by suppressing expression of obesity genes."
Watson and colleagues determined that for twins sleeping less than seven hours, genetic influences accounted for 70 percent of the differences in BMI, with common environment accounting for just 4 percent and unique environment 26 percent. For twins averaging more than nine hours of sleep, genetic factors were attributed to 32 percent of weight variations, with common environment accounting for 51 percent and unique environment 17 percent.
More research is needed, Watson said, but these preliminary results may suggest that behavioral weight loss measures would be most effective when genetic drivers of body weight are mitigated through sleep extension.
###
For a copy of the study, "Sleep Duration and Body Mass Index in Twins: A Gene-Environment Interaction," or to arrange an interview with an AASM spokesperson, please contact PR Coordinator Doug Dusik at 630-737-9700, ext. 9364, or ddusik@aasmnet.org.
The monthly, peer-reviewed, scientific journal SLEEP is published online by the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC, a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society. The AASM is a professional membership society that is the leader in setting standards and promoting excellence in sleep medicine health care, education and research (www.aasmnet.org).
Read more about sleep disorders from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine on the Your Sleep website, http://yoursleep.aasmnet.org/Disorders.aspx. Help for people who have a sleep problem is available at more than 2,400 AASM-accredited sleep disorders centers around the United States.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Track's producer, SpaceGhostPurrp, is a onetime Taylor Gang detractor, Wiz tells 'RapFix Live.' By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway
Wiz Khalifa Photo: Natasha Chandel/ MTV News
If Wiz Khalifa had let a little dis song get to him, his fans would have missed out on some pretty cool music. In fact, "T.A.P." — one of Khalifa's favorite songs off of his latest Taylor Allderdice mixtape — was produced by A$AP Rocky producer SpaceGhostPurrp, a onetime Taylor Gang detractor.
For those unfamiliar with Purrp's catalog, in 2011 he released a song called "F--- Taylor Gang," on which he rapped, "This ain't no Wiz, so f--- a Khalifa." The song didn't hit Wiz's radar at first, but the Purrp-produced A$AP Rocky track "Pretty Flacko" did. "I love that beat. I'm like, 'Man, that beat is hard as hell,' " Wiz said when he appeared on last week's "RapFix Live."
After hearing "Pretty Flacko," which dropped on New Year's Day, the Taylor Gang captain immediately took to Twitter to express his appreciation for SpaceGhost's work. Shortly after, the emerging producer hit Wiz back suggesting that they record a song together, and of course Khalifa agreed. "Then somebody was like, 'You know he put out a song about you,' " Wiz recalled of how he first learned about "F--- Taylor Gang."
"I checked the song out and when I listened to it I kinda figured out what it was," Wiz explained, not taking offense at Purrp's lyrics. "Just being young people and being competitive, going for a spot, you don't always know that it's cool to let somebody know that you're a fan of theirs, and that's why I always try to reach back to people who are in their early stages and let 'em know I listen to your music and I like your music."
After hearing the track, the "Black and Yellow" MC cleared the air with SGP. "After that he sent me that crazy beat, and me and Juicy went in," Wiz said of how "T.A.P." came about.
Odd Future's Domo Genesis found himself in a similar situation when he and Wiz collaborated on their "Ground Up" single in February. Domo, who released his debut album, Rolling Papers, online for free in 2010 took exception when Khalifa announced that he'd be releasing an LP with the same name a few months later. There was some back and forth on Twitter, but eventually Wiz and the OF spitter were able to work it out when they randomly met in a Santa Monica, California, studio.
"I knew he was gonna bring up the Rolling Papers thing, and it came up. It was cool — it happened a long time ago," Domo said when he and the rest of Odd Future appeared on "RapFix Live" in March.
The problem with lasers is, they tend to generate just a single color or light.To get more than one hue requires actually combining more than one type of laser to produce red, green and blue. But researchers at Brown University have figured out a solution to creating small RGB lasers by using colloidal quantum dots, or CQDs. The idea of leveraging the properties of the thin film isn't new, but past attempts to use CQDs in semiconductor lasers have failed because the necessary energy tends to wind up as heat instead of light. The work around scientists found was to excite the various dot sizes with a laser then filter out original light source. Unfortuneately, the solution is far from practical for use in commercial products, but it does represent a milestone in the march towards a single-material multi-wavelength laser. For more details check out the source link.
DAYTON, Ohio ? At the start of Raw SuperShow, Brock Lesnar brutally attacked WWE COO Triple H, breaking his arm. (PHOTOS)
The attack was spurned on when Triple H declared that Raw and SmackDown General Manager John Laurinaitis had no authority to grant Lesnar the many demands?arguably extorted from the GM prior to Extreme Rules. The Game also declared there should be a rematch between John Cena and Lensar.
Remaining defiant towards the COO, Lesnar attacked from behind, pummeled Triple H, and finally locked him in his Kimura submission hold.
After the attack, Triple H could be heard saying "it's broken," regarding his arm. And, the COO had to be helped from the ring by Big Show, Sheamus, R-Truth and Kofi Kingston.
As a result of his brutality, Lesnar was escorted out of the Nutter Center.
The egregious actions raise a host of questions for the man John Cena went to war with at Extreme Rules. Will Lesnar be fined? Will he be suspended? Could he even be fired for attacking the WWE COO?
TRIPLE H INJURY UPDATE According to WWE doctor Dr. Chris Amann, Triple H?s arm was placed in a hold that created a tremendous amount of torque on his upper arm and elbow. ?He has a non-displaced fracture of distal humorous,? said Amann. ?Fortunately, this is not something that needs surgery with pins and screws. We?ll be treating him with a sling for comfort and following with him in the next few days.?
Zillow, according to one report, may be closing in on a deal to buy rental marketing software maker RentJuice for $45 million, but in the meantime the online property portal is focusing on the rental market in another way: by launching its first dedicated rentals app -- a free app for Android devices. Zillow Rentals is the latest development in Zillow's strategy for mobile, which -- now numbering at 10 apps -- has become a huge part of its business: on weekends, a full 40 percent of all of Zillow's traffic -- 32 million uniques in March -- comes from mobile devices, and in the same month 155 million homes on Zillow were viewed from mobile devices: that works out to 57 homes per second, the company tells me. And although users are able to view some rental information on the original app, the new, dedicated app gives a speedier and more streamlined experience for the fast, high-volume property viewing that characterizes the average would-be renter, says Jeremy Wacksman, VP of marketing at Zillow.
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Public release date: 1-May-2012
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