Americans unmoved?
"Despite all the news reports on the health benefits of walking and biking, most Americans do not walk, bike or engage in other forms of active transportation," a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine finds. "Less than one quarter of U.S. adults use active transport for more than 10 minutes continuously in a typical week, according to [a report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine based on cross-sectional data from] the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. Active transport refers to walking and cycling, wheelchairs and inline skating or skateboarding. It's an important element to any healthy society, researchers say."
Take heart, undergrads
"Many studies suggest that the behavioural effects of alcohol in humans can be modelled in fruit flies and other animals," says SciTechDaily.com. "Scientists [who] were trying to see when these effects start to take place discovered that inebriated fruit fly larvae learned just as well as sober ones. The scientists published their findings in the journal Current Biology."
Warm memories
New research from the University of Southampton has found that feeling nostalgic can make us feel physically warmer, reports Psych Central. In one of several studies, "volunteers, who were recruited from universities in China and the Netherlands, were asked to keep an account of their nostalgic feelings over 30 days. Results showed they felt more nostalgic on colder days, according to researchers."
Romance, the sequel
"A wife who stuck by her husband while he was jailed for five years divorced him within weeks of his release because she couldn't stand him under her feet," says Orange Co. U.K. "Aying Wu, from Qunzhou, southern China, said: 'Somehow it seemed very romantic while he was away. … I thought my life would be complete and everything would be great when he was released.' But then, when husband Ahua Lin was finally freed, Aying found she couldn't stand the sight of him. 'He was always in the way and criticizing me. It just seemed as though he did not have anything good to say to me.' … Husband Ahua said: 'I was only trying to help her. I would give her some tips to improve things, but she took everything personally as if I were criticizing her.' "
Better light bulbs?
"U.S. researchers say they have developed a new type of lighting that could replace fluorescent bulbs," reports BBC News. "The new source is made from layers of plastic and is said to be more efficient while producing a better quality of flicker-free light. The scientists behind it say they believe the first units will be produced in 2013. … The new light source is called field-induced polymer electroluminescent (Fipel) technology. It is made from three layers of light-emitting polymer that contain a small volume of nanomaterials that glow when electric current is passed through them. The inventor of the device is Dr. David Carroll, professor of physics at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He says the new plastic lighting source can be made into any shape and it produces a better quality of light than compact fluorescent bulbs which have become very popular in recent years. '[Fluorescent bulbs] have a bluish, harsh tint to them,' he told BBC News. 'It is not really accommodating to the human eye; people complain of headaches and the reason is the spectral quality of that light doesn't match the sun – our device can match the solar spectrum perfectly.' "
Thought du jour
"Don't think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire."
Samuel Johnson
English writer (1709-84)