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Yahoo
33 minutes ago
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Ex-FDA chief wants to regulate big food
Former FDA chief Dr. David Kessler is petitioning the agency to strip refined carbs of their 'safe' status, arguing they fuel major diseases. The move comes as the CDC says ultra-processed foods make up over half the U.S. diet, including most kids' meals. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
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Scientists discover innovative leaching method for transforming waste into valuable material: 'An exceptionally high rate of recovery'
Scientists discover innovative leaching method for transforming waste into valuable material: 'An exceptionally high rate of recovery' You might not know every platinum-group metal by name, but they're in use all around you. This group of metals — which includes platinum and five other related elements — is used in everything from catalytic converters to cellphones, jewelry, electrochemical manufacturing, cancer research, and more. PGMs are also particularly important for renewable energy, as these metals power technology such as hydrogen fuel cells and some lithium-ion batteries. Despite the multifaceted utility of these metals, however, there are a number of environmental and health concerns related to their widespread use. The power consumed during PGM mining is one of the key issues, as are the health impacts of accumulated platinum-group elements in living creatures. A study in the journal Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology found that PGE exposure has been linked to "asthma, miscarriage, nausea, hair loss, skin diseases, and, in humans, other serious health problems." Additionally, the smelting of PGMs has been linked to persistent levels of toxic sulphur dioxide, which has been linked to other serious health risks. Fortunately, researchers have found a way to recycle PGMs more effectively, reducing the need for mining while simultaneously preventing the accumulation of more PGEs in the environment. The research, which was published in the journal Sustainable Resource Management, looked at a dual recycling process involving both pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes. The former uses high temperatures to extract and refine metal components, while the latter uses water-based solutions. In this case, scientists used sodium carbonate to recover leached metals. In this process, it reacts with the collected metals to cause the formation of solid metal precipitates, allowing the researchers to filter them out of the solution. Their method was highly successful, achieving what the study described as "an exceptionally high rate of recovery (≥99%) from the selective collector-metal leachate." The study's innovative method also reduced toxic environmental pollution and waste typically generated by PGM recycling processes. "These quantifiable improvements in recovery efficiency and environmental performance underscore the potential of this process as a sustainable and economically competitive strategy for industrial-scale PGM recycling," the researchers explained. What factor would be most important for you when buying an e-bike? Price Battery range Max speed How it looks Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. Solve the daily Crossword
Gizmodo
an hour ago
- Gizmodo
New Study Finds Smartwatches Aren't That Good at Measuring Stress
Some health enthusiasts swear by smartwatches as a way to monitor stress levels, but a recent study calls into question that common usage. The study, published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, claims that such watches display a very limited ability to actually communicate what a person's psychological state is. Sometimes, a watch may think the user is stressed when they're really just excited about something, researchers say. The report looked at nearly 800 students who wore a Garmin Vivosmart 4 smartwatch and measured their self-reported emotional states against the metrics collected by the wearables. According to the study, the self-reports of the watch-wearers and the analyses provided by the watches bore little resemblance to one another. It notes: We investigated the concurrent overlap between self-report and wearable sensor data measuring stress, tiredness, and sleep. For the majority of individuals in our sample, we found that self-report and physiological measures of stress show very weak to no associations. These results raise several questions about differences between data sources and potential measurement issues. Garmin advertises a stress-tracking capability for its smartwatches on its website. 'Stress levels (0–100) are estimated by the Firstbeat Analytics engine, primarily using a combination of HR and HRV data. This data is recorded by the optical heart rate sensor on the back of your device.' However, Garmin seems to admit that the quality and character of stress can be difficult to measure: 'Public speaking and running up a flight of stairs can both send your heart racing, but the underlying reasons why are fundamentally different,' its website notes. The company suggests that wearing the watch more frequently can result in better measurements. 'You can improve the quality of the insight gained by wearing your device as much as possible, especially while you sleep, because that is when your stress levels will typically be lowest,' the site states. 'This helps create a better understanding of the full range of stress and relaxation states that you experience.' In an interview with The Guardian, one of the study's authors, Eiko Fried, said that the correlation between the self-reported stress scores that were collected as part of the study and the readings provided by the smartwatches was 'basically zero.' 'This is no surprise to us given that the watch measures heart rate and heart rate doesn't have that much to do with the emotion you're experiencing – it also goes up for sexual arousal or joyful experiences,' he told the outlet. 'The findings raise important questions about what wearable data can or can't tell us about mental states,' he continued. 'Be careful and don't live by your smartwatch – these are consumer devices, not medical devices.' The study's topic has a diverse research history. A 2023 meta-analysis of studies about wearables and stress management found that 'the effect of wearable-based approaches on alleviating or reducing stress' had 'not been analyzed' and that most studies up until that point had 'focused on presenting overviews of wearable devices.' Another study published by researchers at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2023 found, much like the recent psychology study, that smartwatches frequently failed to distinguish between excitement and stress. Gizmodo reached out to Garmin for comment on the recent study and will update this story if it responds. While the study claims Garmin's wearable didn't do much to measure stress, researchers found it seemed to provide decent metrics in other arenas. The report says that the watches were very good at measuring sleep, although it notes that 'associations were weaker for tiredness.'
