Latest news with #UniversityOfTexas
Fox News
3 days ago
- Health
- Fox News
Wearable hydration monitor could help prevent heatstroke, scientists say
A new wearable sensor could help people avoid the dangers of dehydration by alerting them when their bodies need more water. Developed by researchers at the University of Texas, the non-invasive device continuously measures hydration levels in real time and wirelessly transmits the data to a smartphone, according to an SWNS report. "Dehydration is a silent threat that affects millions of people every day," said Professor Nanshu Lu of the University of Texas at Austin, who led the study. "Our wearable sensor provides a simple, effective way to monitor hydration levels in real time, empowering individuals to take proactive steps to stay healthy and perform at their best," she added, per SWNS. The sensor uses a method called bioimpedance, which sends a small, safe electrical current through the body via strategically placed electrodes. The current's flow depends on how hydrated the tissues are — hydrated tissue allows the current to pass easily, while dehydrated tissue resists the flow, according to SWNS. "Arm bioimpedance is not only sensitive to hydration changes, but also aligns closely with whole-body hydration measurements," said study co-author Dr. Matija Jankovic, a post-doctoral researcher in Professor Lu's lab. "Dehydration is a silent threat that affects millions of people every day." "This means the sensor can be a reliable surrogate for tracking hydration levels, even during everyday activities like walking, working or exercising," Jankovic added. To validate the device, the research team conducted multiple experiments, including a diuretic-induced dehydration study and a 24-hour real-life trial. Participants were given medication to promote fluid loss. Their hydration levels were monitored via the wearable and compared to urine samples. The device showed a strong correlation between changes in arm bioimpedance and total body water loss, SWNS reported. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The new sensor could offer an accessible and wearable alternative to traditional hydration tracking methods, such as urine or blood analysis, which are invasive, time-consuming and impractical, the researchers noted. Hydration is known to be essential for regulating body temperature, maintaining organ function and supporting many other vital processes. Even mild dehydration can impair concentration and performance, while severe dehydration may lead to serious health problems like heatstroke, kidney stones and cardiovascular issues, according to experts. Beyond everyday use, the researchers believe the technology could benefit patients with chronic dehydration, kidney disease or heart conditions. Athletes, too, could use the wearable to stay safe and perform optimally, especially in hot weather. While the current model tracks relative hydration changes, Professor Lu said the team aims to develop reference data for absolute hydration levels. They are also exploring more advanced wearable formats, like breathable electronic tattoos or sweat-absorbing patches, to enhance comfort during long-term use. For more Health articles, visit "This is just the beginning," Professor Lu said, per the SWNS report. "Our goal is to make simple hydration monitoring accessible to everyone."
Fox News
4 days ago
- Sport
- Fox News
Top-ranked golfer Scottie Scheffler would sacrifice one major championship to end Cowboys' Super Bowl drought
Scottie Scheffler has dominated on the golf course in recent years. This year alone, the world No. 1 golfer has won two major tournaments — the PGA Championship and The Open Championship. Scheffler is also a two-time Masters Tournament champion, but he admitted he would sacrifice at least one of his four coveted major titles in exchange for seeing his beloved Dallas Cowboys reach the mountaintop. "Gosh, I don't know. I would trade one, for sure, for a Super Bowl," the University of Texas alum responded when asked during a recent edition of the "Pardon My Take" podcast whether he would trade a major to see the Cowboys win it all. Those comments follow an admission Scheffler made before teeing off at The Open last week at Royal Portrus about the sport he dominates not completely fulfilling him before teeing off at The Open last week at Royal Portrus. While Scheffler is a New Jersey native, he has resided in Dallas for the majority of his life and is a self-proclaimed fan of the Cowboys. While the Waste Management Phoenix Open is not one of golf's four majors, Scheffler noted he would sacrifice several of his victories in that tournament in favor of seeing the Cowboys hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy. "I've been rooting for a Super Bowl for a long time as well," the top-ranked golfer said before jokingly suggesting he's dealt with more disappointment when it comes to football than he has in golf. "A lot of hard work has gone into cheering on the Boys." The Cowboys have won five Super Bowl titles in the franchise's history. However, the upcoming 2025 season marks three decades since the team has won a championship. The Cowboys have also experienced limited postseason success over that span, and the have failed to advance to a conference championship game since the 1995 season. During Scheffler's lifetime, he's seen Dallas win just five playoff games. A hamstring injury derailed Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott's 2024 season. The team finished with a 7-10 record and failed to qualify for the playoffs. Mike McCarthy was not retained as the head coach.
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
These 'crazy' invasive Florida pests attack mammals, birds and create giant supercolonies
Move over Burmese pythons and iguanas. This Florida invasive species numbers in the millions, asphyxiates its prey and creates huge supercolonies that are nearly impossible to eradicate. Meet tawny crazy ants. They get their name from their erratic movements, especially while foraging, and are native to South America but spread to the southern U.S. in the late 1990s. According to the USDA, tawny crazy ants in Florida are part of a super colony that spreads across the southern U.S. They lack territorial behavior, which enables the creation of gigantic supercolonies, whose need for resources drives out local wildlife and brings them into direct conflict with humans. They can invade homes where they are drawn to and damage electrical equipment, and can make yards uncomfortable for residents to enjoy. In areas of the country with severe tawny crazy ant infestations, they kill or displace local wildlife, including other ant species, even fire ants. 'There's no insect noise and there's no bird noise,' University of Texas ecologist Edward LeBrun told Science. According to Texas A&M University's Urban and Structural Entomology Program, after experiencing the tawny crazy ant, most residents prefer the fire ant. Tawny crazy ants bite and excrete formic acid Tawny crazy ants bite and excrete formic acid, which they use like venom. What do tawny crazy ants in Florida eat? According to the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), tawny crazy ants prey on live animals, and scavenge from dead animals. They eat caterpillars, beetles, termites, wasps and spiders, or even small animals such as rabbits, birds, lizards, and domestic animals, which usually die due to asphyxia. Tawny crazy ants are capable of forcing birds from their nests and blinding young rabbits with their acid, Smithsonian Magazine reported. They can attack crops, domestic animals and honeybee hives, and take over the nesting sites of other ant species, including fire ants. Where in Florida are tawny crazy ants found? See map According to IFAS, by 2012, tawny crazy ants were found in 24 counties in Florida listed below, with infestations spreading. This can be expected in any county in Florida, IFAS reported. Alachua Brevard Broward Clay Collier DeSoto Duval Hardee Hillsborough Indian River Lee Manatee Marion Martin Miami-Dade Orange Palm Beach Pasco Pinellas Polk Saint Johns Saint Lucie Sarasota What do tawny crazy ants look like? The Urban and Structural Entomology Program at Texas A&M University describes tawny crazy ants as follows: Coloration: Adult colony members, including queens, males and workers, are reddish-brown (although lightness or darkness of their body color may vary) Size: Worker ants are all similar in size (they are monomorphic), with a body length of 1/8 inch. Worker ants have long legs and antennae and their bodies have numerous, long, coarse hairs. The antenna have 12-segments with no club. There is a small circle of hairs (acidopore) present at tip of the abdomen (as opposed to the typical stinger found in many ants), a characteristic of formicine ants (found within the Formicinae subfamily). How to get rid of tawny crazy ants around your home Management of this ant will most likely require the services of a professional pest control company that practices integrated pest management (IPM). According to UF, 100% eradication of this ant is not probable in areas where it is established. However, population suppression is possible. Tawny crazy ant prevention Schedule regular trash pick-up. Keep trash cans clean and stored away from the home. Remove leaf litter, fallen branches, and other yard debris. Keep hedges and trees trimmed so that they do not touch the home. Eliminate or reduce possible food, water, and nesting sources. Remove trash regularly and keep trash receptacles clean. Do not leave dirty dishes in the sink. Clean up spills immediately. Place food items in the refrigerator or in sealed containers. Pick up pet food bowls when your pet is not eating. Exclusion To prevent ants from entering a home: Walk around the outside of the home and locate potential entry points (cracks, crevices, spaces around windows and doors). Locate indoor entry points, paying particular attention to windows, doors, and plumbing and utility penetrations. Use an appropriate sealant. Replace door thresholds and weather stripping as needed. If you can see light from the outside while you are standing inside, it is enough of a gap for ants and other pests to enter. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Fire ant vs tawny ants: invasive species in Florida. Map, how to kill
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Texas leads nation in flood deaths due to geography, size and population
Even before the Central Texas floods that killed more than 100 people, the state was by far the leader in U.S. flood deaths due partly to geography that can funnel rainwater into deadly deluges, according to a study spanning decades. From 1959 to 2019, 1,069 people died in Texas in flooding, which is nearly one-fifth of the total 5,724 flood fatalities in the Lower 48 states in that time, according to a 2021 study in the journal Water. That's about 370 more than the next closest state, Louisiana. Flooding is the second leading weather cause of death in the country, after heat, both in 2024 and the last 30 years, averaging 145 deaths a year in the last decade, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Other floods have turned deadly this year: Last month in San Antonio, 13 people died including 11 people who drove into water thinking they could get through, according to study author Hatim Sharif, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio who studies why people die in floods. For several years Sharif has urged state and local officials to integrate better emergency action programs to use flood forecasts and save lives by alerting people and closing off vulnerable intersections where roads and water meet. 'I think in Kerr County, if they had an integrated warning system that uses rainfall forecasts to forecast real-time impacts on the ground, that could have saved many lives and could have also helped emergency crews to know which location would be flooded, which roads would be impassable,' Sharif said. 'They could have taken action.' The role of geography and terrain Texas has so many deaths because of its geography, population and size, experts say. The area where the most recent deadly floods struck is known as flash flood alley because of hills and valleys. 'Steep, hilly terrain produces rapid runoff and quick stream rises, since the water will travel downhill at greater speed into rivers and over land,' said Kate Abshire, lead of NOAA's flash flood services. 'Rocky terrain can exacerbate the development of flash floods and raging waters, since rocks and clay soils do not allow as much water to infiltrate the ground.' 'Urban areas are especially prone to flash floods due to the large amounts of concrete and asphalt surfaces that do not allow water to penetrate into the soil easily,' she said. Along with those hills, 'you've got the Gulf of Mexico right there, the largest body of hot water in the entire North Atlantic most of the time,' said Jeff Masters a former government meteorologist who co-founded Weather Underground and now is at Yale Climate Connections. 'So you've got a ready source of moisture for creating floods.' Preventable driving deaths Historically, many of the deaths were preventable across the nation and in Texas alike, according to experts. Masters said nothing illustrates that better than one statistic in Sharif's study: 86% of flood deaths since 1959 were people driving or walking into floodwaters. Nearly 58% of the deaths were people in cars and trucks. It's a problem especially in Texas because of hills and low lying areas that have more than 3,000 places where roads cross streams and waterways without bridges or culverts, Sharif said. 'People in Texas, they like trucks and SUVs, especially trucks,' Sharif said. 'They think trucks are tough, and that is I think a factor. So sometimes they use their big car or SUV or truck, and they say they can beat the flood on the street ... especially at night. They underestimate the depth and velocity of water.' Abshire said that not only do people ignore the weather service's safety mantra, 'Turn around, don't drown,' but studies found that a number of these fatalities occur when people actively drive around barricades and barriers blocking flooded roads. The latest Texas Hill Country flooding was less typical because so many of the deaths were in a camp where the water overtook the victims, not people going into the water, Sharif said. Only about 8% of flood deaths in the last 60 years happened in permanent homes, mobile homes or camping, according to the study. The July 4th floods happened at night, a common time for flood deaths. More than half of deaths since 1959 have occurred at night, when it's dark and people can't see how much flooding there is or are not awake for the warnings, Sharif's study found. As far as demographics, about 62% of U.S. flood deaths were male, according to the study. 'Risk-taking behavior is usually associated with men,' Sharif said, adding that it's why most fatal victims of car crashes are male. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
The Independent
12-07-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Texas leads nation in flood deaths due to geography, size and population
Even before the Central Texas floods that killed more than 100 people, the state was by far the leader in U.S. flood deaths due partly to geography that can funnel rainwater into deadly deluges, according to a study spanning decades. From 1959 to 2019, 1,069 people died in Texas in flooding, which is nearly one-fifth of the total 5,724 flood fatalities in the Lower 48 states in that time, according to a 2021 study in the journal Water. That's about 370 more than the next closest state, Louisiana. Flooding is the second leading weather cause of death in the country, after heat, both in 2024 and the last 30 years, averaging 145 deaths a year in the last decade, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Other floods have turned deadly this year: Last month in San Antonio, 13 people died including 11 people who drove into water thinking they could get through, according to study author Hatim Sharif, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio who studies why people die in floods. For several years Sharif has urged state and local officials to integrate better emergency action programs to use flood forecasts and save lives by alerting people and closing off vulnerable intersections where roads and water meet. 'I think in Kerr County, if they had an integrated warning system that uses rainfall forecasts to forecast real-time impacts on the ground, that could have saved many lives and could have also helped emergency crews to know which location would be flooded, which roads would be impassable,' Sharif said. 'They could have taken action.' The role of geography and terrain Texas has so many deaths because of its geography, population and size, experts say. The area where the most recent deadly floods struck is known as flash flood alley because of hills and valleys. 'Steep, hilly terrain produces rapid runoff and quick stream rises, since the water will travel downhill at greater speed into rivers and over land,' said Kate Abshire, lead of NOAA's flash flood services. 'Rocky terrain can exacerbate the development of flash floods and raging waters, since rocks and clay soils do not allow as much water to infiltrate the ground.' 'Urban areas are especially prone to flash floods due to the large amounts of concrete and asphalt surfaces that do not allow water to penetrate into the soil easily,' she said. Along with those hills, 'you've got the Gulf of Mexico right there, the largest body of hot water in the entire North Atlantic most of the time,' said Jeff Masters a former government meteorologist who co-founded Weather Underground and now is at Yale Climate Connections. 'So you've got a ready source of moisture for creating floods.' Preventable driving deaths Historically, many of the deaths were preventable across the nation and in Texas alike, according to experts. Masters said nothing illustrates that better than one statistic in Sharif's study: 86% of flood deaths since 1959 were people driving or walking into floodwaters. Nearly 58% of the deaths were people in cars and trucks. It's a problem especially in Texas because of hills and low lying areas that have more than 3,000 places where roads cross streams and waterways without bridges or culverts, Sharif said. ' People in Texas, they like trucks and SUVs, especially trucks,' Sharif said. 'They think trucks are tough, and that is I think a factor. So sometimes they use their big car or SUV or truck, and they say they can beat the flood on the street ... especially at night. They underestimate the depth and velocity of water.' Abshire said that not only do people ignore the weather service's safety mantra, 'Turn around, don't drown,' but studies found that a number of these fatalities occur when people actively drive around barricades and barriers blocking flooded roads. The latest Texas Hill Country flooding was less typical because so many of the deaths were in a camp where the water overtook the victims, not people going into the water, Sharif said. Only about 8% of flood deaths in the last 60 years happened in permanent homes, mobile homes or camping, according to the study. The July 4th floods happened at night, a common time for flood deaths. More than half of deaths since 1959 have occurred at night, when it's dark and people can't see how much flooding there is or are not awake for the warnings, Sharif's study found. As far as demographics, about 62% of U.S. flood deaths were male, according to the study. 'Risk-taking behavior is usually associated with men,' Sharif said, adding that it's why most fatal victims of car crashes are male. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
