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TIMES

THE TIMES OF INDIA, PUNE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2015

13

TRENDS

Excess net use ups BP risk in teens

iTOONS

SUNIL AGARWAL & AJIT NINAN

Even Those Who Spend 14 Hours A Week Surfing Have Hypertension: Study

A WALK TO REMEMBER! A glass-bottomed

walkway attached to the side of a mountain in China
cracked while tourists were traversing it. The
platform, which opened on September 20, runs
along Yuntai Mountain in Henan Province and is
elevated 3,540ft above the ground. It has now been
closed to the public for repairs. In a statement
released to Peoples Daily China, the managing
company said the crack was caused by a sharp
object falling onto the glass but its safety had not
been compromised as there are three layers of glass

New habitability index

to help find alien life

he hunt for alien life may get easier, thanks

to a habitability index created by scientists
that can point out which of the thousands of
exoplanets discovered so far have a better
chance of hosting life. Traditionally, astronomers have focused the search by looking for
planets in their stars habitable zone more
informally called the Goldilocks zone which
is the swath of space that's just right to allow
an orbiting Earth-like planet to have liquid water
on its surface, perhaps giving life a chance. But
so far that has been just a sort of binary designation, indicating only whether a planet is, or is
not, within that area considered right for life.
The new metric, called the habitability index
for transiting planets, is more nuanced, producing a continuum of values that astronomers
can punch into a Virtual Planetary Laboratory
Web form to arrive at the single-number habitability index, representing the probability that a
planet can maintain liquid water at its surface.
The index was created by University of Washington professors Rory Barnes and Victoria
Meadows other with research assistants.

Washington: Teens who spend

hours on the internet may be at
risk for high blood pressure and
weight gain, researchers say. Researchers found that teens who
spent at least 14 hours a week on
the internet had elevated blood
pressure. Of 134 teens described
by researchers as heavy internet users, 26 had elevated blood
pressure. This is believed to be
the first study to show a link between time spent on the internet
and high blood pressure.
The findings add to growing
research that has shown an association between heavy internet
use and other health risks like addiction, anxiety, depression, obesity and social isolation, resear-

Jim Craigmyle/Corbis

LITTLE TO LAUGH ABOUT

chers said. Using the internet is

part of our daily life but it shouldnt consume us. In our study, teens considered heavy internet

users were on the internet an average of 25 hours a week, said

Andrea Cassidy-Bushrow, a researcher at Henry Fords department of public health sciences.
Its important that young people take regular breaks from their
computer or smartphone, and engage in some form of physical activity. I recommend to parents
they limit their childrens time at
home on the internet. I think two
hours a day, five days a week is good rule of thumb, Cassidy-Bushrow said. Researchers analysed
data compiled from 335 teens ages
14-17 enrolled in the study including a blood pressure reading taken during a physical exam.
Participants also completed a

Times of India, Pune, October 8, 2015 Pp.13

Nasa tests umbrella-like heat

shield for Mars missions
Washington: Researchers at
Nasa have successfully tested an
umbrella-like heat shield made
of carbon fabric that could
protect Mars exploration vehicles from extreme heat when
entering the Red planets atmosphere.
As Nasa missions to Mars
progress with science and complex human exploration missions, spacecrafts will require
larger heat shields to protect
against the extreme heat of entering a planets atmosphere and
decelerating at a safe altitude in
the thin Martian atmosphere,
the US space agency said.
Todays rockets have limited
space to accommodate space-

Denis Scott/CORBIS

NEXT DESTINATION

craft and their heat shields. However, engineers at Nasas Ames

Research Centre may have a solution Adaptive Deployable
Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT).
ADEPT is a mechanically-de-

ployable heat shield concept using

carbon fabric a flexible heat shield that expands to open like an
umbrella. Ames engineers have
successfully completed heating simulation testing of an ADEPT
model under conditions akin to
entering the Martian atmosphere.
The test used a blast of hot air
from a 21inches diameter nozzle to
simulate a bow shock wave in
front of a 2 m wide ADEPT shield,
which was attached to a water-cooled support arm.
During the tests, temperatures on the shield reached 1,700
degrees Celsius while bluish streaks streamed away as a special resin-infused protective coating ablated from the stitching. PTI

In Brazil, luxury maternity clinics spur C-sections

Corbis

Rio de Janeiro: Thais Faria

sank into a leather love seat,
relaxing under the ministrations first of a masseuse,
then a manicurist and finally a hairdresser-cum-makeup artist. Not 24 hours after
her daughter was born via
cesarean, Faria was being
pampered at an upscale Rio
de Janeiro maternity clinic.
Cesarean births arent
typically associated with

PAMPERING MOMS

luxury. But the procedures

have become de rigueur
among Brazils wealthy,

with new mothers at some

high-end clinics enjoying
beauty treatments after the
operation in a culture that
has come to regard births as
glamorous social events
equal parts spa, cocktail party and family get-together. In
private clinics nationwide,
C-sections account for more
than eight of every 10 births.
Authorities want to turn
the tide on what health mini-

stry officials have called an

epidemic of cesareans births in the country, with Brazil
now the worlds No. 2 recipient of C-sections, second only to China in raw numbers.
They have designed new rules aimed at discouraging
the procedure when its medically unnecessary, saying
C-sections dramatically raise the risk of respiratory
problems for the infant and

death for the mother.

At the Perinatal private
clinic, where Faria gave
birth, women reserve their
spot upon learning of their
pregnancies, booking their
cesareans months in advance. In clinics like Perinatal,
most new mothers have medical insurance that cover
the $4,200 price tag of the Csections, plus a three-day
stay in a private room. AP

55-question survey of their internet use during the week leading

up to their physical exam. Questions ranged from how they spent
their time on the internet and their number of email addresses to time spent on the internet daily and
for what purpose. For their study,
researchers defined internet use
as visiting web sites, emailing, instant messaging, playing games,
doing homework, shopping,
downloading software and creating or maintaining webpages.
The study also found that teens spent on average 15 hours a
week on the internet at either
school or home and 39% of girls
were heavy internet users compared to 43% of boys. PTI

Homo naledi
adapted
to climbing,
walking
Johannesburg: The newly
discovered human ancestor
Homo naledi may have been
jack of all trades uniquely
adapted for both tree climbing
and walking upright, while also being handy with tools, new
research has found.
Two new studies describing the structure and function of the Homo naledi hand
and foot indicate the species
may have been uniquely adapted for both tree climbing and
walking as dominant forms of
movement. The research was
conducted by a team of scientists associated with the University of the Witwatersrand
in South Africa.
The research indicates a
decoupling of upper and lower limb function in H naledi,
and provides an important insight into the skeletal form
and function that may have
characterised early members
of the Homo genus.
The H naledi foot shares
many features with a modern
human foot, indicating it is
well-adapted for standing and
walking on two feet. The H naledi hand shows a unique combination of anatomy that has
not been found in any other
fossil human before. PTI

Coming: Woman
superheroes to
capture girls hearts
I

Source: Mattel

nside Mattels headquarters just south of Los Angeles International Airport, Christine Kim grabs a
shield and fires a plastic disc
from it across a conference room. Im going to be playing
with all my boys, deflecting
their bullets and then be like,
Im going to shoot you, says
Kim, one of Mattels top toy
designers.
Kim has in her possession
what Mattel sees as a groundbreaking idea, one that could
help end the years of malaise
that sunk its sales and stock price and sent the companys last
chief executive packing.
But even more important is
that this may mean the toymaker has reconnected with
its most important customer:
little girls.
For the shield is not Captain Americas it belongs to
Wonder Woman. And its a
Wonder Woman designed by
women for girls, not one crafted by men for boys. To show
what a huge difference that
makes, Kim picks up examples of the top-heavy Wonder
Women and Batgirl action figures found on shelves. Beautiful, but really sexualized, Kim says. Theres a very direct emphasis on a womanly part.
The new Mattel characters,
created through a partnership
with Warner Bros. DC Comics,
are aimed at a 6 year-old girl.
The DC SuperHero Girls line,

GIRL POWER

which launches this spring,

will include 12-inch dolls, 6-inch
action figures, and gadgets
such as a Batgirl utility belt.
Some of the products will
be unveiled for the first time
this week at New York Comic
Con. The two companies joined forces last year after seeing a hole in the market, one
Warner Bros. wants to help
fill with girl-oriented books
and animated Web series. The
studio also is pushing female
superheroes into the mainstream with Supergirl, a television show airing this month
on ABC, and a Wonder Woman movie slated for 2017.
Mattels research has found
that girls already purchase
about 9% of action figuresand thats despite the fact
that most movies, TV shows,
and toys arent made with
them in mind. BLOOMBERG