Research

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) tend to spend a majority of their free time in front of a screen, but little if any of that time on social activities such as e-mail or chat, according to new research out of Washington University in St. Louis.

Researchers analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2, which includes more than 1,000 13- to 16-year-olds in special ed who have ASDs, speech and language impairments, and learning disabilities.

While 28 percent of typically developing kids are reported as heavy TV watchers, this study found that more than twice as many … Read more

New findings that a saliva-based HIV test is only 2 percent less accurate than blood tests could make a case for more widespread self-testing around the world.

Researchers from McGill University in Montreal report in this week's issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases that field research data from five worldwide databases show that in high-risk populations, the saliva test (approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004) is 98.0 percent accurate, compared to a blood test's 99.68 percent accuracy.

The painless and noninvasive OraQuick HIV-1/2 saliva test, which yields results in just 20 minutes, … Read more

Glucose levels are 100 times more concentrated in blood than in saliva, which is why in spite of many efforts to use saliva, diabetics are still pricking themselves to get accurate glucose readings.

But now, harnessing the power of nanotechnology, engineers at Brown University say they've designed a biochip that can measure glucose levels in saliva almost as accurately as current devices can measure levels in blood.

To do this, the engineers etched a complicated array of thousands of plasmonic interferometers (no, this is not an episode of Farscape) onto a fingernail-size biochip. This means they were essentially using … Read more

Eye drops are so 1.0. Not only can they be messy and inconvenient to apply, they deliver medicine to treat dryness and other issues in imprecise volumes so quickly that they need to be reapplied every few hours.

And for those applying eye drops after laser eye surgery--when the eyes are especially tender--they can be a real pain.

Which is why researchers at the University of Florida are working to design contact lenses already helpful in protecting the eyes post-surgery that can extend the release time of anesthesia to help with this post-surgery pain.

The trick, chemist Anuj Chauhan … Read more

Several new headphones exhibited at CES last week featured an ambient noise boost, by which the user is able to hear the surrounding world without removing the 'phones. Such a feature may not only prove convenient--it could also save lives, according to a new study tracking headphone-related pedestrian injuries and deaths.

Serious injuries to pedestrians who are listening to headphones more than tripled between 2004 and 2011, researchers from the University of Maryland report in the journal Injury Prevention.

The team analyzed case reports from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Google News … Read more

My 85-year-old grandmother wouldn't do well on a bike on the open road. Her vision, hearing, and cognition have all declined enough to make such an expedition something of a death sentence. But those indoor stationary bikes are just so...boring.

Which is why researchers launched the Cybercycle Study in 2008 in an effort to explore what kinds of benefits older adults might reap from riding stationary bikes with interactive video game features.

What they found is that the cybercyclists demonstrated greater cognitive benefits than those who rode traditional stationary bikes without the virtual enhancement, according to their article … Read more

Gorilla Glass, which I wish covered my cracked Samsung Galaxy Nexus screen, is heading to market in a stronger 2.0 version.

Corning introduced the new material at CES yesterday, saying that newfound strength lets screens be made 20 percent thinner. That, in turn, can improve brightness, touch response, and of course device thickness.

I also hope the thinner glass will effectively bring text and graphics closer to the surface of smartphones, something I find makes them much easier to use since my eye isn't as distracted by multiple layers of visual information.

"Product qualification and design implementation … Read more

Ah, we are but mere mortals, and scientific research has a way of reminding us precisely how.

Not only has one recent study found that humans can experience age-related neurological decline as early as 45, but scientists are also reporting in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine that positron emission tomography (PET) can safely and accurately detect dementia early on.

The technique, according to lead author Nicolaas Bohnen in a news release, not only helps diagnose dementia, but also improves physician confidence: "This process can be difficult for physicians, especially when evaluating younger patients or those who have subtle signs … Read more