As we start indulging more and more with our gadgets and as technology starts to gain more ground in our lives, the banes of technology have also started playing their roles.

Here’s a list of diseases and disorders resulting from the direct or indirect uses of hi-tech gadgets and gizmos.

At the McGill University in Canada, researchers have designed a game called ‘Matrix’ that helps reduce stress. In tests conducted with call center employees, the game (which involves clicking a smiling face in a matrix of frowning faces) helped reduce the stress considerably at about 17%.

Here’s an interesting article that talks about a beauty contest that was organized in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan, Revealed: Beauty under the burqa. This is special since Afghanistan has been a hotbed of conservatives within the Islamic community. This is a great achievement for the women in Afghanistan.

Here’s an eye-opening story, Working out at the gym may be doing more harm than good:

Almost 25 per cent of people, who are on a gym regimen, exercise at levels that can be detrimental to their health, a new study has revealed.

The study that looked into the exercise patterns of gym-goers in a fitness centre in Melbourne found that 23 per cent of them, exercising between six and 20 hours a week, are largely reliant on their physical fix.

The group called excessive exercisers undertook vigorous exercise for longer hours compared to their non-excessive counterparts.

Well, here’s some good news for honey lovers. This article, Honey may fight ageing, says that it may be possible that Honey could help counter the effects of ageing:

Yes, according to scientists, honey could help counter the effects of ageing and decrease anxiety, the Daily Mail reported here on Friday. “Diets sweetened with honey may be beneficial in decreasing anxiety and improving memory during ageing,” said Nicola Starkey of the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

According to her, this could be due to the antioxidant properties of honey. In fact, Starkey and Lynne Chepulis of the same university came to the conclusion after they conducted their tests on rodents.

Now here’s some interesting invention by two Italian designers Alberto Medo and Francisco Gomez Paz. They have designed a solar powered drinking water container which purifies drinking water on the go using Sun’s energy and UV-A radiation.

Another example of putting research for the benefit of mankind when there really is need of it. I hope people realize the importance of such inventions.

Read the complete story here, Water-Purifying Drinking Container.

Well, this is what some scientists are checking out. US Scientists are working on a virus Adenocirus-36 or Ad-36 that causes respiratory infections and/or eye infections which seems to have links to obesity as reported by this article, Common virus may be behind obesity :

A common virus caused human adult stem cells to turn into fat cells and could explain why some people become obese, US experts said on Monday.

The research builds on prior studies of adenovirus-36 – a common cause of respiratory and eye infections – and it may lead to an obesity vaccine, they said.

Further on this topic, Nikhil Dhurandhar of Pennington Biomedical Research Centre at Louisiana State University System has this to say:

We’re not talking about preventing all types of obesity, but if it is caused by this virus in humans, we want a vaccine to prevent this.

The virus adenovirus-36 or Ad-36, caused animals to pack on the pounds in lab experiments.

These animals accumulated a lot of fat.

So, as I have always had a tooth for literature, I don’t think this is any bit of a surprise for me. But for all you non-readers (nothing personal bros and gals!) out there, this should be something you should sit up and pay attention to!

In a recent study, it has been discovered that people who read around 12th grade or higher, are less prone to brain impairments in comparison to those who skipped the books.

Here this article reports further on the benefits of reading, It’s good to read:

In the new study that appears in the journal Neurology, thinking ability, movement ability and lifetime lead exposure were assessed in 112 lead-smelt workers in New Brunswick, Canada. The subjects were divided into high and low cognitive-reserve groups based on whether their reading ability was at the 12th grade level or below.

Even though the groups had similar lead exposure, thinking impairments were more pronounced in workers with low reading ability.

So there you have it. Read more and stay healthy and intelligent is all I have to say to you!

This article brings some good news for those people who wanted a piece of the doomed super-luxury liner, The Titanic:

Watches made from the metal of the hull of the doomed Titanic will soon be on sale. A West End dealer in designer watches told HT that these unique watches could easily cost up to £75,000, much more than the price of any average diamond-studded ones.

“Anything to do with the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic triggers emotions,” the dealer said, adding, “The value of these watches will only increase over the years. They are a collector’s item.”

The metal was salvaged by divers from the wreck of the liner — which lies 12,500 feet under the North Atlantic where it sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912. Fifteen hundred people died in what is one of history’s worst accidents.

Read this related article also.

Eating broccoli and cauliflower regularly reduces the risk of deadly prostate cancer, say US researchers. A study of 1300 men found they were better than any other vegetable at protecting against aggressive tumours.

As reported by this article on BBC.

Well, good news for all those broccoli and cauliflower lovers! Go get more of that stuff guys & gals.