Simply scientifico

GOOD HEALTH LINKED TO TRAVELLING
People who travel more outside of their local area feel they are healthier than those who stay closer to home, finds a new study led by University College of London researchers. They found how often people travel and the range of places visited are important, with those who regularly travel more than 24 km away from home more likely to report being in good health. Those who travel to a wider variety of places are more likely to make more friends and increase their social circles. This increase in social participation is linked to better health, the researchers found.

COOL NEW WAY FOR AIR-CONDITIONING SANS GENERATION OF HARMFUL GASES
Researchers have found a way to effectively heat or cool air by bypassing gases with high global warming potential as refrigerants by using salt. Salt is known to change the time taken for ice to form. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have applied this basic concept to develop a new method of heating and cooling. The technique, which they have named “ionocaloric cooling,” takes advantage of how energy, or heat, is stored or released when a material changes phase — such as changing from solid ice to liquid water. Melting a material absorbs heat from the surroundings, while solidifying it releases heat. The ionocaloric cycle causes this phase and temperature change through the flow of ions (electrically charged atoms or molecules) which come from a salt.

6G WIRELESS TECH FROM WASTE ENERGY USING HUMAN BODY?
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst use the body to harvest waste energy to power wearable devices. While benefits of the 5G wireless technology are just being reaped, researchers are already at work on 6G wireless tech. One of the most promising breakthroughs in 6G telecommunications is the possibility of Visible Light Communication, which is like a wireless version of fibre-optics. Now, a team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has announced that they have invented a low-cost, innovative way to harvest the waste energy from VLC by using the human body as an antenna. This waste energy can be recycled to power an array of wearable devices, or even, perhaps, larger electronics.