A Texas doctor claims that you can now kill your acne while you chat on the phone with your friends. Houston dermatologist Greg Pearson says that his AcneApp, available at Apple’s app store for $1.99, is a great way to clear your mug of unseemly spots.
The AcneApp emits alternating bursts of red and blue light from the iPhone’s screen. All users have to do is run the program then hold the phone up to their faces.
Dr. Pearson says the phone needs to be held to the face for about two minutes a day, and callers have to remember to switch sides for maximum benefit. He isn’t quite sure of the results, and he can’t promote the app’s medical benefits because it hasn’t been FDA-approved. Nevertheless, Pearson told Fox TV that the app has been designed with “some science” in mind.
A few diamond cut-outs and a video camera are all the ingredients for one pretty awesome optical illusion, courtesy of GreeenPro2009.
That’s all we’re going to say. Enjoy.
How does it work? A few viewers offer their suggestions in the comments over on YouTube. (Hint: are those diamonds colored in solid gray tones?) What do you think?
“The purpose of this study was to investigate the significance of wet underwear and to compare any influence of fibre-type material and textile construction of underwear on thermoregulatory responses and thermal comfort of humans during rest in the cold. Long-legged/long-sleeved underwear manufactured from 100% polypropylene in a 1-by-1 rib knit structure was tested dry and wet as part of a two-layer clothing system. In addition cotton (1-by-1 rib knit), wool (1-by-1 rib knit), polypropylene (fishnet), and a double-layer material manufactured from 47% wool and 53% polypropylene (interlock knit) was tested wet in the clothing system. In the wet condition 175 g of water was distributed in the underwear prior to the experiment. The test was done on eight men (T(a) = 10 degrees C, RH = 85%, V(a) < 0.1 m/s), and comprised a 60 min resting period. Skin temperature, rectal temperature, and weight loss were recorded during the test. … …The tests demonstrated the significant cooling effect of wet underwear on thermoregulatory responses and thermal comfort… …The thickness of the underwear has more of an influence on the thermoregulatory responses and thermal comfort, than the types of fibres tested."
Pop quiz: Which former NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year is (literally) a big fan of science, and this magazine in particular? That’s right, defensive end Hugh Douglas.
Recently, as part of an ongoing effort to playfully engage the public in science, he chatted with DISCOVER contributor Darlene Cavalier (who moonlights as the Science Cheerleader) and shared his thoughts on the Large Hadron Collider, spiral galaxies, ROS suppression, and more.
“The influence of music-based subcultures on suicidality has been the subject of much debate but little scholarly research. While previous work has documented that suicide is a remarkably frequent cause of death in opera, it has not explored the related consequences on opera’s audience… …Suicide in the case of life without honor, the “Madame Butterfly Effect,” is a theme in opera. Persons who are drawn into and/or influenced by the opera subculture of honor are hypothesized to be more accepting of suicide in the case of dishonor to one’s family… …A multivariate logistic regression analysis finds that opera fans are 2.37 times more accepting of suicide because of dishonor than nonfans. Only two variables, religiosity and education, are more closely related to suicide acceptability than opera fanship. These are the first empirical results on the subject of opera and suicide acceptability.”
A device for the color measurement and detection of spots on the skin.
“In this work, we present a new and fast easy-to-use device that allows the measurement of color and the detection of spots on the human skin. The developed device is highly practical for relatively untrained operators and uses inexpensive consumer equipment, such as a CCD color camera, a light source composed of LEDs and a laptop… The system also detects spots, such as freckles, age spots, sunspots, pimples, black heads, etc., in a determined region, allowing the objective measurement of their size and area… On the other hand, the feasibility of the system in order to detect and measure spots on the human skin has also been checked over a great amount of images, obtaining results with high precision.”
The International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago is like a walk through time—a time when removing part of a patient’s skull for “therapeutic” purposes was considered normal.
From graphic paintings of childbirth to a vast collection of often-ghastly tools of the trade, the Surgical Museum is a morbidly fascinating journey into the blood-spattered beginnings of modern medicine. After a look at these hair-raising exhibits, you might remark that while the United States may be in serious need of health care reform, at least we have anesthetics and the germ theory of disease.
Click over to Wired.com for a photo tour of the museum.
“Previous studies have shown that male attractiveness can be enhanced by manipulation of status through, for example, the medium of costume. The present study experimentally manipulated status by seating the same target model (male and female matched for attractiveness) expressing identical facial expressions and posture in either a ‘high status’ (Silver Bentley Continental GT) or a ‘neutral status’ (Red Ford Fiesta ST) motor-car… …Results showed that the male target model was rated as significantly more attractive on a rating scale of 1-10 when presented to female participants in the high compared to the neutral status context. Males were not influenced by status manipulation, as there was no significant difference between attractiveness ratings for the female seated in the high compared to the neutral condition. It would appear that despite a noticeable increase in female ownership of prestige/luxury cars over recent years males, unlike females remain oblivious to such cues in matters pertaining to opposite-sex attraction.”
Insult, aggression, and the southern culture of honor: an “experimental ethnography”.
“Three experiments examined how norms characteristic of a “culture of honor” manifest themselves in the cognitions, emotions, behaviors, and physiological reactions of southern White males. Participants were University of Michigan students who grew up in the North or South. In 3 experiments they were insulted by a confederate who bumped into the participant and called him an “asshole”. Compared with northerners–who were relatively unaffected by the insult–southerners were (a) more likely to think their masculine reputation was threatened, (b) more upset (as shown by a rise in cortisol levels), (c) more physiologically primed for aggression (as shown by a rise in testosterone levels), (d) more cognitively primed for aggression, and (e) more likely to engage in aggressive and dominant behavior.”
Discoblog is DISCOVER's compendium of quirky, funny, and surprising science news from the edge of the known universe. It's written by Veronique Greenwood and Valerie Ross. Email tips and suggestions to vgreenwood [at] discovermagazine [dot] com.
A Texas doctor claims that you can now kill your acne while you chat on the phone with your friends. Houston dermatologist Greg Pearson says that his AcneApp, available at Apple’s app store for $1.99, is a great way to clear your mug of unseemly spots.
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