Ambika Mahajan | World Tech Today

Instagram now allows to upload photos in Landscape and Portrait modes

Aug 27, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

Developers of Instagram has realized that users across their increasingly popular platform have to fret unnecessarily about how their pictures and videos will look after being cropped into a square frame, the photo sharing service today announced expanding choices for their users. From now on, Instagrammers will have the option to upload their pictures and videos in square, landscape and portrait mode.

Earlier, the sides of the photos and videos would get trimmed automatically as they got cropped into a square shape, much to the annoyance of users at certain times.

“Square format has been and always will be part of who we are. That said, the visual story you’re trying to tell should always come first, and we want to make it simple and fun for you to share moments just the way you want to. It turns out that nearly one in five photos or videos people post aren’t in the square format, and we know that it hasn’t been easy to share this type of content on Instagram: friends get cut out of group shots, the subject of your video feels cramped and you can’t capture the Golden Gate Bridge from end to end,,” read the post announcing the change.

The most popular photo app in the world obviously wants to give their users more option for expressing themselves and also encourage them to share more prolifically and thus contribute to their popularity.

As the site users now select a picture for uploading across Instagram, they will have the option to tap a format button to switch between aspect ratios. The chosen picture will then appear in the profile grid as a square but show its true form when viewed individually.

The update has been rolled out for both Android and iOS users together. Users only need to update their app from the respective app stores before they can start exercising their choice.

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Research says first born girls more likely to be overweight than younger sisters

Aug 27, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

First born women are more likely to be overweight or obese as adults as compared to their younger sisters, suggests a new research the findings of which have been published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

Researchers from New Zealand analyzed data collected from 13,406 pairs of sisters between 1991 and 2009. They carefully noted the women’s height and weight besides other information like family history, current health and lifestyle.

They saw that the first borns were more likely to have a lower birth weight than their younger sisters but had a higher BMI as adults besides being at a greater chance of being overweight or obese.

First born sisters were 29% more likely to be overweight and 40% more likely to be obese as compared to the second born sisters, to be specific. As if it were some consolation, the first borns were also seen to be slightly taller.

“This is the fourth study we have done to characterize the health risks of firstborn in four different populations,” said lead researcher Dr. Wayne Cutfield, a professor of pediatric endocrinology at the Liggins Institute of the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

“If you look at the health risks of those that are firstborn, you find that firstborns are more insulin resistant than later borns, which is a risk factor for diabetes, and they have higher blood pressure than later borns,” he said.

He suggests that the change in the blood supply to the placenta between the first and the subsequent pregnancies due to dilation of blood vessels could be one of the reasons.

Dr. Maria Peña, Director of the Center for Weight Management at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, says although this is one plausible theory, environmental factors are most likely also at play.

“In many cultures, moms are more meticulous with their firstborns,” she told CBS News. “With the very firstborn, everyone’s helping out and over-feeding the baby, making sure it’s at a ‘healthy weight.’ But with second children, parents know what to expect and they’re not so overprotective so maybe they feed them a little less.”

She however suggested looking into a broader cross section of population and including women of different races, socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels before jumping to conclusions.

Colorado Mom expecting conjoined twins, told only one of them will survive

Aug 27, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

A Colorado mom preparing to give birth to conjoined twins has been told by her doctors that one of her two babies to arrive will not be able to survive. In what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, the doctors attending the 31 year old Amber McCullough at the Colorado Fetal care Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado delivered her this tragic twist sometime back.

The C-section on McCullough, a resident of Hastings, Minnesota, was scheduled for Wednesday. Conjoined twins are extremely rare, occurring only once for every 200,000 live births according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. A majority of them (40-60%) are stillborn while 35% survive only one day.

Herself an identical twin, McCullough has spent eight years in the US Army after which she went to law school and is now the Minneapolis attorney for victims of domestic violence. She has a six year old son, Tristan from an earlier marriage which ended in a divorce. She became pregnant with the conjoined girls during another relationship but learned that her kids were conjoined only during the second trimester of her pregnancy. Her relationship with the girls’ father ended shortly thereafter and she stays in Aurora with her stepmother now.

McCullough has been told that the girls, Hannah and Oliver, are joined at the chest, stomach and hips. They share an abdomen, liver and intestinal tract though their hearts and kidneys are separate. Olivia who only has a single ventricle, is missing valves and a congenital brain deformation, is not expected to survive.

“I’m anxious and excited for Hannah and dreading what it means for Olivia,” she said. “I will get to see my girls very briefly after the delivery. They will need to be intubated right away, but the doctors will hold them up real quick and I’ll get a peek.”

Obviously saddened at the prospect of losing one of her kids, she said, “There are few things sacred in life, your children will always make the top of that list, and of those few things sacred in life, they are always worth fighting for, even if you lose the battle. I think it’s very important their story be told. With my girls lies a message of life, strength, beauty.”

The two will undergo a surgery for separating them shortly after their birth. The procedure might take 8-12 hours, she has been told.

Study suggests low doses of Aspirin can lower risk of colorectal cancer if taken regulaly

Aug 26, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

Findings of a new study suggest that a low-dose painkiller can significantly cut down the risk of bowel cancer if taken daily. Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have found that “taking one or two baby aspirins a day for at least five years was tied to a lower risk of colorectal cancer.

The scientists monitored a group of participants for at least five years by administering them low doses of aspirin daily and saw that they were at 27% lesser risk of developing the disease as compared to those who were not consuming aspirin daily. A low dose, according to the researchers, meant 75-150 milligrams of aspirin a day. Continued usage of aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen put the subjects at 30% to 45% lesser risk, they said.

Cox 2, a pro-inflammatory enzyme, emerged as a major culprit and non-aspirin NSAIDs with the capacity to suppress it were found to be the most potent in cutting down the risk of developing cancer.

“Our results indicate that if aspirin is taken at doses of 75 to 150 mg, long-term, continuous use is necessary to achieve a substantial protective effect against colorectal (bowel) cancer,” wrote the scientists led by Dr. Soren Friis, from the Danish Cancer Society Research Centre.

“The potential use of aspirin and non-aspirin NSAIDs for the prevention of colorectal cancer is limited by the risk for gastrointestinal bleeding, and, for most nonaspirin NSAIDs, cardiovascular risks. These potential harms will need to be balanced against the chemopreventive benefits that our results indicate.”

Dr. John Baron, co-author and a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill was also amazed to learn about the protective effects of a commonly used painkiller, not without warning about the risks associated therewith. “For aspirin, you would have to take it fairly consistently, meaning at least every other day, for at least five to 10 years for the protective effect to even begin to appear That’s a significant amount of time for side effects to accumulate, all without getting any benefit.”

The findings have been detailed in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Massive Glacier calf in Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier spotted from Space

Aug 25, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

The huge frozen island of Greenland just lost a chunk of ice and the results are dramatic enough to be visible from the space. The massive calf in the infamous Jakobshavn glacier cost the island almost five square miles of ice, which could perhaps make it the biggest calving event on record.

The iceberg which broke off the gargantuan glacier is large enough to cover a Manhattan sized island in almost 1,000 feet of ice! “Assuming the ice is about 1400 m deep, this equates a volume of 17.5 cubic km,” points out European Space Agency (ESA) “which could cover the whole of Manhattan Island by a layer of ice about 300m thick.”

The pictures of the entire meltdown which is believed to have taken place between Aug 14 and Aug 16 have been released by both NASA and the ESA.

Calving is not a new feature at the Jakobshavn glacier. It is famous in history as having produced the iceberg which sank the massive Titanic in 1912. In the recent past, it lost 3.4 square miles of ice in 2010 and also earlier this year, as per the ESA.

Not all scientists however believe this to be the largest recorded instance of calving. Richard Alley, a glaciologist at Pennsylvania State University, wrote “Overall, I don’t think that they really can nail the ‘largest’ [calving event] or not. I wouldn’t get too excited on this, even though it is not good news.”

However there is no doubt that calving events have become more frequent and bigger in the recent decades due to rise in both sea and air temperatures.

“We are now seeing summer speeds more than four times what they were in the 1990s, on a glacier which at that time was believed to be one of the fastest, if not the fastest, glacier in Greenland,” said Dr. Joughin, a glaciologist at the University of Washington’s Polar Science Center, while talking to a Christian Science Monitor correspondent.

At present, Greenland is one of the biggest contributors towards the rising sea levels, account ting for almost 1mm rise annually. That makes it a bigger threat than the much bigger Antarctica.

Japanese company sends Alcohol, Mice, and other supplies to the ISS aboard Spacecraft HTV-5

Aug 25, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

Using a robotic cargo ship, Japanese company Suntory Global Innovation Center sent six forms of distilled liquor to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday. Among the items sent to the astronauts hovering above our planet were mice and other supplies. The liquor sent to the orbiting lab is however only for research purposes and no one aboard the satellite will be allowed to consume it.

Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui was assigned the task of operating the station’s robotic arm as the aforementioned company was keen to find out how microgravity affects the mellowness of the tastes of their beverages after a year or two in space.

“With the exception of some items like beer, alcoholic beverages are widely known to develop a mellow flavor when aged for a long time. Although researchers have taken a variety of scientific approaches to elucidating the underlying mechanism, we still do not have a full picture of how this occurs,” reads a press release by the group.

A tiny crew of 12 mice was also ferried into the orbiting station as a part of an experiment to study the effects of weightlessness on them during long space missions. In all, the supply ship took along nearly 9,500 pounds of supplies and science gear during its four day sojourn.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) had launched the H-II transfer vehicle, called the HTV-5, on Sunday. It reached the ISS at 6:55 a.m. ET and was captured via a robotic arm by the astronauts housed inside the ISS.

“HTV-5 capture was successful!” wrote space station astronaut Kimiya Yui of Japan, who piloted the robotic arm along with NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, on Twitter after grappling the spacecraft. “Thank you all for your support and hard work.”

This makes HTV-5 the fifth Japanese spacecraft to ferry supplies to the famous space station.

Source.

New study reveals breastfeeding exposes babies to harmful chemicals

Aug 24, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

Previously we used to know that babies should be breastfed. But recent studies are saying that breastfeeding may expose children to harmful toxic chemicals.

The chemicals are generally of industrial origin. This may bring a disorder in the immune system of the babies. The new study claims these chemicals handle cancer and is a concern for the parents as well as for the health authority.

The industrial chemicals PFAs or Perfluorinated Alkyl are toxic substances that interfere with the immune system of the body.

According to the researchers from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, a panel study reports, these substance are seen to pile up inside the interior of babies to an extent of 20% to 30% for each month of breastfeeding.

The toxic chemicals are transferred to the infants through breast milk. The PFSs exist within the breast milk, and the transference of this chemicals increases with the rise in levels of breast milk.

PFAs are initially compounds used to make water resistant products. They are used to make products for domestic and industrial needs for the last 60 years. Waterproof clothing, paints, food packs and lubricants use PFAs.

The chemical contaminates the drinking water near the production units of the products and handles deposition of PFAs inside our human system.

Only one type of PFA-perfluorohexane sulfonate does not increase its level with breastfeeding. The concentrations of all PFAs decreased after the breastfeeding is stopped.

The researchers and the health officials do not want breastfeeding to be stopped but are concerned about the way these chemicals are swiftly building up inside the bodies of the infants, and it’s making them vulnerable.

Apple recalls small batch of iPhone 6 Plus due to camera problem

Aug 24, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

Owing to a problem with the camera, Apple has decided to recall a limited number of iPhone 6 Plus units. Most of these defective phones, mentions the company’s website, were sold between September 2014 and January 2015. A defective component, iSight, present at the back of the phones is causing the pictures to be blurry.

Users have complained of blurry pictures with the latest device by the manufacturing giant since last fall. On one of the threads on the company’s support site, more than 100 disgruntled users have expressed dissatisfaction with the camera of iPhone 6 Plus.

The Apple website suggests users to first check if their device qualifies for a recall by entering a serial number on their website. The serial number on an iPhone can be found under the Settings> General> About tab. Besides that, it can also be seen on the original box which contained their device or looked up on iTunes.

Apple will replace the rear cameras on these recalled phones for free. It is to be noted here that the front camera or the ‘selfie’ camera has not been seen to malfunction at all and hence does not qualify for a replacement.

“Apple has determined that, in a small percentage of iPhone 6 Plus devices, the iSight camera has a component that may fail causing your photos to look blurry,” explained the company.

“The affected units fall into a limited serial number range and were sold primarily between September 2014 and January 2015.”

“If your iPhone 6 Plus is producing blurry photos and falls into the eligible serial number range, Apple will replace your device’s iSight camera free of charge.”

In the past too (October 2013), the company had replaced a small number of iPhone 5s handsets as their batteries were seen to drain out faster than promised due to a manufacturing error.

The Cupertino phone maker has however warned the users whose devices qualify for the recall and replacement to check their handsets before sending them over. Any other damages like perhaps cracked screen or chipped off edges will first need to be repaired or fixed first, lest people send in wrecked and damaged devices.

WhatsApp Web for iPhone finally available after eight months of initial launch

Aug 20, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

WhatsApp web, the desktop browser version of Facebook owned popular instant messaging service, is now available for iPhone users. The web client finally seems to be available for iPhone users, almost eight months after it was made available for Android users. With this update, Apple users can now pair the app with their computers like Windows phone, Android and Blackberry users have been doing already.

In other words, iPhone users will be able to chat in the browser using the web app. To make use of this service however, users will be required to run WhatsApp on a corresponding smartphone. The inordinate delay in making the feature available for iOS users was attributed to “Apple platform limitations.”

The update is being rolled out to users across the world gradually without an App Store update and with a server-side change per account instead. WhatsApp Web appears to function in the browser only when WhatsApp is running on the corresponding iPhone actively. iPhone users can now go to web.whatsapp.com and scan the automatically-generated QR code to chat with people from their desktops.

News of the update was first shared by some Twitter users who saw the feature in the Settings area of the WhatsApp iPhone app earlier in the day. Reddit was soon abuzz with activity too as users took to the platform to share their happiness at getting the long awaited update.

Research proves sleepwalking is hereditary and passed on to children

May 9, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

Findings of a new study carried out to know more about sleepwalking now seem to strongly support the notion that the tendency to sleepwalk is passed on from parents to kids. It has now been proved that children whose parents sleepwalk are more likely to do.

If one of the two parents involved has ever been a sleepwalker, the child is three times more likely to sleepwalk, than a kid none of whose parents do so. In case of both sleepwalking parents, the child’s chances of doing so were seen to increase sevenfold.

“These findings point to a strong genetic influence on sleepwalking,” the study authors wrote Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Sleepwalking, or somnambulism, does not necessarily entail walking around during sleep. A person who performs any complex talk like talking, sitting up in bed, getting dressed while in a state of deep sleep is said to be sleepwalking, holds the National Sleep Foundation.

Though the condition is more common in kids than in fully grown adults, some people continue to do it even after they are past their growing years.

The researchers in this case came to this conclusion after examining data collected from nearly 2,000 children born in Quebec (a Canadian province) in 1997 or 1998 and tracked until 2011. They asked these children’s mothers if their wards had sleepwalked during the last year, right since they were 2.5 years old to the time they turned 13. They were also asked to tell the frequency of their kids’ doing so- sometimes, often or always.

“Parents who have been sleepwalkers in the past, particularly in cases where both parents have been sleepwalkers, can expect their children to sleepwalk, and thus should prepare adequately,” said the researchers.

Sleepwalking was seen to peak in the kids thus interviewed at the age of 10, as 13.4% of the respondents were seen to send in a positive response. 12.8% of those were seen to do so even at the age of 13.