Arpan Kulshrestha

“Electronic nose” app for smart phones to diagnose illness in a jiffy:

researchers are working to manufacture a smart phone attachment that works when used in conjunction with what they call sensory vapour technology.

As the world slowly becomes dominated by smart phones, software developers are having to come up with increasingly ingenious apps.

And, in an industry that knows no bounds, people could soon be using their phones to diagnose an illness.

The aim is to manufacture a smart phone attachment that works when used in conjunction with an “electronic nose app”.

A team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), led by chemistry professor Nate Lewis, is working on a chemical vapour sensor that can detect odours like the human nose.

It is hoped that their research will result in an affordable, easy-to-carry detection system, ideally an advanced smart phone app.

Caltech graduate student Heather McCaig likens the research to replacing a miner’s canary with hi-tech environmental monitoring.

“A doctor could carry around their smart phone and have patients breathe into a little attachment and be able to tell they have a communicable disease like tuberculosis,” the Daily Mail quoted her as saying.

“You wouldn’t need to send samples off to a lab, you would immediately be able to start treatment.

“This would have a huge impact on people’s lives,” she said.

The detection system works by pushing a stream of air through a liquid, such as butanol, which results in bubbles that come up as a saturated vapour.

This is then diluted and fed to a sensor chamber where the vapour is analysed and turned into raw data.

From this data the scientists are able to work out the chemicals contained in the initial stream of “air”. 

World set to ‘switch off’ for Earth Hour today 

People across the world are expected to observe Earth Hour by switching off lights on Saturday. Earth Hour is an initiative by the international wildlife and environmental body WWF where citizens and organisations around the globe show their support for action on climate change by turning off lights for one hour from 8:30 pm.

In Delhi, science awareness organisation SPACE (Science Popularization Association of Communicators and Educators) will set up telescopes at India Gate between 7:30 pm and 9:30 p. for people to observe how the sky looks in the absence of light pollution. Stargazers in the capital will get a chance to observe celestial bodies in a sky free from light pollution.

In a first of its kind initiative by any hotel chain in India, the Park Hotels said it would switch off lights at all their properties across India to observe Earth Hour.

Earth Hour would also be observed in the other properties owned by the Kolkata-based Apeejay Surrendra group which runs the luxury hotel chain like the Oxford Bookstores, real estate properties, two schools and 50,000 acres of tea plantations area in Assam.

A company spokesperson said that all the 12 Park Hotels located in various cities will participate in the Earth Hour and will switch off non-essential lights and internally will switch to minimal lighting.

Special lights and smoke-free candles will be placed in the rooms to be used in emergency situation.

Candlelight dinners are being organised in the restaurants and ‘Earth cocktail’ served at bars to create a buzz and to excite the guests towards the cause.

Meanwhile, the UN will also observe Earth Hour by turning off the lights for one hour at its facilities around the world. The world body, headquartered in New York, will join scores of other landmarks around the globe that are participating in the Earth Hour event.

Last year, Earth Hour reached out to over a billion people with a little over 6 million Indians participating in this global show of support.

Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has been appointed as the national brand ambassador of the cause.

‘Kolaveri Di’ fame Dhanush also urged people to switch off the lights for an hour on March 31.

MEET GENERATION “C”:

It’s hardly news that young adults are the most digitally connected, but now Nielsen has come up with a new name for this group based on their common behaviors: “Generation C.”

The C stands for “connected,” and the group comprises Americans between 18 and 34 — who are defined by their digital connectivity, Nielsen and NM Incite’s U.S. Digital Consumer Report says. They consume media, socialize and share experiences through devices more than other age groups.

The most recent U.S. Census finds 18- to 24-year-olds make up 23% of the population. Yet they watch 27% of online videos, constitute 27% of visitors to social networking sites, own 33% of tablets and use 39% of smartphones. When it comes to watching TV, they are exactly in proportion with their ratio of the population, representing 23% of TV viewers.

“Their ownership and use of connected devices makes them incredibly unique consumers, representing both a challenge and opportunity for marketers and content providers alike,” Nielsen writes. “Generation C is engaging in new ways and there are more touch points for marketers to reach them.”

The below graphic visualizes different Nielsen numbers on American media consumption. Some stand out figures from the graphs show that tablets are the only device that men own in higher numbers than women and that whites use more tech devices than blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S.

Are you a part of “Generation C?” Do you think this is a valid characterization of the age group? Let us know in the comments.