Ensuring the Success of Your Robotic Technology Deployment

Following these best practice tips will help ensure that the robots you deploy will become a valuable component of your warehouse operations, delivering the needed flexibility, efficiency and productivity.

As part of the continuing digitalization of the supply chain, there are a range of technologies available today that are demonstrating their value in warehouse operations. One such technology is robotics, which is enhancing the value of human workers and transforming the way products move throughout the supply chain. Based on early adopter deployments, valuable best practices have emerged to help guide companies that are now considering the technology.


Increasing Deployment of Robots in the Warehouse

With recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), sensor technologies and 3D visual autonomy, robotics applications in the logistics industry are significantly expanding. Currently, companies across all industries are testing robotic solutions and determining the most promising applications for their logistics operations.

The activity around robotics in the warehouse can be divided into two types. Stationary robots perform value-added tasks from a fixed location, attached to the floor, ceiling or other surfaces, and often resemble robotic arms. Mobile robots fulfill tasks without direct input from human operators, either following predetermined visible or invisible paths or using real-time path planning to move more freely.

Especially in light of warehouse labor shortages and demand volatility, many logistics companies are realizing the significant economic potential of implementing robots for repetitive, strenuous, physically demanding work processes. Automating these processes can not only help address worker safety concerns but also enable companies to redirect skilled labor to focus on value-add, strategic tasks in other areas of the warehouse.

The increasing prevalence of robots in logistics is being seen in four primary areas that that are further driving collaboration and task sharing between humans and machines.

1. Automated shipment sorting

Sorting shipments is a very repetitive, monotonous task that nevertheless requires high-quality output. Workers who have to perform this task for hours on end in the warehouse tend to lose concentration after a certain amount of time, making their work error-prone and leading to additional rework costs. Sorting is therefore an ideal application for sorting robotics. The technology often uses cameras and AI capabilities to differentiate items for shipment and use pre-defined characteristics to classify and sort them.

2. Robotic picking and order fulfilment

The manual separation and alignment of parcels, letters, cartons and flyers to prepare them for further processing downstream is very monotonous and labor intensive. Robotic induction, the act of picking an item and placing it with a specific orientation on a conveyer belt as well as identifying its characteristics, is a very scalable solution given its widespread applicability. Additionally, the introduction of assisted picking robots can drive efficiency in the overall order fulfillment process by shortening the distance walked by humans and reducing the time between picks.

3. Palletizing and depalletizing

The automation of palletizing and depalletizing in inbound and outbound warehouse or hub operations holds great potential for robotics. This includes uniform and mixed (de)palletizing. While uniform (de)palletizing is the movement of same-shaped, unvarying goods from and onto a pallet, mixed (de)palletizing describes the handling of pallets with items of various sizes and weights.

4. Loading and unloading

Loading and unloading containers and trucks with loose load is one of the most physically demanding activities in logistics. Workers are exposed to extreme weather conditions and must repeatedly move heavy goods in confined spaces as quickly as possible to ensure downstream operations can continue uninterrupted. Today’s deployed solutions are typically for unloading cartons or pallets. However, with advances in robotic software and computer vision capabilities, robots will eventually achieve additional autonomous capabilities such as mobile case picking.

Best Practices for Integrating Robotics

Below are some of the key best practice tips that are emerging to help guide companies as they deploy robots within warehouse environments.

1. Work with credible technology vendors that understand the warehouse environment, can support the size and needs of your deployment, and will have the longevity and capacity to offer support after the deployment is up and running. Leverage their knowledge of the technology and deployment experience to help ensure the technology is deployed with minimal disruption to operations and can deliver a return on investment that meets your operational objectives.

2. Consider the items to be picked or handled, including size, weight and shape, to ensure they align with the capabilities of the robotic technology. Decide how the items will be picked and placed, noting the type of containers that can be used, special packaging and handling requirements, and the items that are most frequently purchased. Determine the workflow patterns that work best with the technology and your application to ensure the technology is seamlessly integrated to maintain the needed throughput without negatively impacting your ROI timeline.

3. Choose the right robotic technology that is easily scalable. Ensure you and your team understand the resources, investment and effort needed to scale as demand increases or your operations evolve. Identify what you want to accomplish with the technology, focusing on operational challenges you are trying to overcome, objectives you want to achieve and the team and infrastructure that needs to be in place to proceed.

4. Consider the workforce and determine where your warehouse employees might be supported and/or productivity might be enhanced. Identify those non-value tasks where employees can be relieved so they can focus on more strategic and value-adding tasks that enhance operational performance. Update training and safety programs accordingly to make sure standards are maintained and any safety concerns are quickly identified and addressed.

5. Give thought to the workspace the robots will occupy. Give consideration to any barriers, provide ample room for the robots to adequately operate and allocate the necessary space from your existing warehouse. Also determine if and how your workforce might interact with the robot and if it is necessary to adjust traffic patterns within the workspace.

6. Keep safety top of mind, choosing technology that reinforces ergonomic principles, revising your safety and training programs and ensuring steps are taken to foster safe interaction between robots and workers. Make sure there is a process in place for identifying, addressing and minimizing safety concerns and issues.

7. Determine the metrics and data that you will use to measure installation success and technology performance, while also having a plan to share that information internally and to make adjustments as needed. Put in place the processes, resources, support (internal and external) and commitment to help ensure decisions are made and actions are taken based on what the data is showing.


The growing number of successful proofs of concept and pilot projects using stationary and mobile robotics in the warehouse environment is paving the way for wider implementations across the entire supply chain. Following these best practice tips will help ensure that the robots you deploy will become a valuable component of your warehouse operations, delivering the needed flexibility, efficiency and productivity.

Robotic Technology Deployment, Automation Strategies, Robotics Integration, Operational Efficiency, Robotics in Manufacturing, Robotics Adoption, Workflow Optimization, Technology Deployment Best Practices, Robotics ROI.

#ScienceFather#InventionsAwards#RoboticTechnology#Automation#RoboticsDeployment#TechIntegration#Industry40#SmartManufacturing#RPA#AutonomousSystems#RobotCollaboration#Innovation#AIandRobotics#TechTrends#DigitalTransformation#OperationalEfficiency#TechSolutions

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Obesity-drug pioneers win prestigious Lasker Award for medical science

 

Joel Habener (from left), Svetlana Mojsov and Lotte Bjerre Knudsen have won a 2024 Lasker Award for developing a class of drugs that treats obesity, diabetes and more.

Three scientists involved in developing the blockbuster anti-obesity drugs that are currently changing the health-care landscape are among the winners of this year’s prestigious Lasker Awards. The prizes, which honour important advances in medical research, are often considered an indicator of whether a specific advance or scientist will win a Nobel Prize — and some are speculating that this could soon be the case for the weight-loss treatments.

Joel Habener, Svetlana Mojsov and Lotte Bjerre Knudsen each contributed to the creation of the popular anti-obesity drugs, which mimic a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), involved in lowering blood-sugar levels and controlling appetite. The trio, recognized with a Lasker in the clinical-research category, will share a US$250,000 prize.

Biomedical scientists are enthusiastic about the increasing recognition of GLP-1 research, which was initially aimed at treating diabetes. “I’ve been working on this for 30 years, and for a long time nobody cared,” says Randy Seeley, an obesity specialist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “Over the last several years, the situation has changed so much. We now have therapies that are actually helping people.”

Other recipients of this year’s Lasker Awards include Zhijian ‘James’ Chen at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, who was honoured in the basic-research category for discovering how DNA triggers immune and inflammatory responses. In the public-service category, Salim Abdool Karim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim, both at the Centre for AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, in Durban, were recognized for developing life-saving approaches to prevent and treat HIV infections.
Inside the science

Habener, an endocrinologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, was a leader in discovering the GLP-1 hormone in the 1980s. He was interested in understanding the hormones involved in type 2 diabetes, a condition characterized by high blood-sugar levels, in which the body either doesn’t produce enough insulin or has trouble using it to absorb sugar from the blood.

Habener zeroed in on glucagon, a hormone that increases blood-sugar levels. After cloning the gene for glucagon, he discovered that the gene also encoded a related hormone — later named GLP-1 — that stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin.

“This was interesting because, rather than having to give injections of insulin to people with diabetes to control blood sugar, giving GLP-1 would theoretically prompt the body to make its own insulin,” Habener says.

Around that time, Mojsov, a biochemist who directed a facility producing synthetic proteins at Massachusetts General Hospital, identified the sequence of amino acids making up the biologically active form of GLP-1. Eventually, she would demonstrate that this active form could stimulate insulin release from a rat pancreas — a necessary step on the path to a human treatment.

Now at Rockefeller University in New York City, Mojsov spoke out last year about the lack of recognition for her contribution to the field. Since then, she has received awards such as the VinFuture Prize. “I’m happy that I’m getting awards, but what makes me even happier is that people are actually reading my work,” she says.

After the initial discoveries about GLP-1, researchers realized that there was a significant obstacle to its therapeutic use: the hormone was rapidly metabolized, lasting only a few minutes in the blood. That’s where the work of Knudsen, a scientist at pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk, in Copenhagen, came in. She and her team realized that regular GLP-1 was not going to work as a medicine, Knudsen says. Instead, the researchers came up with a way to modify GLP-1 by attaching a fatty acid to it — an alteration that allowed the molecule to remain active in the body for an extended period before degrading.

The work resulted in liraglutide, the first long-lasting GLP-1-based drug, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2010 for type 2 diabetes. In the meantime, researchers were already exploring the drugs’ weight-loss potential, and in 2014, liraglutide became the first molecule in its class to be approved for treating obesity. Today, newer variants, including semaglutide and tirzepatide, sold as Wegovy and Zepbound, are important obesity treatments.

“I really hope to inspire young people so that they can see that you can do great science also in the pharmaceutical industry,” Knudsen says.
Nobel ahead?

GLP-1-based drugs don’t just treat obesity and diabetes. Studies have shown they can help with cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea and kidney disease, among other conditions. These benefits are thought to arise from the drugs’ effects on the brain, as well as their anti-inflammatory potential.

Owing to the shake-up these drugs are causing in health care, some think they might soon win science’s top prize — the Nobel. Winning a Lasker often precedes winning a Nobel prize: since 1945, 95 Lasker laureates have also received that top honour. “This raises the spectre that the Nobel committee will take [GLP-1 research] seriously,” Seeley says. The Nobel prizes will be announced next month.

Each prize in a science discipline is limited to no more than three winners, and the challenge will be to select the most deserving recipients. Several other scientists involved in the research behind GLP-1-based drugs have been recognized by other awards, including Jens Juul Holst at the University of Copenhagen, Daniel Drucker at the University of Toronto in Canada, and Richard DiMarchi at Indiana University in Bloomington.

“It’s 10,000 ants that move the anthill, and we’re trying to pick out the three ants that made the most difference,” Seeley says. “You could come up with a dozen names of people, at least, who have made seminal contributions to the field.”

Obesity drug pioneers, Lasker Award 2024, Medical science, Obesity treatment, Weight loss drugs, GLP-1 agonists, Semaglutide, Tirzepatide, Medical innovation, Pharmacology, Endocrinology, Chronic disease treatment

#ScienceFather#InventionsAwards#LaskerAward#ObesityTreatment#MedicalScience#WeightLossDrugs#GLP1#Semaglutide#Tirzepatide#Pharmacology#Endocrinology#HealthInnovation#ChronicDisease

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50-Year-Old Physics Theory Proven for the First Time With Electromagnetic Waves

 

Scientists at the University of Southampton have experimentally proven the Zel’dovich effect by amplifying electromagnetic waves using a spinning metal cylinder, confirming a theoretical prediction from the 1970s and opening new avenues in technology and quantum physics. 

University of Southampton researchers have confirmed the Zel’dovich effect, where twisted waves are amplified by a rotating object. This finding, previously only demonstrated with sound waves, now applies to electromagnetic waves, with promising implications for quantum physics and energy-efficient technologies.

Physicists at the University of Southampton have successfully tested and confirmed a 50-year-old theory for the first time using electromagnetic waves.

Their experiments demonstrated that the energy of waves can be amplified by bouncing ‘twisted waves’—waves with angular momentum—off a rotating object under specific conditions.

This is known as the ‘Zel’dovich effect’, named after Soviet physicist Yakov Zel’dovich who developed a theory based on this idea in the 1970s. Until now, it was believed to be unobservable with electromagnetic fields.

“The Zel’dovich effect works on the principle that waves with angular momentum, that would usually be absorbed by an object, actually become amplified by that object instead, if it is rotating at a fast enough angular velocity. In this case, the object is an aluminum cylinder and it must rotate faster than the frequency of the incoming radiation,” explains a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, Dr. Marion Cromb.

 Equipment used to complete the Zel’dovich experiment.  

Colleagues and I successfully tested this theory in sound waves a few years ago, but until this most recent experiment, it hadn’t been proven with electromagnetic waves. Using relatively simple equipment – a resonant circuit interacting with a spinning metal cylinder – and by creating the specific conditions required, we have now been able to do this.”

The scientists’ findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Connection to the Doppler Effect

The Zel’dovich effect is difficult to observe, but has links to a well-known phenomenon called the Doppler effect which we all experience around us every day.

Imagine you are standing on a busy road and a police car races towards you with its siren going. From your perspective, as it approaches the siren sounds higher pitched than when it has passed.

This is because the sound waves in front of the car coming towards you are compressed, at a high frequency – hence a higher pitch. Behind the car, as it moves away, they are more spread out at a lower frequency – resulting in a lower pitch. This is the Doppler effect.

This can also be applied to light waves. In fact, astronomers use it to understand whether a planetary body is moving towards, or away from the Earth, according to the frequency of the light waves seen from their point of observation.

A similar ‘rotational Doppler’ frequency shift happens for twisted waves and relative rotation.

In the Zel’dovich effect, the metal cylinder needs to rotate fast enough that from its perspective it ‘sees’ a ‘twisted wave’ shift in angular frequency, so much that it actually goes to a negative frequency. This changes the way the wave interacts with the cylinder. Usually the metal would absorb the wave, but when the wave frequency ‘goes negative’ the wave is in fact amplified – reflecting off the cylinder with more energy than when it approached.

“The condition for amplification is from the rotating perspective of the object,” explains Marion Cromb. “Twisting electromagnetic fields hitting it have become rotationally Doppler shifted, so much (or so low) that they’ve gone through zero and into a ‘negative’ angular frequency. Negative frequency then means negative absorption, and this means amplification.”

Implications and Future Research

The scientists say that proving the Zel’dovich effect in different physical systems, both acoustics and now electromagnetic circuits, suggest that it is quite fundamental in nature. Electromagnetic tests also pave the way to observing the effect on a quantum level, where the waves could be generated by the cylinder amplifying the quantum vacuum.

Professor Hendrik Ulbricht of the University of Southampton, supervisor on the project, said: “I am very pleased that we have now experimental proof of the electromagnetic Zel’dovich effect. In electromagnetic settings it will be more straight forward to go for the next big challenge, which is the quantum version of the effect.

“Our setup is comparably simple and it was my joy at work during COVID to set up this experiment and take the first data. To see the results out now is very rewarding and I am grateful to the fantastic team involved.”

The researchers also say their findings may be useful for electrical engineers in exploring improvements to induction generators, such as those used in wind turbines.

50-year-old physics theory, proven physics theory, electromagnetic waves, physics breakthrough, electromagnetic theory, scientific discovery, physics experiment, wave theory, physics research, theoretical physics.

#ScienceFather#InventionsAwards#PhysicsBreakthrough #ElectromagneticWaves #ScientificDiscovery #PhysicsTheory #WaveTheory #PhysicsExperiment #TheoreticalPhysics #ScienceNews #PhysicsResearch #Electromagnetism.

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Engineers Create Building Bricks From 3D-Printed, Recycled Glass

 

A glass brick being made with custom 3D printing technology.

The technology for 3D printing has come a long way from printing product prototypes from acrylic resin. In recent years, researchers have found ways to use algae as a bioplastic, pea protein to create sustainable plant-based salmon, and even everyday foods like peanut butter and banana to make cheesecake. Even buildings have been made using 3D-printed concrete.

Now, researchers have found a way to reuse old glass by 3D printing it into strong, durable and reusable building bricks that could help lower the embodied carbon in buildings.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), manufacturing construction materials makes up about 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, highlighting a need for more sustainable building materials.

With advancements in 3D printing, engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are exploring ways to reduce these emissions by developing reusable construction products with 3D printers that can build blocks from materials such as recycled glass.

Inspired by the circular potential of construction, the engineers used 3D printing technology from Evenline, a 3D printing company, to develop figure eight-shaped blocks made with soda-lime glass that could interlock like toy building blocks, or Legos, to improve the reusability of construction materials.

Manufactured glass bricks assembled together in a wall configuration at MIT’s Killian Court.

“Glass is a highly recyclable material,” Kaitlyn Becker, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, said in a statement. “We’re taking glass and turning it into masonry that, at the end of a structure’s life, can be disassembled and reassembled into a new structure, or can be stuck back into the printer and turned into a completely different shape. All this builds into our idea of a sustainable, circular building material.”

The engineers presented the results of three methods of manufacturing bricks — fully hollow with no interlocking, print-cast, and fully printed with interlocking components — in a study published in the journal Glass Structures and Engineering.


They tested the bricks with a hydraulic press and found that bricks made mostly from printed glass with separate interlocking features on the bottom of the brick were the strongest and held up to the highest amount of pressure. In their testing, the engineers found that the layered blocks could withstand pressures similar to what concrete blocks can withstand.

“We have more understanding of what the material’s limits are, and how to scale,” explained Michael Stern, former MIT graduate student and founder and director of Evenline. “We’re thinking of stepping stones to buildings, and want to start with something like a pavilion — a temporary structure that humans can interact with, and that you could then reconfigure into a second design. And you could imagine that these blocks could go through a lot of lives.”

The results show promise in using a material other than plastic or concrete for constructing with 3D printers, and these engineers join many other professionals in working to reduce construction emissions with this technology.

This summer, the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC) unveiled an affordable housing project for Austin, Texas. For this initiative, which is set to start printing in 2025, the center is using wood residuals for constructing 3D-printed homes.

According to Habib Dagher, executive director of ASCC, this method could become “very competitive with current housing construction costs,” he told CNN. The current challenges to scaling 3D wood printing include 3D printing this material at high speeds and meeting existing building codes, which Dagher said can take a long time to change.

Engineers, Building Bricks, 3D Printing, Recycled Glass, Sustainable Construction, Green Building Materials, Eco-Friendly Bricks, Glass Recycling, Innovative Engineering, Sustainable Architecture.

#ScienceFather#InventionsAwards#3DPrinting #RecycledGlass #SustainableConstruction #EcoFriendly #GreenBuilding #InnovativeEngineering #CircularEconomy #SustainableArchitecture #GlassRecycling #BuildingBricks.

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From waste to power: how floating solar panels on wastewater ponds could help solve NZ’s electricity security crisis

Wastewater ponds may seem an unlikely place to look for solutions to New Zealand’s electricity security crisis. But their underutilised surfaces could help tackle two problems at once – high power prices and algal growth.

Floating solar panels on wastewater ponds offer a multifaceted answer. They generate renewable energy, improve water quality in the treatment ponds and reduce costs.

Leading this approach is the 2020 installation of New Zealand’s first floating solar array at the Rosedale wastewater treatment plant in Auckland. This project demonstrates how New Zealand could double the country’s power supply without requiring additional land. It serves as a test for future deployments on other reservoirs and dams.

The project comprises 2,700 solar panels and 4,000 floating pontoons. It covers one hectare of the treatment pond, making excellent use of a marginal land asset in a dense urban environment.


The floating solar array generates 1,040 kilowatts of electricity and reduces 145 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. It also saves NZ$4.5 million in electricity costs per year. The electricity it generates, alongside biogas co-generation, meets 25% of the plant’s energy needs.

The floating solar panel array, together with biogas generation, meets a quarter of the Rosedale wastewater treatment plant’s energy needs.

The project represents the first use of floating solar and the first megawatt-sized solar project in the country. As energy prices soar and environmental pressures mount, it is time to start exploring innovative solutions with the resources we already have.

Wastewater ponds provide underused surface

New Zealand is currently grappling with an electricity crisis, marked by increasing demand, aging infrastructure and a challenging transition to renewable energy sources.

The country relies heavily on hydroelectric power. This makes it particularly vulnerable during periods of low water levels in hydro lakes, especially in winter. This in turn leads to frequent supply shortfalls and, combined with diminishing gas supplies, to rising electricity prices.

As New Zealand intensifies its efforts to integrate more renewable energy, we need innovative solutions to stabilise the grid and meet growing energy demands.

One underutilised resource lies in wastewater treatment ponds. New Zealand has more than 200 wastewater ponds, chosen for their simplicity and low operational costs. They remain the most common form of wastewater treatment because they are robust, require low energy, cope with high water and waste loads and provide buffer storage to avoid applying agricultural effluent to wet soils.

However, because of the high surface area and nutrient-rich environment, algal growth is one of the biggest issues with waste stabilisation ponds. This is exacerbated on days with high sunshine levels and warmer water temperatures. It complicates the treatment process and necessitates costly chemical interventions.

An opportunity for New Zealand

My background is in entrepreneurship and innovation and the idea of floating solar panels on New Zealand’s expansive wastewater ponds represents an untapped opportunity.

Apart from generating power and preventing algal growth, the solar panels provide shade that keeps the water cooler and reduces evaporation. This is critical for maintaining effective wastewater treatment.

Utility-scale solar panels are now recognised as the cheapest form of energy, with rapidly declining costs over the past five years.

While relatively new to New Zealand, floating solar panels have shown significant advantages in other parts of the world. New Zealand may be held back by a misconception that solar panels work best in hot and sunny climates. In fact, solar panels harness the sun’s energy – not its temperature – making New Zealand’s cooler climate an ideal environment for efficient solar energy generation.

Given New Zealand uses more energy per capita than 17 of our 30 OECD peers, floating solar panels on wastewater ponds could set an example for how we tackle energy and environmental challenges.

By turning underutilised spaces into power-generating assets, we not only address immediate needs but also pave the way for a more sustainable, resilient future.

Floating solar panels, wastewater ponds, renewable energy, electricity security, clean energy, power generation, sustainable energy, New Zealand, energy crisis solution, green technology.


#ScienceFather#InventionsAwards#FloatingSolar #CleanEnergy #WasteToPower #ElectricitySecurity #SustainableEnergy #RenewableSolutions #GreenTech #NZEnergyCrisis #Renewables.

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Wearable technology that monitors our bodies can be helpful and harmful

Imagine driving your car while focusing only on the gauges in front of you, your eyes fixed on the speedometer, the odometer, the tachometer, and the other various measures that are omnipresent as you drive. Not only would you be severely distracted from the road but you would also risk becoming fixated with these gauges' measurements, slight changes, and updates.


This can be the case with wearable technologies that monitor our bodies, such as fitness trackers, biosensors, smartwatches, bands, and smart health clothing. Though well-intentioned, these forms of technology can lead us to fixation and an unhealthy obsession with our bodily data, serving to defeat their intended purpose, which is to keep us alert to how our bodies are functioning. Much like the driver who fixates on the vehicle’s data output rather than on the road ahead, these devices can lead us down a slippery slope of losing touch with the present moment and can contribute to anxiety about our health.


A 2021 article in the Cardiovascular Digital Health Journal warns: “although unlimited access to digital health information can motivate some individuals to engage in healthy behaviors, these data may inadvertently contribute to pathologic symptom monitoring and impaired function in others.” The “others” mentioned in this excerpt are those who, like me, tend to resort to checking as a way to soothe feelings of anxiety and worry.


Whether it’s our heart rate, respiration, or sleep quality, wearable technology affords the opportunity to check, re-check, and check again. When, however, we resort to over checking, we risk our behavior falling into the category of “care-seeking,” which is viewed as a maladaptive response to anxiety regarding our physical health. View it similarly as running to doctor’s offices, emergency rooms, and urgent care clinics anytime we feel an uncomfortable symptom, even when the symptom does not require medical attention. Though we are seeking a soothing of our anxiety, which is normal, the behavior attached to it is unhealthy and potentially damaging. Worse, these types of behaviors distract us from our lives, get in the way of our ability to live in the present, and cause us undue stress about possible future outcomes.


In a 2024 study on the impact of smartwatches on health-related anxiety, researchers found that “some participants mentioned an increase in perceived stress” upon wearing a health-monitoring smartwatch for one week, while cautioning that “the impact of smartwatches on perceived stress and health anxiety is complex and individual-specific.” This caveat means that it is incumbent upon each of us to be thoughtful and realistic with ourselves regarding whether the type of persistent health monitoring made by possible our smart devices will be helpful or detrimental to us.


It is important to recognize that anxiety often causes us to seek definitive answers, our anxious minds telling us that only a concrete answer can eliminate our worry. In the case of our physical health, however, we must also recognize that our “numbers” change through the course of a normal day: Our pulse rate increases and decreases, our sleep quality depends on many external factors, and our respiration may fluctuate depending on what we are doing. While it is obviously helpful to be cognizant of certain aspects of our bodily functions, fixating or obsessing on them can quickly open the door to anxious and unhealthy attention wherein we can become like a distracted driver, paying so much attention to the vehicle’s measurements and readings that we lose focus on the trip itself.

While I am not suggesting that you immediately ditch your health-monitoring devices, I will argue that technology of any kind brings with it complicated but important questions regarding benefits and drawbacks. Look no further than social media for confirmation of this idea. As you consider your device’s effect on your daily life, ask these questions:

Is my device actually causing me to worry and stress more about my physical health?

Do I find myself checking and monitoring the data more often than I would like to?

Is checking my wearable data getting in the way of other parts of my life, such as work, pleasurable activities, or relationships?

Has it become “automatic” or involuntary for me to look at the data that the device makes available?


Our wearables offer many benefits, but we can always reassess our relationship with them if we find them beginning to distract us from other important areas of our lives.

Wearable Technology, Health Monitoring, Fitness Trackers, Smartwatches, Data Privacy, Health Apps, Biometric Data, Mental Health, Physical Activity, Technology Addiction.

#ScienceFathere#InventionAwards#WearableTech#HealthMonitoring#FitnessTrackers#Smartwatches#DataPrivacy#WearableDevices#TechForHealth#MentalHealthAwareness#FitnessGoals#HealthTech#Biohacking#DigitalWellness#TechAddiction.

Event Title : International Inventions Awards

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Will renewable energy replace oil?

There’s so much talk about renewable energy these days that it seems the green future is already here. Nations, businesses, and even everyday consumers seem convinced the world is on track to ditch oil for good.

But just then, ExxonMobil, the world’s top publicly traded oil company, throws a curveball. They predict that even if every new car sold by 2035 were electric, the world would still be chugging on 85 million barrels of oil per day by 2050 - the same as in 2010.

Yep, you read that right!

And Exxon isn’t alone. Even BP, known for all its green ambitions, expects oil demand to peak by 2025 but still expects 75 million barrels per day by mid-century.

So why isn’t oil going anywhere anytime soon? Especially when more electric vehicles (EVs) hit the roads every day.

Let’s break it down.

Sure, EVs are taking over. India wants 30% of its vehicles to be electric by 2030, and other countries like Norway are already there, with 80% of new car sales being EVs last year.

But the kicker is that road transport is only part of the story.

Oil powers much more than cars. Think about planes, cargo ships, and heavy industries like steel and cement. These sectors are tough to electrify. For example, a Boeing 747 burns 30,000 gallons of jet fuel on a 10-hour flight. But imagine trying to power that with a battery. It would need to be so large and heavy that the plane might not even take off.

The same goes for cargo ships. These giants burn tons of fuel daily. But having powerful batteries to move them across oceans is still a far-off dream.

And while hydrogen and biofuels are being explored, they’re far from mainstream. Companies like Airbus are working on hydrogen-powered planes, but we’re talking about prototype stages. The shipping industry is also eyeing alternatives like hydrogen, ammonia, and electricity, but full-scale adoption has yet to occur.

Plus, oil isn’t just fuel. You see it in plastics, chemicals, and pretty much every other product we use daily. So moving away from oil means reimagining entire industries, and that takes time.

And then, there’s the digital revolution, which we tend to think of as clean and futuristic. But Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital services are gobbling up energy faster than we realise. Yup! By 2030, power consumption from data centers could jump 160%. Every time you search on Google or ChatGPT, you’re burning electricity. Multiply that by billions of users across the globe, and suddenly, the digital world isn’t as “green” as you’d like.

And guess what powers a lot of that electricity today? Oil!!!

Of course, with climate change looming, renewables seem like the perfect solution. In fact, solar energy is now 90% cheaper than a decade ago, and wind farms are popping up everywhere.

But here’s the catch: they’re not always reliable.

Take North America’s solar farms. They only generate power just about 20% of the time because the sun doesn’t always shine, and clouds can block it out. The same goes for wind energy. No wind, no power. Even countries like Germany, which has invested heavily in wind and solar, still rely on backup fossil fuel plants to prevent blackouts when renewables fall short. And while battery storage is improving, we’re still far from being able to store enough energy to power cities during long stretches of bad weather.

Now, the solution to this whole mess could be nuclear energy! And it’s already gaining some popularity.

Countries like China are expanding nuclear power to cut down on coal and gas, and the US is exploring Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)—a safer, cheaper form of nuclear technology. And France has been a nuclear power success story for decades, with 70% of its electricity today coming from nuclear plants.

So yes, unlike solar and wind, nuclear energy provides consistent, reliable power - rain or shine.

Yet again, there’s a downside. Building nuclear plants is expensive, and safety concerns linger, especially after incidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima. Still, France shows that when done right, nuclear energy can be a game-changer in reducing reliance on fossil fuels.

But the interesting bit is that even with all this growth in renewables and nuclear, oil will remain crucial.

In fact, ExxonMobil has sounded the alarm: without ongoing investment, global oil supply could fall by 15 million barrels per day within a year. That’s a big gap. And if that happens, oil prices could skyrocket by 2030.

Plus, keeping oil flowing isn’t cheap. Exploration costs have doubled, and oil-producing countries have had to raise prices to cover the expense. Without investment, existing oil fields could dry up faster than expected, leaving the world scrambling for alternatives.

So, what's the answer then?

See, transitioning to renewables and EVs is a great idea. But it can’t solve everything.

We still need reliable, clean, and affordable energy. And right now, no single source checks all those boxes.

The future will likely be a mix of energy sources—oil, renewables, and nuclear. Renewables will take a bigger role, especially in electricity and transportation, but oil will still be critical for industries that can’t easily switch to cleaner alternatives.

So, while an all-renewable future sounds tempting, the reality is far more complex. ExxonMobil’s predictions may seem gloomy. But they remind us that oil still has a role to play, at least for now.

The real question isn’t whether we’ll move away from oil. But how fast, and which energy sources will step up when we do.

What do you think?

Renewable energy transition, Oil replacement, Clean energy future, Decarbonization, Energy sustainability, Green technology, Fossil fuel alternatives, Energy policy reform, Climate action, Global energy demand.

#ScienceFather#RenewableEnergy #OilReplacement #CleanEnergy #GreenFuture #Decarbonization #FossilFuelAlternatives #SustainableEnergy #ClimateAction #EnergyTransition #GreenTech

Event Title : International Inventions Awards

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