WEIRD STUFF

Slouching isn't as bad as suspected

It has long been thought that a slumped posture is bad for people's backs, but Dr Chris McCarthy -- one of Britain's leading spine specialists and a researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University -- argues to the contrary.

McCarthy suggests that standing desks, which have been introduced at workplaces in attempts to help employees improve posture, do not offer any advantages to the body.

He said: "Our spines aren't going to be damaged by a bit of sitting down, even if we happen to be wiggling our fingers on a keyboard at the same time.

"Prolonged standing is no more comfortable for the spine than prolonged sitting.

"There's a pretty good reason why slouching doesn't damage our spines, and that is because our spines are designed to allow movements as diverse as Olympic weightlifting to limbo dancing.

"If you experience back or neck pain, you can rest assured that the posture you adopt when walking or sitting probably isn't to blame as much as you might have been led to believe."

------------

AI could soon allow humans to talk to animals.

Experts from across the globe are using 'digital bioacoustics' to capture the sounds and behaviours of animals that are too quiet and nuanced for people to pick up on.

These will be used to train artificial intelligence (AI) to decipher the communications into something that humans can understand, and organisations such as the Earth Species Project are expecting a breakthrough in the next 12 to 36 months.

Aza Raskin, one of the project's co-founders, said: "Can we do generative, novel animal vocalisations? We think that, in the next 12 to 36 months, we will likely be able to do this for animal communication.

"You could imagine if we could build a synthetic whale or crow that speaks whale or crow in a way that they can't tell they are not speaking to one of their own.

"The plot twist is that we may be able to engage in conversation before we understand what we are saying."

----------

Users could soon control smartpone with eyes

A Chinese phone company, Honor, has unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) eye-tracking feature that is capable of detecting when a person is looking at the screen.

The phone can differentiate between a quick glance and an intentional look, and will carry out a user's action without them needing to touch it.

Honor has revealed that the technology -- which works by monitoring where the user is looking through the smartphone's camera -- will be available on its new Magic 6 Pro phone.

Industry expert Paolo Pescatore told MailOnline: "It's good to see this tech being tracked into categories like smartphones. For now, it feels a bit of a gimmick as a means to grab eyeballs.

"The cleverly designed feature should help it to stand out in a crowded market. Also, it will help gravitate people towards the brand who are loyal to other premium players like Apple and Samsung.

"This is an area where we will see lots of innovation in order to improve the user experience through gestures, eye and motion!"

Air pollution increases breast cancer risk

The connection between air pollution and breast cancer is firmly established, but new research to be published this week highlights just how serious the link is.

A review of 27 studies has found that air pollution raises the danger of passing away from breast cancer by an alarming 80 per cent, and other types of the disease by 22 per cent.

Professor Kefah Mokbel, a leading breast surgeon who conducted the research, says the results make air pollution "as significant a risk factor as smoking, obesity and alcohol".

The particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) -- tiny fragments of pollution from exhaust fumes, wood-burning stoves and cooking -- is of concern to scientists.

Professor Mokbel told Good Health: "At a time when we are seeing increasing numbers of women with breast cancer, particularly young women, people need to be aware that air pollution is a major risk factor for the disease.

"Long-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution not only raises the risk of breast cancer, but also seems linked to a more aggressive disease and a poorer prognosis."