Withings Smart Body Analyzer (WS-50)

Yes, the Withings Smart Body Analyzer WS-50 ($149.95 direct) is a scale that can tweet your weight. Fortunately, that's not all this Wi-Fi connected scale can do, and that anxiety-inducing feature is disabled by default. The Smart Body Analyzer offers the same weight and body composition (lean mass, fat mass, BMI) tracking features found in the original Editors' Choice Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale, but adds heart rate and air-quality tracking. The clean tempered glass design and crisp display remain, along with the free Web interface and mobile apps for both iOS and Android. With a price drop and useful added features, the Withings Smart Body Analyzer is our new Editors' Choice for Wi-Fi-enabled scales, and would make a solid addition to any connected, health-conscious home.

Design and Setup
The Smart Body Analyzer is indistinguishable from its Wi-Fi Body Scale predecessor?and that's definitely a good thing, as the tempered glass construction with metal accents looks sleek and sophisticated. The scale is marginally larger, at 12.8 by 12.8 by 0.9 inches (HWD) versus the 12.6 by 12.6 by 0.9 inches of the original, but is still reasonably sized for small bathrooms or bedrooms. Withings includes small plastic feet that attach to the base, but I would have preferred rubber?during my testing, the scale was prone to teetering on mildly uneven surfaces with the hard plastic feet.?

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On its face is a 2.4-by-1.6-inch, 128-by-64-pixel backlit LCD, which shows measurements in big, bright, easy-to-read digits. The back houses the battery compartment for four AAA batteries (included) and you'll aslo find two capacitive buttons that you use during setup. There's no micro USB like on its predecessor; instead, setup occurs entirely on a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth.

To start the set-up process, pull the plastic tab from the battery compartment, which powers the scale up. Next you'll have to hold the Pairing button for two seconds, after which a phone icon appears on the scale's display. Then you pair with your phone like any other Bluetooth accessory. From there you'll want to download the free Withings app for iOS or Android, which will walk you through setting up an account, connecting the scale to your Wi-Fi network, and configuring items like measurement units.

Using the app or Web interface, you can add users, define body metrics, and track measurements. Up to eight people can use the same scale, and each can track their progress privately. Once users are set up, just step onto the scale and begin tracking your weight, body fat percent, body mass index (BMI), heart rate, and room air quality. All measurements are automatically logged and synced to your online account. Keep in mind, you'll have to step on the scale barefoot, and there's no way to get a full readout for non-registered users. The scale identifies users by weight, with a clever system for choosing between users with close weights?the scale will display both users and prompt you to lean left or right to select the right one. You can still step on the scale with shoes, but it will only display your weight. At the end of each measurement, the Smart Body Analyzer shows your room air temperature and carbon dioxide level. According to Withings, the air quality monitoring lets users know when to let some fresh air in, and high carbon dioxide levels can contribute to less restorative sleep. In my tests, air quality readings seemed fairly arbitrary and never approached unsafe levels.?

Tracking Your Health
Using the Smart Body Analyzer is quick and painless?simply step on and let it do its thing. Each reading takes about a minute; the scale will first show your weight, then your body fat percentage, your heart rate, and room air quality. The scale's display also shows a useful bar along the bottom of each measurement, which indicates the normal range for your age and weight, and where your current measurement falls in line. It's useful for quickly putting the numbers into context. Each measurement is then recorded and plotted along a graph, so you can easily track your progress over time. ?

The Web interface gives you a lot of information, but I found that it could be a bit overwhelming. Luckily, there are useful tips and tidbits that help you better understand the readings and how they relate to your overall health. Fat percentage, for example, might be confusing for health novices, so Withings explains the normal ranges along with tips on how to improve your numbers. The interface is a bit cluttered though, and I actually found myself using the Android app far more.

The app, which is free for iOS or Android, has a much cleaner look, and all the information is easy to digest. All important metrics are charted along line graphs, and you can adjust the time range to get more specific snapshots of your health. I also found it was easier to set goals using the apps than the Web interface. On the Web interface, the objectives are buried in an easily missed tab. On the apps, the goals are right up top, letting you see your current pace and how close you are to achieving your goal.

A Complete Picture of Health, for a Price
The Withings Smart Body Analyzer puts a wealth of useful health information at your fingertips. Tracking your weight and body composition is a great way to make sure you stay on top of your health, and knowing your resting heart rate is a useful indicator for overall fitness. The air quality measurements might be a little more than you need, as even my small bedroom in New York City never registered close to high levels of carbon dioxide. Withings dropped the price from $159 for the original Wi-Fi Scale to $149 for the Smart Body Analyzer, though it's still pretty pricey for a bathroom scale. But if you're serious about your health and want comprehensive at-home analysis, it's hard to argue with the well-designed and full-featured Smart Body Analyzer. The closest competitor is the FitBit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale, which will track your weight and body fat measurements, but lacks the more comprehensive body composition stats and heart rate monitoring you'll find with the Smart Body Analyzer.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/bujZtG_Loms/0,2817,2417379,00.asp

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Self-medication in animals much more widespread than believed

Apr. 11, 2013 ? It's been known for decades that animals such as chimpanzees seek out medicinal herbs to treat their diseases. But in recent years, the list of animal pharmacists has grown much longer, and it now appears that the practice of animal self-medication is a lot more widespread than previously thought, according to a University of Michigan ecologist and his colleagues.

Animals use medications to treat various ailments through both learned and innate behaviors. The fact that moths, ants and fruit flies are now known to self-medicate has profound implications for the ecology and evolution of animal hosts and their parasites, according to Mark Hunter, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and at the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

In addition, because plants remain the most promising source of future pharmaceuticals, studies of animal medication may lead the way in discovering new drugs to relieve human suffering, Hunter and two colleagues wrote in a review article titled "Self-Medication in Animals," to be published online today in the journal Science.

"When we watch animals foraging for food in nature, we now have to ask, are they visiting the grocery store or are they visiting the pharmacy?" Hunter said. "We can learn a lot about how to treat parasites and disease by watching other animals."

Much of the work in this field has focused on cases in which animals, such as baboons and woolly bear caterpillars, medicate themselves. One recent study has suggested that house sparrows and finches add high-nicotine cigarette butts to their nests to reduce mite infestations.

But less attention has been given to the many cases in which animals medicate their offspring or other kin, according to Hunter and his colleagues. Wood ants incorporate an antimicrobial resin from conifer trees into their nests, preventing microbial growth in the colony. Parasite-infected monarch butterflies protect their offspring against high levels of parasite growth by laying their eggs on anti-parasitic milkweed.

Hunter and his colleagues suggest that researchers in the field should "de-emphasize the 'self' in self-medication" and base their studies on a more inclusive framework.

"Perhaps the biggest surprise for us was that animals like fruit flies and butterflies can choose food for their offspring that minimizes the impacts of disease in the next generation," Hunter said. "There are strong parallels with the emerging field of epigenetics in humans, where we now understand that dietary choices made by parents influence the long-term health of their children."

The authors argue that animal medication has several major consequences on the ecology and evolution of host-parasite interactions. For one, when animal medication reduces the health of parasites, there should be observable effects on parasite transmission or virulence.

For example, when gypsy moth caterpillars consume foliage high in certain toxic compounds, transmission of viruses between the caterpillars is reduced, facilitating moth outbreaks.

In addition, animal medication should affect the evolution of animal immune systems, according to Hunter and his colleagues. Honeybees are known to incorporate antimicrobial resins into their nests. Analysis of the honeybee genome suggests that they lack many of the immune-system genes of other insects, raising the possibility that honeybees' use of medicine has been partly responsible -- or has compensated -- for a loss of other immune mechanisms.

The authors also note that the study of animal medication will have direct relevance for human food production. Disease problems in agricultural organisms can worsen when humans interfere with the ability of animals to medicate, they point out.

For example, increases in parasitism and disease in honeybees can be linked to selection by beekeepers for reduced resin deposition by their bees. A reintroduction of such behavior in managed bee colonies would likely have great benefits for disease management, the authors say.

The first author of the Science paper is Jacobus de Roode of Emory University. The other author is Thierry Lefevre of the Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement in France.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. J. C. de Roode, T. Lefevre, M. D. Hunter. Self-Medication in Animals. Science, 2013; 340 (6129): 150 DOI: 10.1126/science.1235824

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/j2v2-vYpJtc/130411142716.htm

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Teacher's Epic Resignation Letter: Profession 'No Longer Exists ...

As K-12 education in America has tumbled in global rankings, states have responded: more focus on math and science, more teacher accountability, more testing, and more standardized lesson plans. But one history teacher's resignation letter, posted two weeks ago on Facebook, reads like a last cry from the old guard. The new system, retiring teacher Gerald Conti writes, "seeks only conformity" and "zombie-like adherence." The profession of teaching, Conti says, "no longer exists."

In his letter, which has already been shared more than 1,000 times on Facebook (a printout of it is pictured at right), Conti describes the passion that kept him in teaching for 40 years, 27 of them at Westhill High School in Syracuse, N.Y. He describes his approach of "teaching heavy," based on immersion, intensive research and obsessive attention to detail. He mentions the two signs that hang in his classroom, reading "Words Matter" and "Ideas Matter." "I have truly attempted to live John Dewey's famous quotation," Conti writes, "... that 'Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.'"

Conti, who is the chair of the school's social studies department, then details the changes that have occurred at Westhill in recent years that he claims have made this mission impossible. He calls out the school board for "selling children out to private industries such as Pearson Education," a reference to the company that signed a lucrative contract with the New York Department of Education to design tests for its students, and then came under fire last year when its tests were riddled with errors.

More: What Teachers Don't Tell You About Succeeding In The Real World

He rues the rise of "draconian" testing systems, the micro-management of teachers, the standardization of curricula, and the over-emphasis on STEM courses -- science, technology, engineering and math. "Creativity, academic freedom, teacher autonomy, experimentation and innovation," Conti writes, "are being stifled in a misguided effort to fix what is not broken in our system of public education and particularly not at Westhill."

New York requires teachers to work 30 years in the state to be eligible for full retirement benefits, but Conti is leaving three years before that time because "to me, it's not worth it," he told AOL Jobs.

"It's the regimentation... [teaching has become] a matter of bookkeeping more than anything else," he said. "It takes time away from independent work... It takes time away from the students."

"My greatest worry is that children will graduate without curiosity," he continued. "... My concern is that we're not going to have literature in English class. I worry that we're going to have this gray, stark world."

The principal of Westhill High School declined a request for comment.

Lament Strikes A Chord
Dozens of colleagues, parents, and former students have commented on the Facebook post of Conti's letter, thanking him for his decades of service and inspiration, and expressing sadness that so many students will never experience his classroom.

As America has fallen in global educational rankings (to 17th in a recent assessment), schools increasingly have relied on testing and measurable goals. The recent recession renewed criticism that American education doesn't hold teachers to account or properly prepare students for the job market, and in the past few years, cities and states across the country have devised ways to evaluate teachers based on the test scores of their students. In his State of the Union speech in February, President Obama emphasized the need to "better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy," and develop more STEM classes.

But these ambitious initiatives leave one question unanswered: is there a place in this new world for a teacher like Mr. Conti?

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Source: http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/04/10/gerald-conti-teacher-resignation/

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Sexy Celebrity Bikini Bodies 2013

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It’s spring and many celebrities are breaking out their bathing suits and plenty of skin on their vacations. Let’s check out some of the hottest celebrity bikini bodies, which may inspire us to get to the gym quick! Alessandra Ambrosio Victoria’s Secret beauty Alessandra Ambrosio is mom to two children but looks even hotter than ...

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