Author Archives: Subhadip

9-year-old girl Milla Bizzotto is the youngest competitor in a 24 hour US Navy seal obstacle race

DON’T let the tutu fool you — Milla Bizzotto is one bada** little girl. The 9-year-old from South Florida weighs just 24kg and is making headlines as the youngest competitor to complete the Battlefrog race BFX24, a 24-hour obstacle course designed by the U.S. Navy. She raced 58 kilometres, swam eight kilometres and completed 25 obstacles which included a rope Read More


Claims that man flu ‘really exists’ are unsupported

“Man flu really does exist,” reports the Mail Online in a massive leap from the results of a small study that didn’t look at flu at all. The study actually looked at why women are more likely to have autoimmune conditions such as lupus. Autoimmune conditions are when the immune system wrongly starts attacking healthy tissue. So, despite the suggestive headline, the Read More


How can wearable tech make its mark in education?

Wearable technology has long been talked about, with consumer facing products such as the Go Pro being launched in the early 2000s and then Fitbits coming out in 2009. What’s clear is the various benefits these offer consumers, for example filming whilst on the move with a Go Pro, or monitoring your daily workout with a FitBit to track improvement. Read More


Celebs … please stop lying to us about your eating habits

OPINION Why is it that the thinner and more toned the women of the red carpet are, the more compelled they seem to feel to tell us that they eat like pigs and never go to the gym? This week the gorgeous Michelle Keegan, from British soap opera Coronation Street, was the latest to tell us all how much she Read More


Mindfulness may be effective for treating lower back pain

“Meditation could ease the agony of back pain, a study suggests,” the Daily Mirror reports. A US study compared a technique called mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) with usual care and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for long-term non-specific lower back pain. The term “non-specific” refers to when there are no obvious causes, such as a slipped disc. MBSR is based on yoga Read More


The 3 Es of eLearning

What should the E in eLearning stand for? Originally it stood for Electronic, which shows how long the term has been around. Perhaps it’s for this reason there remain preconceptions that can limit its use in education; for example, eLearning software is complicated. Teachers haven’t time to waste working out how to use it, they want something that’s simple to Read More


Sugar levels in children’s fruit juices ‘unacceptably high’

“Fruit juices and smoothies contain ‘unacceptably high’ levels of sugar,” reports The Guardian. That was the stark conclusion of a new study looking at the sugar content of fruit juices and smoothies marketed at kids in the UK. Of the 203 kids’ drinks the researchers checked from major supermarket shelves, most (117, 58%) would receive a Food Standards Agency red colour-coded Read More


Six mistakes you’re making when loading your dishwasher

MOST people just throw the dishes in the dishwasher wherever they may fit — that’s the luxury of having a washer in the first place right? Wrong. Experts say you’re not loading this handy appliance properly. Carolyn Forte, director of home appliances for the Good Housekeeping Institute, told the Independent that the chore causes a lot of angst among families. Read More


Sunderland talks business with new tech apprenticeship

A North East University is collaborating with industry on a new Degree Apprenticeship; continuing its work to deliver graduates with higher-level skills and address the regional high-tech skills gap. The University of Sunderland is one of a select group of UK higher-level teaching institutions to be working directly with businesses on a new Higher Degree Apprenticeship programme. The programme, which is Read More


Can concussion be tested for with a ‘simple’ blood test?

“A new blood test can detect a concussion up to a week after a head injury,” the Daily Mail reports. The test involved checking for biomarkers, which are substances created by a specific biological condition or state. In this case researchers looked at two biomarkers – proteins called glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1). These Read More