Designing a diet app with a human-centered approach

Mobile health apps for managing chronic diseases and for overall health and wellness are increasing in popularity. These apps have the potential to guide behavior change through education, diet and activity tracking, and personalized health advice.

* This article was originally published here

Research group advances perovskite solar technology for green energy production

In a new research paper published in Nature Energy earlier this month, Professor Michael McGehee and his research team demonstrate how to dramatically improve the stability of tin-containing perovskite material used in stacked solar cells, allowing for up to 30% power conversion efficiency.

How Purdue's aggressive sales of a painkiller blew up in its face

In 2002, Andrew Kolodny, a resident in psychiatry, attended a training session on pain treatment in Philadelphia.

America's endless battle against lethal drug fentanyl

In a windowless hangar at New York's John F. Kennedy airport, dozens of law enforcement officers sift through packages, looking for fentanyl—a drug that is killing Americans every day.

Lunch break lesson: how to reverse an opioid overdose

At a small shop selling handmade jewelry in South Philly, employees are skipping their lunch break for a good cause. They are getting training they all wanted—in how to save someone who has overdosed on opioids.

Deep-sea explorers seek out sunken World War II ships

MIDWAY ATOLL, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (AP)—Deep-sea explorers scouring the world's oceans for sunken World War II ships are honing in on debris fields deep in the Pacific, in an area where one of the most decisive battles of the time took place.

US imposes tariffs on EU goods, targeting Airbus, wine and whisky

The United States imposed tariffs on a record $7.5-billion worth of European Union goods on Friday, despite threats of retaliation, with Airbus, French wine and Scottish whiskies among the high-profile targets.

Confessions of a cannabis farmer: The Vietnamese getting Brits high

Holed up alone in a suburban British house thousands of miles from home, cannabis farmer Cuong Nguyen spent months carefully nurturing his plants, one of thousands of Vietnamese migrants working in the UK's multi-billion dollar weed industry.

Trial set in New York on Exxon's climate statements

Charges that Exxon Mobil misled investors on the financial risks of climate change will be heard in court this month after a New York judge gave the green light for a trial.

'Legal basis' an 'absolute prerequisite' for digital monies like Libra: G7

Facebook's proposed digital currency must have legal and regulatory issues worked out in key economies before it can be put into use, the Group of Seven economies said Thursday.

Longest non-stop flight to take off from New York to Sydney

A plane and its passengers are set to test the mental and physical limits of long-haul aviation when Qantas operates the first direct flight by a commercial airline from New York to Sydney this weekend.

Training social workers in fight against opioids

Nancy Ochoa was 15 years old the first time she used heroin with a group of friends. At 16, four months after the birth of her first child, her occasional drug use had turned into a "necessity."

A new approach to reconstructing protein evolution

There are an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 proteins at work in cells, where they carry out numerable functions, says computational molecular biologist Roman Sloutsky at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "One of the central questions in all of biochemistry and molecular biology," he adds, is how their precisely-tuned functions are determined.

Cod or haddock? Study looks at 'name bias' and fisheries sustainability

Could you taste the difference between cod and other whitefish, such as haddock or hake, if you didn't know what you were eating? The answer may have implications for supporting local fisheries and food sustainability in New England, says UMass Amherst environmental conservation graduate student Amanda Davis.

Plant-based compound may enable faster, more effective gene therapy

Gene therapy has broadened the treatment possibilities for those with immune system deficiencies and blood-based conditions, such as sickle cell anemia and leukemia. These diseases, which once would require a bone marrow transplant, can now be successfully treated by modifying patients' own blood stem cells to correct the underlying genetic problem.

New study uncovers 'magnetic' memory of European glass eels

A new study led by researchers at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and at the Institute of Marine Research in Norway found that European glass eels use their magnetic sense to "imprint" a memory of the direction of water currents in the estuary where they become juveniles. This is the first direct evidence that a species of fish uses its internal magnetic compass to form a memory of current direction.

Health care intervention: Treating high-need, high-cost patients

In crisis and with nowhere else to turn, thousands of patients with complex needs—serious mental and physical health problems and substance use disorders—every year flock to emergency rooms in Harris County, Texas and across the country. Referred to as "high-need, high-cost," these patients have limited ability to take care of themselves, making it challenging for doctors to find effective treatments.

Researcher invents an easy-to-use technique to measure the hydrophobicity of micro- and nanoparticle

The scientific and industrial communities who work with micro- and nanoparticles continue to labor with the challenge of effective particle dispersion. Most particles that disperse in liquids aggregate rapidly, and eventually precipitate, thereby separating from the liquid phase. While it is commonly accepted that the hydrophobicity of particles— how quickly water repels off a surface—determines their dispersion and aggregation potential, there has been no easy-to-use method to quantitatively determine the hydrophobicity of these tiny particles.

Is there evidence of the 'immigrant health paradox' among Arab Americans?

First generation immigrants to the United States from Latin America, South America, and Asia have been shown to have better health outcomes and behaviors than second generation (born in the U.S. to immigrant parents) and third generation (born in the U.S. to U.S.-born parents with immigrant heritage) immigrants—a phenomenon known as the "immigrant health paradox." But in a study led by Boston College Connell School of Nursing Assistant Professor Nadia Abuelezam, little evidence of an immigrant health paradox was found among immigrants from Arabic speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Increase health benefits of exercise by working out before breakfast

According to a new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, health scientists at the Universities of Bath and Birmingham found that by changing the timing of when you eat and exercise, people can better control their blood sugar levels.