Spicy weight loss and sucking coffee through a straw

[dracodraconis]

Source: News @ Nature A fitness club in Hong Kong is has hooked their stairmasters and stationary bikes to generators to supplement the building's power supply. No word on whether athletes get a discount for the amount of energy they generate.

Source: Reuters A group of US researchers report that, based on a recent study, people identified as having schizophrenia are less successful in detecting "false" notes in music that those believe to not have this disorder. Based on a study of 19 adults with schizophrenia and 19 without, those with schizophrenia were found to be less able to detect changes in pitch. A related project indicated that people with poor musical abilities were the least able to detect the emotional content of speech, so the researchers have extrapolated that poor pitch discrimination in music may indicate that people with schizophrenia are less able to detect verbal emotional cues.

Source: National Geographic One scientist has theorized that correlations between warming trends on Mars and Earth prove that global warming is due to solar cycles and not a result of human activity. The scientist claims that almost all the global warming effects observed on earth can be attributed to changes in solar activity. Understandably, this claim is not being well-received among climatologists, one of whom describes the theory as "...completely at odds with the mainstream scientific opinion...". Further, he claims that we will begin to experience a steep degree of planetary cooling over the next 15 to 20 years because the level of solar irradiance has been declining since the 1990s.

Source: Coolest Gadgets Java Wand is a variant on the french presse coffee maker (which I use regularly at home), but in this case the coffee (or tea) is placed in the mug and the grounds are "pressed" when you sip on the specially-designed straw. Cool idea, but I think I'll stick with the old-fashioned method.

Source: PhysOrg Food Scientists in Taiwan (of course) have determined that capsaicin can stall the development of fat cells, and encourages the immature fat cells to self-destruct, what is referred to as apoptosis. This may indicate that spicy foods could work as a preventative measure against excessive weight gain.