Blog

This software sees if your brain is busy before interrupting

There’s a modern-day malady that everyone suffers from – getting distracted by phone notifications in the middle of something important and struggling to regain focus again. But now computer scientists have developed software that automatically screens out low-priority emails or texts. It’s called Phylter, and uses a headband to detect when you’re concentrating on something. Changes in blood flow in the prefrontal cortex can signal brain activity, allowing the program

This software sees if your brain is busy before interrupting

There’s a modern-day malady that everyone suffers from – getting distracted by phone notifications in the middle of something important and struggling to regain focus again. But now computer scientists have developed software that automatically screens out low-priority emails or texts. It’s called Phylter, and uses a headband to detect when you’re concentrating on something. Changes in blood flow in the prefrontal cortex can signal brain activity, allowing the program

This software sees if your brain is busy before interrupting

There’s a modern-day malady that everyone suffers from – getting distracted by phone notifications in the middle of something important and struggling to regain focus again. But now computer scientists have developed software that automatically screens out low-priority emails or texts. It’s called Phylter, and uses a headband to detect when you’re concentrating on something. Changes in blood flow in the prefrontal cortex can signal brain activity, allowing the program

'Chemical gardens' on the seafloor can power a lightbulb

The bottom of the ocean isn’t as lifeless as you probably imagine. It’s packed with all kinds of strange beasts – including one that could be as old as life itself. Now, we’ve harnessed the power of that life to, er, light a lightbulb. Many experts believe that the first cell-like organisms on Earth grew in the ‘chimneys’ that form around warm water vents on the seafloor. These chimneys, which