Welcome to Fitmodo, your regular weekly round up of the news you need to know to keep your earthly form in top shape — from fitness advice to breakthroughs in medical research.
This week:
Does Wearing A Fitness Tracker Help You Lose Weight?
It’s no secret that effective long-term treatments are needed to address obesity. Fitness trackers are everywhere — including apps to monitor diets. The problem is — up until now — there haven’t been any long term studies to see if they actually work.
A recent study conducted over two years showed that among overweight or obese young adults, wearing a fitness tracker to track a regular exercise routine somehow resulted in less weight loss than not using the technology.
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This Wi-Fi Can Tell If You’re Sad
Our modern environment is saturated with wireless signals, a consequence of our insatiable desire to transmit data seamlessly and efficiently. A new device developed by scientists at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) can use these ubiquitous signals to detect our inner emotional states.
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72,000 Years Old: DNA Proves Aboriginal Australian Ancestry
The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians and Papua New Guineans diverged from Eurasian populations around 72,000 years ago according to a new DNA analysis of 83 Indigenous Australians from the Wongatha Nation in the North-Eastern Goldfields of Victoria.
The finding supports the idea that humans spread out of Africa in a single event, in the first comprehensive population-level whole-genome study of human genetic diversity in Australia.
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Also catching our eye:
- Transforming your body in eight weeks can happen . . . and right now is the best time to start. Popsugar Australia has a plan for you!
- Lifehacker Australia has a handy guide for kicking your soft drink habit.