Lifestyle

A tree that is native to China, the Hovenia dulcis, or Asian raisin tree, has been described to contain a hangover remedy since 659 AD.  If you can fathom how long it's been in use, you may wonder why it's taken so long for modern research to study its potential as a treatment for alcohol addiction.  Well, now a multi-disciplinary team from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) are actively studying its impact; first on rats....

Many persons give up their hobbies or even aspects of their work or chores as they age.  While arthritis in their fingers and hands may be one reason they don't build model cars or quilt any more, for most boomers and seniors, it's because of vision changes.  As we age, we tend to need more light and more magnification to see clearly and sometimes even our prescription lenses don't quite measure up to what we need for hobby work. 

Just when you thought you'd seen the last soda bottle chandelier, table, or chair... Polish interior designer Pawel Grunert creates the bottle chair to end all bottle chairs: the Eco Chaise Lounge, a magnificent, dynamic sculptured work that's as organic in design as Grunert 's wood and steel masterpieces.

Knowing how much I love gadgets, my family members always try to find a gadget I've never seen or used before.  No offense to the others, whose Christmas gifts were thoughtful and novel, but there was one gift from my sister that I have searched for, for years, I'd like to tell you about... a travel thermos that keeps my coffee hot for a few hours and that doesn't spill all over my car if I make a quick turn.

Though it's reported that British pets suffered, gift-wise, from the downsized economy this Christmas, the American Pet Products Association estimated that 53 percent of dogs and 38 percent of cats in the U.S. received Christmas gifts this year - a relatively good stash for them, I'd say.  But what about pets from families who can hardly afford to feed them, let alone buy Santa hats for them?

In the future, maybe not too distant, diabetics may be able to monitor their glucose levels continuously, rather than at one point in time, thanks to the researchers from North Carolina State University, Sandia National Laboratories, and the University of California, San Diego.  These researchers have incorporated sensors into multiple microneedles, each less than a millimeter long, that may make today's glucose analyzers, the annoying skin prick tests, obsolete.