Archives November 2017

Within a week of the iPhone X’s release, its facial recognition technology was hacked. In the past, similar systems have experienced other high profile failures, such as being incapable of recognizing black and hispanic users.

According to Wired, hackers “cracked Face ID with a composite mask of 3-D-printed plastic, silicone, makeup, and simple paper cutouts,” resulting in questions and concerns over the efficacy of the software.

The ever-evolving tech scene has brought us PINs, fingerprint scanners, and facial identification, but what’s next in the mobile security world?

Apparently, the answer is sweat. An emerging biotechnology is now poised to use perspiration for a more secure authentication process to unlock your mobile device.

As you might know, sweat functions in the human body as a cooling mechanism, but rather impressively, the average individual has between two and four million sweat glands in their body. Not only does sweat cool you when you’re hot, but it is also composed of person-specific amino acids. The theory is that your phone will store your ‘sweat-print’ and use that as a reference whenever you go to unlock.

“Using sweat as an identifier cannot be easily mimicked/hacked by potential intruders. It is close to fool-proof,” Assistant Professor Jan Halamek told The Hindu Business Line.


Halamek teaches at the University of Albany where she also led the study finding promising results. The concept has been proven effective and she now awaits engineers to assist in bringing the concept to life.

Security for smartphones is becoming ever more important. As of 2015, there were an estimated 190.5 million people using smartphones in the United States alone, and that number continues to grow. This makes mobile users a prime target for cyber attacks.


Jan Halamek has confidence in the concepts behind sweat based authentication, yet as security improves, the skill set and technology behind hacking improves as well. Only time will tell if her ideas hold up.

The real question becomes: how quickly will hackers crack the sweat code?

Within a week of the iPhone X’s release, its facial recognition technology was hacked. In the past, similar systems have experienced other high profile failures, such as being incapable of recognizing black and hispanic users.

According to Wired, hackers “cracked Face ID with a composite mask of 3-D-printed plastic, silicone, makeup, and simple paper cutouts,” resulting in questions and concerns over the efficacy of the software.

The ever-evolving tech scene has brought us PINs, fingerprint scanners, and facial identification, but what’s next in the mobile security world?

Apparently, the answer is sweat. An emerging biotechnology is now poised to use perspiration for a more secure authentication process to unlock your mobile device.

As you might know, sweat functions in the human body as a cooling mechanism, but rather impressively, the average individual has between two and four million sweat glands in their body. Not only does sweat cool you when you’re hot, but it is also composed of person-specific amino acids. The theory is that your phone will store your ‘sweat-print’ and use that as a reference whenever you go to unlock.

“Using sweat as an identifier cannot be easily mimicked/hacked by potential intruders. It is close to fool-proof,” Assistant Professor Jan Halamek told The Hindu Business Line.


Halamek teaches at the University of Albany where she also led the study finding promising results. The concept has been proven effective and she now awaits engineers to assist in bringing the concept to life.

Security for smartphones is becoming ever more important. As of 2015, there were an estimated 190.5 million people using smartphones in the United States alone, and that number continues to grow. This makes mobile users a prime target for cyber attacks.


Jan Halamek has confidence in the concepts behind sweat based authentication, yet as security improves, the skill set and technology behind hacking improves as well. Only time will tell if her ideas hold up.

The real question becomes: how quickly will hackers crack the sweat code?

Residents of Crosby, Texas have filed a federal lawsuit against the chemical manufacturer, Arkema, after finding and experiencing traces of toxic chemicals. According to NPR, the lawsuit charges Arkema with failing to notify residents of Crosby of the danger posed by the chemical fires.

The fires were caused at the plant site as the result of flooding by Hurricane Harvey. NPR reports that homes were affected by the plant’s chemicals miles away from the evacuation site.

Among the affected homeowners is Shannan Wheeler, 52, a petrochemical facility engineer. Wheeler’s home is located more than three miles away from the chemical plant.

“We actually heard and felt the boom out here,” Wheeler said to ABC. “[The smoke] didn’t rise, it simply spread like a rolling wave. Right over our house.”

Arkema stores and making organic peroxides, which are used for plastic manufacturing. Temperatures affect these chemicals drastically. Unlike semi-synthetic lubricants, which contain less than 30% of oil and change in viscosity depending on the temperature, the organic peroxides made by Arkema need to be refrigerated to keep them from igniting.

Up to 40% of American workers report their job as being very stressful. Arkema workers were certainly among this percentage during Hurricane Harvey. Arkema workers had to move the chemicals from the plant into refrigerated trailers. However, once the plant workers were evacuated due to rising flood waters, the trailers also flooded.

The rising temperatures caused the chemicals to catch fire. As a result, an emergency evacuation zone was put into effect within a 1.5-mile radius of the plant.

Residents living miles away could see the smoke over the course of five days and began to worry about the toxins in the air. Richard Rennard, an Arkema spokesperson and executive, reportedthat the smoke was noxious. “If you breathe in the smoke,” he said, “it’s going to irritate your lungs.” Despite these health effects, neither local emergency officials nor those at Arkema gave precautions to those living outside the evacuation zone.

Beginning on Thursday, August 31, Wheeler began noticing a putrid smell to the air and fog in the surrounding area. The morning of Friday, September 1, his family found black splotches of oil in their flower beds. On Sunday, September 3, emergency officials and Arkema chose to ignite the remaining containers of chemicals as a way to eliminate any possible hazards.

“All of the product has been successfully and safely burned,” said Rennard during a press conference. “We have seen no evidence of any issues with [air quality monitoring] results.”

One week later, while mowing his lawn, Wheeler began to experience welts along his hands and wrists. Wheeler’s doctor diagnosed the welts as dermatitis caused by chemical exposure.

Wheeler is now just one of 14 other plaintiffs who suffered from injuries and respiratory problems as a possible result of the fires. One plaintiff reports suffering from lesions and burns on his legs resembling poison ivy, which can be found in every state but Alaska and Hawaii, after walking through floodwaters.

In a separate, but related lawsuit, a group of first responders also experienced health problems as a supposed result of the Arkema fires. The lawsuit claims police officers were unable to breathe and were vomiting as a result of toxic fumes.

What’s more is that up to 17% of everything printed in an office environment is considered waste. Compared to this percentage, approximately 65,000 pounds of chemicals and 17,000 pounds of other matter were reported to have been released into the air from the Arkema fires during Hurricane Harvey.

A criminal investigation is currently underway by the Harris County District Attorney. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency are also investigating the Arkema fires.

Millennials are the most vacation-deprived age group in the United States according to Expedia’s 2017 Vacation Deprivation report. The annual report analyzes the travel habits of 30,000 people in 30 different countries.

The U.S. is typically behind on vacation days in comparison to other countries. Americans often find it difficult to squeeze a vacation into their schedules despite the fact many believe vacations are important for well-being and up to42% feel more romantic after getting away.

However, this year Expedia found millennials are more likely to be deprived of vacations than any other age group. According to Lonely Planet, this may be due to the fact that millennials receive the lowest number of vacation days and are more likely to cut vacations short to go back to work.

By the end of 2017, American workers are expected to have wasted up to 462 million vacation days. That’s more than four times the number of people who did gardening as a recreational activity throughout the whole year of 2014 (113.5 million).

According to the report, up to 43% of Americans say they can’t vacation due to a restricted budget. Another 30% say they’re saving their vacation days for a longer vacation. And finally, 22% report they’re unable to leave their workplace.

These high percentages may prove to be a growing problem among the satisfaction and health of the American workforce. As high as 96% of Americans report feeling happier after a vacation. What’s more is 94% report being less stressed and 93% say they feel better-rested.

This means, with limited vacations, millennials are more stressed and less rested. Increased stress can lead to health problems as well as problems in the workplace itself. Up to 46% of workers report feeling more productive after a vacation and 60% say they have a better attitude toward their job.

Fortunately, the American workers’ perspective on vacations has been improving in recent years. Compared to the 14% of workers who felt guilty taking time off in 2016, only 8% of workers felt guilty in 2017.

However, there’s still a struggle among younger workers that needs to be nipped in the bud. The number of Americans who check their work email while on vacation has increased by 4%, which has been proven to only increase stress even during vacation days.

Of all current U.S. home buyers on the market, roughly 33% are older millennials between the ages of 25 and 34 years old. A third of the market is certainly substantial, but the millennial generation as a whole is still having tremendous difficulty finding quality and affordable housing all over the United States.

The average millennial might not be too familiar with the ins and outs of home ownership, which could make some buyers hesitant. Little interest in manual labor and more reliance on technology likely means some people don’t know how to perform important household tasks like replacing the air filters on their HVAC units (which should be done at least once every three months) and other essential projects.

Though lack of home maintenance skills might deter a few millennial buyers from making a housing offer, that’s not even close to the main reason the majority of millennials aren’t able to find equitable housing.

Debt, location, the comfort of staying at home, and plain affordability are all major contributing factors as to why millennials aren’t able to break into the housing market more effectively.

“In many cities, the housing market is extremely competitive, especially for first-time buyers who are looking to purchase a starter home,” said Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow.

According to Builder, millennial buyers who are hoping to make a down payment on a home in certain parts of the country like California and Connecticut have to spend upwards of 20 years saving for a single down payment.

Young buyers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose, have to save for 32.2 years, 28.7 years, and 27.9 years respectively in order to afford a single down payment (20%) on a home. The average down payment in San Jose, which is the highest in the country, is $147,415. Conversely, in cities like Dayton, Ohio, Buffalo, New York, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, buyers are able to spend significantly less time saving up to make much cheaper down payments.

Out of all the top 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the country, only two experienced increases in millennial home ownership — Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazleton, Penn. at 12.1% and Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, N.Y., at 3.8%.

“It’s not a reflection on the millennials; it’s a reflection of where we are as a society,” said Derrick Feldmann, a researcher who has conducted extensive studies on the younger generations as part of the Millennial Impact Project.

Hot flashes and night sweats experienced during menopause may be linked to sleep apnea, new data finds. According to a new study published in Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society, the night sweats and hot flashes so commonly attributed to menopause may be linked to a higher risk of obstructive sleep apnea.

The authors of the study used data from the Data Registry on Experience of Aging, Menopause and Sexuality. The researchers found that, between May 2015 and December 2016, reports of hot flashes and night sweats were experienced by those at higher risk for OSA.

The most common type of sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea is defined as routine stops and starts in a person’s breathing during sleep. Seven to nine hours of sleep is generally recommended for optimal rest. Obstructive sleep apnea can interrupt sleep cycles and increase the risk of serious health issues. For women, these health issues include high blood pressure, stroke, and coronary heart disease.

Menopause is known to cause an array of sleeping problems including insomnia, anxiety, hot flashes, and also breathing difficulties. For this reason, researchers found that those experiencing menopause without other risk factors for OSA were still at higher risk for sleep apnea.

“Obstructive sleep apnea is often thought of as a man’s disease, and men’s symptoms are more outwardly noticeable, in large part because of snoring,” said Stephanie Faubion, M.D.

“However,” Faubion added, “the risk for [OSA] in women goes up in their menopausal years. The symptoms they face … may not be as audible or visible to others, but they pose just as much risk to overall health.”

Up to 65% of those who proved to be at high risk of OSA failed to be diagnosed with the sleep disorder two years after the patients reported their symptoms. Faubion explains that symptoms of sleep apnea and other serious health problems may be overlooked in the face of menopause. However, by using screening tools we may be able to detect health problems in women more successfully and diagnose patients with obstructive sleep apnea earlier.