At Home: Personal Tour Guide
You’ve got online guides and walking guides and exhibits. Now, with an innovative new model, the Royal BC Museum in Victoria lets you use your smart phone to navigate all three.
As The Globe and Mail reports, the technology involves an ?indoor navigation system? that uses ?wifi hotspots to pinpoint visitors? locations? rather than relying on hardware-based technology.
While many museums have created technological apps and QR codes to ?enhance the experience,? the Royal BC Museum goes a step further: ?your phone can not only tell you more than you’ve ever wanted to know about the [woolly mammoth] ? it can take you right to him.? Future updates may include the ability to purchase books from the museum store without leaving the exhibit hall.
While the Victoria museum is the first to launch the program, the ?app is in the pilot stage in almost two dozen places around North America ? including . . . the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver International Airport.?
Around the World: Long-Lived Women
It’s a fact: women, on average, have a greater lifespan than men. And while scientists and comedians alike have attempted to pinpoint the cause, a new study suggests that the answer may be buried deep within the structure of our cells.
As The Globe and Mail reports, scientists previously assumed that ?elevated levels of testosterone drive men to live fast and die young.? However, the ?new study points to a very different type of culprit ? mitochondria.?
Mitochondria, which are often described as the powerhouses that provide fuel for each cell in our bodies, are also home to ?genetic mutations that are potentially harmful to males,? the study showed. These mutations, which do not appear to affect females, ?speed up the aging process, which can lead to early death for some men.?
According to evolutionary biologists, humans inherit ?two copies of each gene ? one from each parent, [but] mitochondria genes are passed down only through females.? This means that ?a mutation that harms fathers but has no effect on mothers won’t be easily eliminated from the genetic pool.?
The study was based on genetic experiments with fruit flies, but It’s believed that this ?general pattern . . . extends throughout the animal kingdom,? lead researcher Damian Dowling told reporters.