Outdoors + Tech newsletter – July 22, 2019

bracelets

… In honor of running season, I’ve been putting in the miles to test watches from a variety of brands, including at least one you might not have heard of. For my part, the best running watches are quick to lock in a GPS signal, offer accurate distance and pace tracking, last a long time on a charge, are comfortable to wear and easy to use. … Without further ado, I bring you capsule reviews of four running watches, each of which I ultimately recommend, none of which is perfect. And keep in mind, when it comes time to make a decision of your own, there are no wrong answers here: There are at least two watches on this list I like so much I switch back and forth between them in my own training.

Samsung is set to announce its next smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch Active 2, alongside the Galaxy Note 10 smartphone next month. The new smartwatch, which has been referred to internally as “Renaissance”, will come in three models, including an LTE version – but the rumored electrocardiogram feature won’t be working this year. … However, while we can confirm the Active 2 will indeed have an electrocardiogram (ECG) monitor as rumored, sources say that Samsung is still waiting on FDA approval and doesn’t anticipate it will get it until “some time in the first half of 2020”.

You’re likely wearing it too tightly and/or not washing the band and wrist after workouts.

non-wrist wearable

Over the past decade, a major trend in electronics has been the development of sensors, displays and smart devices which are seamlessly integrated onto the human body. Most of these wearable devices are singularly connected to a user’s smart phone and transmit all data via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi signals. But as consumers wear increasing numbers of wearable devices, and as the data they transmit increases in sophistication, more innovative connection methods are being sought after.

Now, NUS researchers have invented a completely new way for wearable devices to interconnect. They incorporated conductive textiles into clothing to dynamically connect several wearable devices at once. This ‘wireless body sensor network’ allows devices to transmit data with 1,000 times stronger signal than conventional technologies, meaning the battery life of all devices is dramatically improved. Wireless networks of these wearable devices on a body have future applications in health monitoring, medical interventions and human–machine interfaces.

Thin, soft electronic systems that stick onto skin are beginning to transform health care. Millions of early versions1 of sensors, computers and transmitters woven into flexible films, patches, bandages or tattoos are being deployed in dozens of trials in neurology applications alone2; and their numbers growing rapidly. Within a decade, many people will wear such sensors all the time. The data they collect will be fed into machine-learning algorithms to monitor vital signs, spot abnormalities and track treatments.

Medical problems will be revealed earlier. Doctors will monitor their patients’ recovery remotely while the patient is at home, and intervene if their condition deteriorates. Epidemic spikes will be flagged quickly, allowing authorities to mobilize resources, identify vulnerable populations and monitor the safety and efficacy of drugs issued. All of this will make health care more predictive, safe and efficient.

Where are we now? The first generation of biointegrated sensors can track biophysical signals, such as cardiac rhythms, breathing, temperature and motion3. More advanced systems are emerging that can track certain biomarkers (such as glucose) as well as actions such as swallowing and speech.

How much force a leg exerts when kicking a soccer ball would seem to be a straightforward question that could be easily answered in today’s tech-laden world, but collecting that data has been complicated by the lack of adequate sensors in the marketplace.

Standard accelerometers max out at a force of 16 g, says Vicon life sciences product manager Kim Duffy, and that doesn’t even begin to gauge the full power of an adult’s kick.

The sensor, she says, “basically flat-lines.”

Finding a way to solving this problem went into the development of Blue Trident, the first inertial sensor released by Vicon since its acquisition of IMeasureU in 2017. Blue Trident includes both a low-g sensor and a high-g sensor, allowing it to capture forces up to 200 g (a limit that far exceeds the 100 g kicks registered in the Australian Football League, for instance).

software

The “Initial Services” of the Galileo satellite system were successfully restored on July 19, according to the German Aerospace Centre. Since July 11, Europe’s satellite navigation system had been partially unavailable to users due to a technical incident in ground-based infrastructure. The European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) in Prague informed its customers of the initial failure.

Use at your own risk

During the period of non-service the GSA had warned that there was a “degradation on all Galileo satellites” and that “the signals may not be available nor meet the minimum performance levels” promised by Galileo.

Continuing the 2019 trend of indoor training and related acquisitions, Wahoo has just announced the acquisition of The Sufferfest. For those not familiar with the platform, the company first started out years ago making indoor training videos. But back 3-4 years ago they shifted their business to a much more interactive app-based model that focuses heavily now on the targeted power-focused indoor sessions that still maintain a significant outdoor video element as you ride various roads or races to keep you entertained. All while a virtual coach of sorts shouts at you via text on the screen.

hardware

… The smart patch in question was developed by researchers at GE Global Research, Binghamton University, UConn, NextFlex, and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Featuring flexible electronics, it attaches to the body and continuously measures its wearer’s hydration levels. It does this by analyzing potassium and sodium in the sweat, in addition to their sweat rate. As well as helping soldiers, its creators think it could be used to help battle dehydration in people working outside as well as athletes.

“What is special is that these measurements are done in real-time and on a continuous and non-obtrusive basis,” Azar Alizadeh, principal scientist at GE Global Research, told Digital Trends. “The raw electrical signals corresponding to the sweat volume sensor and the two electrolyte sensors are transmitted wirelessly to an external mobile device, where through an app the person can track his or her sweat rate and sweat electrolyte levels without any interference with what he or she was doing. Just like we can track heart rate or steps with a fitness device in real time, our device can seamlessly measure sweat. Today, this can’t be done as readily without stopping to take measurements such as a urine sample.”

1. The see-through display shows your metrics while you swim!

Okay, this one is obvious. There’s a see-through display right in the goggles. Metrics like split times, stroke rate/count, pace per 100, and distance are right there, in your line of sight, while you swim. That means no more guesswork.

stories

Sonya Looney found international fame years ago, and she recently added another exclamation mark to her career by winning the prestigious WEBMO 24-Hour World Championships, riding over 234 miles with 29,000 feet of climbing. While her endurance mountain biking accolades stack high, she has expanded her cycling success into a number of different ventures. In recent years, Sonya has become a podcast host, an apparel business owner, and a plant-powered warrior (somehow still finding time to keep herself in top cycling shape!)

Since learning about the benefits of plant-based nutrition, Sonya has been on a quest to find the most nutritious and beneficial foods for athletes. She’s read countless scientific journals, hosted panels of nutritionists on her podcast, and done field testing by tossing vegetables in every gap of her diet. (Pro tip: She eats arugula by the handful for its nitrate content!) In the following article, Sonya will share her findings in her plant-based research and lifestyle. Mother Nature offers foods that are incredibly beneficial for athletes, and Sonya’s list of her top 5 performance-enhancing foods can easily be tacked into anyone’s diet – plant-based or not!

… What we’ve all come to learn is that every body works differently in regards to fueling and race day nutrition, but the one thing that all endurance athletes NEED is GOOD QUALITY food the 75% of time they’re not training.

What does all of that mean? Let’s go back to what happens during a workout and then focus on the nutrition outside of our workouts for the maximum gains.

… Dietary supplements are a more than $45 billion industry, and they got that way by promising amazing results in nearly every aspect of your physical well-being, from bigger muscles to better heart health. More than half of American adults regularly take some kind of supplement, whether fish oil, vitamin E or D, or protein powders. But supplements are also notorious for being poorly regulated. The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t examine a product unless there are reports that people have had serious adverse reactions. With no pre-market regulation and booming demand, the industry has been flooded in recent years with a wide variety of products, many sporting their own proprietary blends.

Paul Thomas, a nutrition consultant at the National Institutes of Health, describes these elixirs and concoctions like snowflakes: “No two are alike.” That makes their effectiveness extremely difficult to study. Nutrients don’t work in a vacuum. Different combinations affect your body differently. Those special mixtures of amino acids and protein powders could have varying dosages and results. Blends are also frequently spiked with extra caffeine, sugars, steroids, or other ingredients that haven’t been tested at all. Although dietary supplements are regulated under the presumption of safety, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that they cause some 23,000 visits to the emergency room every year, many due to cardiovascular problems.

biking

Whether you’re planning to travel across the country or across the globe, a sturdy bike box or bag is a worthy investment. Your bike will be better protected—and you’ll have more peace of mind—than it will if you stuff it into a cardboard box and hope for the best. Here’s what you need to know.

The bicycle, as we know it today, was not invented until the late 1800s. Yet it was a simple mechanical invention. It would seem to require no brilliant inventive insight, and certainly no scientific background.

Why, then, wasn’t it invented much earlier?

I asked this question on Twitter, and read some discussion on Quora. People proposed many hypotheses, including:

Technology factors. Metalworking improved a lot in the 1800s: we got improved iron refining and eventually cheap steel, better processes for shaping metal, and ability to make parts like hollow tubes. Wheel technology improved: wire-spoke (aka tension-spoked) wheels replaced heavier designs; vulcanized rubber (1839) was needed for tires; inflatable tires weren’t invented until 1887. Chains, gears, and ball bearings are all crucial parts that require advanced manufacturing techniques for precision and cost.

Delta Air Lines is making it cheaper to travel with bikes, surfboards and other large sports gear.

The airline is eliminating its $150 specialty sports bag fee, copying a move American Airlines made earlier this year.

Travelers will now pay standard Delta baggage fees for sporting equipment as long as it meets weight and size requirements. Delta charges $30 each way for the first checked bag and $40for the second.

data

Smartphone apps and wearable devices for tracking physical activity and other health behaviors have become popular in recent years and provide a largely untapped source of data about health behaviors in the free-living environment. The data are large in scale, collected at low cost in the “wild”, and often recorded in an automatic fashion, providing a powerful complement to traditional surveillance studies and controlled trials. These data are helping to reveal, for example, new insights about environmental and social influences on physical activity. The observational nature of the datasets and collection via commercial devices and apps pose challenges, however, including the potential for measurement, population, and/or selection bias, as well as missing data. In this article, we review insights gleaned from these datasets and propose best practices for addressing the limitations of large-scale data from apps and wearables. Our goal is to enable researchers to effectively harness the data from smartphone apps and wearable devices to better understand what drives physical activity and other health behaviors.

public lands

You see a photograph of a place on social media and you share it without thinking. You and your friends and their friends immediately want to go there and experience it for yourselves. Technology enables you to mark an “x” on your 21st-century treasure map and set out to find it.

In the past, before the advent of forums like Instagram and Facebook, a picture might appear in a newspaper or magazine yet without a caption, and without having exact logistical coordinates embedded, you might muse over the place, dream about it, even, without ever being able to trek, mountain bike, ride horseback, fish or hunt there.

Ironically, a lack of precise information spared places from being overrun by people who didn’t know where there were.

Are cell phones, which have revolutionized modern way-finding and picture-taking, good or bad for the environment?

In May 2019, Albert Ciardi, an attorney from Philadelphia, traveled to Peru and, like millions of other visitors, trekked the famous Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, which he describes as “a sanctuary of unparalleled beauty.” But Ciardi also trekked the Inca Trail’s lesser-known cousin, the Great Inca Trail, which traverses another section of the 25,000-mile Inca road network that is the largest UNESCO World Heritage Site. This second trek allowed him “to get lost in the size of the empire,” and took him to the Chavín de Huántar, arguably the country’s most important pre-Incan ruins. But he was one of only 10 non-Peruvians there, which he says was “a shame.”

It’s an experience Peru’s government and private tourism are increasingly trying to change, by offering new trails and sites both to protect their prime attraction and to bring tourist revenue to other parts of the nation. As international tourists increasingly flock to Peru — up by almost 40 percent in the past five years — Machu Picchu has come under increasing pressure. Despite having to take both a two-hour flight and a three-hour train ride to reach the site from Lima, Machu Picchu saw 1.57 million visitors in 2018.

energy

Researchers presented a new strategy for extending sodium ion batteries’ cyclability using copper sulfide as the electrode material. This strategy has led to high-performance conversion reactions and is expected to advance the commercialization of sodium ion batteries as they emerge as an alternative to lithium ion batteries.

Professor Jong Min Yuk’s team confirmed the stable sodium storage mechanism using copper sulfide, a superior electrode material that is pulverization-tolerant and induces capacity recovery. Their findings suggest that when employing copper sulfide, sodium ion batteries will have a lifetime of more than five years with one charge per a day. Even better, copper sulfide, composed of abundant natural materials such as copper and sulfur, has better cost competitiveness than lithium ion batteries, which use lithium and cobalt.

… UC Santa Barbara computational materials scientist Chris Van de Walle and colleagues have uncovered a reason for this loss of capacity in sodium batteries: the unintended presence of hydrogen, which leads to degradation of the battery electrode. Van de Walle and co-authors Zhen Zhu and Hartwin Peelaers published their findings in the journal Chemistry of Materials.

“Hydrogen is commonly present during the fabrication of the cathode material, or it can be incorporated from the environment or from the electrolyte,” said Zhu, who is now at Google. “Hydrogen is known to strongly affect the properties of electronic materials, so we were curious about its effect on NaMnO2 (sodium manganese dioxide), a common cathode material for sodium-ion batteries.”