Looking at a Burn from the Inside, iMessaging Gets Easier, and more!

Learn who’s the easiest target for phishing, how NASA satellites are watching photosynthesis from space, and how smartphones just got easier. Here are your top five technology stories for the week of July 26th, 2013!

Sounds a Little Phishy
New Research Declares Who is More Likely to Find Phishers
A recent study is detecting what gender and personality type is more likely to be subjected to phishing. Phishing can send viruses, steal passwords, and produce fraudulent correspondence through e-mail. Kyung Wha Hong stated in his paper that people who were overconfident or introverted had a harder time telling the difference between legitimate emails and phishing emails. Women overall are also put in the category of bad detectors. With 89% of the participants claiming they could tell the difference, 92% misclassified the phishing emails. This information will be used for the development of future software to prevent phishing. 

Observing Photosynthesis from Space
NASA Watches Plants in a Changing Climate
Photosynthesis is something taught in school at a young age. It’s when light is absorbed by the plants and then they grow. NASA has now found a way to watch photosynthesis from space! When plants get too much light from the sun, the light is transformed through a cellular process and fluorescent light is released. Earth observation satellites have special sensors that can detect the fluorescent light from space. A map of five years of observation is then generated demonstrating brighter light for more fluorescent areas. This infers how plants will interact with the earth in a changing climate.

iMessaging Just Got Easier
New Magnetic Pen to Help with Smartphones
As if the smartphone touch screen wasn’t easy enough to use, a new magnetic pen, MagPen, hits the market for our friends with big thumbs and bad typos. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has invented a magnetic pen interface that will work with any smartphone or tablet with magnetometers installed. The MagPen is more accurate than a finger tap and allows a user to interact more effectively. Not only does the pen work on the smartphone, but if it simply comes near the phone it can trigger a smiley face or act as a pointer. 

Improving Hydrogen Fuel Cells
Using Less Metal, Fuel Gets More Efficient
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have found a more efficient and faster way of building fuel cells for hydrogen cars. An obstacle in the past was the lack of metal platinum, but instead of constantly using such a large amount of metal for fuel cells, the team found a new way to incorporate less metal and create the same results. This will generate five times the amount of electricity and create more gas per metric tons of metal platinum. Hydrogen cars are better for the environment because fuel cells don’t emit any of the chemicals that regular cars do and they use fuel more efficiently. 

Looking at a Burn from the Inside
Biomedical Optics Allows Light to Shine in From the Inside
An improvement in biomedical optics may serve as a new way to see under someone’s skin. Using a combination of lasers, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and spectroscopic methods Jürgen Lademann, of the Charité-Universitätsmedizin in Berlin, and his team have been able to non-invasively see under one’s skin. This is expected to help doctors look at burns or speed up the healing of wounds. This can also assist in the sensitivity to water loss, sensitivity to external stimuli, and protecting open wounds. The discovery was published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics, a monthly journal of peer-reviewed papers.