This Way Up for Saturday 28 May 2016
This Way Up Part 1 of 28 May 2016
Slow (consumer) TV, controlled crying: does it work? and salt water fly fishing.
Slow (consumer) TV
The marathon terms and conditions reading ends Photo: (Supplied)
The latest offering from the world of 'slow TV', a TV format pioneered in Scandinavia that glorifies the everyday, the ordinary and the sedate, is a live reading of a huge volume of terms and conditions that the average smartphone user is likely to encounter.
These T&C's or EULAs (an end user license agreement) aren't exactly scintillating stuff. In fact they seem positively dull compared to other great slow TV hits, like unedited footage of a ferry trip, somebody knitting or a flickering open fire.
But there is a serious point. Norway's Consumer Council is hoping to make us all more aware of these legal agreements that we sign up to when we download an app or visit a web site. They're lengthy, complex, confusing and full of legalese. Finn Myrstad was among those reading these terms and conditions for over 31 hours.
Controlled crying - does it work?
'Controlled crying' - the method tried by many parents of leaving babies to cry themselves to sleep, is a safe and effective way to get babies to sleep well.
That's according to Dr Michael Gradisar of Flinders University in Adelaide, who says that parents shouldn't feel guilty about trying it out either, as it doesn't seem to be stressing babies out.
Sleep guidelines from the Child and Adolescent Sleep Clinic at Flinders University.
Photo: (Evan Amos Public Domain)
Saltwater fly fishing
You might think fly fishing is only done on freshwater, in streams lakes or rivers. But more and more people are fly fishing at sea too, for fish like snapper, and it's a lot of fun!
Matt von Sturmer takes Simon Morton saltwater fly fishing off Waiheke Island.
This Way Up Part 2 of 28 May 2016
Heat pumps: a buyer's guide, codeine, tech: Budget 2016's impact on science and research and Naked Science news.
Heat pumps: a buyer's guide
Photo: 123RF
It's getting colder... and George Block of consumer.org.nz has got a buyer's guide for heat pumps – how they work, what to look for if you're buying one – and an important point that often gets forgotten about, choosing a good installer.
Codeine
Discovered in 1832 by Pierre Jean Robiquet, codeine (aka 3-methylmorphine) appears on the World Health Organisation's List of Essential Medicines.
In New Zealand, small amounts of codeine can be bought over the counter without a prescription – in drugs like Panadeine, Nurofen Plus and Codral.
But with the use of opioid painkillers like morphine and codeine quadrupling over the last decade and worries about codeine addiction and abuse, there are now calls to make medicines containing codeine prescription-only.
John Ashton is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology at the Otago School of Medical Sciences.
Tech: Budget 2016
Peter Griffin Photo: Supplied
Peter Griffin on what Budget 2016 means for the local science, research and technology sectors. Also Australia's planned "three strikes" law for alleged copyright infringers grinds to a halt, as the content industry struggles to crack down on streaming.
Naked Science
Dr Chris Smith of The Naked Scientists with news of a study on mice that's showing how some cancers can be stopped in their tracks. Also a second as a unit of time measurement could soon mean something ever so slightly different. A new generation of "optical" clock promises to make time-keeping even more accurate.
