Dating apps vs finding ‘the one’: Tech & Science Daily podcast

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Scientists at India’s Ethophilia Research Foundation report young adults are suffering from dating app-fuelled “social media confusion”, which they say makes it tougher to settle down with a life partner.

Study participants were asked questions that included criteria for selecting a life partner and desire to settle down, as researchers looked at impulsiveness and how phones impacted in-person interactions.

Authors say the growth of artificial intelligence and photo filters are also among factors adding to distortion of what daters expect from a partner’s appearance, personality and financial liquidity.

Plus - it was 1969, the same year that Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon, the swan song for the Swinging Sixties - and the cusp of the video game age.

That year, a spherical, automated fibreglass chair inspired by an astronaut’s helmet was designed by Herbert Selldorf and Gunther Ferdinand Riss for German company Rosenthal.

Now, it’s being auctioned in London and is expected to fetch around £10,000.

Tech & Science Daily podcast speaks with Nigel Dawson-Ellis, head of design sale at Roseberys.

Also in this episode: Smartphone kids ‘link to poor emotion regulation’, disaster declared in Hurricane Beryl-battered Jamaica, diets helping beat middle age diabetes and a moon base made from Lego.

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Here’s an automated transcript of today’s episode:

Hello, I'm Mark Blunden and this is The Standard's Tech and Science Daily podcast.

Coming up: it's the ultimate space age retro video gamer chair, but first.

Researchers in India report young adults are suffering from what's described as social media confusion, which they say makes it harder to settle down and find the love of one's life.

According to the Ethophilia Research Foundation study, dating app users often value pleasure over long-term stability, which they say can distort the perspective on relationships.

Survey participants were asked questions that included criteria for selecting a life partner and desire to settle down as researchers looked at impulsiveness and how phones impacted in-person interactions.

They say the growth of artificial intelligence and advanced photo filters are among some of the factors adding to distortion of what data expect from a partner's appearance, personality and financial liquidity.

Their findings will be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology annual conference in Prague.

Next.

It was 1969, the year Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon, the swan song of the swinging sixties and the cusp of the video game age.

And it was the space race that inspired the development of exciting and never seen before technology, including some novel items around the home, such as the spherical visored Sunball chair.

It's 1969.

The world is consumed by all things space related and the space age aesthetic, if you like, as well and truly entered the mainstream, as well as, you know, the arts and design and so on.

And simultaneously, the 60s, of course, saw a revolution in the production of plastics.

So new furniture designers began experimenting with this now readily available material.

That's Nigel Dawson-Ellis, head of design sale at Roseberys Auctioneers.

It was designed by Herbert Seldorf and Gunter Ferdinand Ries for a German company called Rosenthal.

It's made primarily from fine glass and it takes its design very much from an astronaut's helmet and it was essentially designed as a luxury outdoor sun lounger.

It's one of the most striking pieces from the era and is on the books at the London Auction House, expected to fetch around £10,000.

It still works.

It has this lid that slides down, up and down, like a visor of a helmet and the action is still smooth.

It's also got this lovely lever that you kind of tighten the lid in place, which is essentially like a sunshade, so you can just adjust it to where you want while you're lounging outdoors.

There is room for two, so two can snuggle up in there and you've got an extendable footrest as well.

Here at Tech and Science Daily, we thought it looks like something of the ultimate gamer's chair, but over half a century later, is the Sunball still usable?

There's a few hairline cracks to the fibreglass, which is totally standard and restorable for a piece of this age.

And it's had reupholstered seating, so that's all fine.

It's had its electrics changed, because some of these chairs were offered with lighting and radios, if you can believe, so they were really luxury kind of items for the time.

And it's crazy to think that they also kind of sat out in your garden.

Imagine the neighbours poking over the fence.

Now Hurricane Beryl has torn through Jamaica with life-threatening rain, 145 mph winds and surging storms.

As officials declared the country a disaster zone, the storm, which was a category 5 at its strongest, has killed at least seven people and wrought destruction across the Caribbean.

It comes after Beryl inflicted what was described as staggering damage in Barbados.

And here's local fisherman Everton Breithwaite speaking to the Associated Press in the aftermath.

All the vessels in here have damage.

All have damage.

Structural damage, but we've got a good few vessels that is on the water.

We don't know how much the total is right now, but we estimate about 30 or maybe 40 vessels on the water.

Hurricane Beryl follows the warmest sea temperatures on record for June and July, up to 30 degrees C, which boosted the storm's intensity.

Next.

A study led by Ötvös Lorand University in Hungary finds handing children a smartphone or tablet to calm them down is linked to poor emotional regulation in later life.

It suggested that in a survey of 265 parents, those who use devices as a pacifying tool, around the children aged three to four years old suffered poorer anger and frustration management skills one year on.

Instead, experts recommend parents coach children through difficult situations, help them recognise their emotions and teach them how to handle them without a screen.

Dr. Veronica Konok, the study's first author, says there's a major concern using digital devices to stop a tantrum can lead to, as she describes it, more severe emotion regulation problems, specifically anger management problems, later in life.

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Welcome back.

Research by Harvard University suggests adopting diets to fight diabetes in your 40s could be key to physical and mental fitness in your 70s.

Scientists found eating plenty of vegetables, whole grains and lean meats in middle age helped keep chronic illnesses and cognitive decline at bay decades later.

The study involving more than 100,000 people spanning 30 years found those who followed one of eight healthy diet patterns were up to 84% more likely to be functioning well at 70.

And finally, it would take plenty of Lego bricks, but now the Danish toy maker hopes to build a moon base.

Yes, because the European Space Agency is working with Lego to make bricks in part out of meteorite dust and it's part of a project to build lunar structures, including launch pads and astronaut shelters using materials found in space.

So which material is being used right now?

Well, they've started with a 4.5 billion year old meteorite rock found in Northwest Africa, which is mixed with biodegradable plastic and 3D printed.

You're up to date.

We'll be back on Friday at 1pm.

See you then.