A 2012 study done by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests that an average of 38 small children die each year in the US alone, due to heatstroke after being left unattended inside a hot parked car. There are some systems to prevent this problem, but three engineering undergrads from Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University have come out with a unique solution.

Anshul Mehra, Yejin Kim and Jeffrey Kamei (seen in the above image from left to right) have turned the Microsoft Kinect into a safety system. It will utilize the Kinect’s ability to detect even the smallest movements, like those of a sleeping baby.

After more development the final product could be built into a car and would become active once the car is parked. If the temperature inside the vehicle rises above a limit with an occupant in it, the system could make sounds or notify the police or a service such as OnStar. And since the window glass blocks infrared light, the system will not detect movements outside the vehicle.

But, of course, if the parents are a bit more careful, they won’t have to rely on technology to look after their children. Yet, since some people are fond of learning things the very hard way, incorporating such a system into future cars could be the only way to save a lot of lives.

[Source]

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So, what upgrades are in store for the kiddies? Both the new LeapPad 2 and the Leapster GS get higher resolution cameras for the front and back, as well as double the memory at 4GB of storage. Given the rough and tumble lifestyle of the modern toddler, it’s also good to see that LeapFrog has added a more durable frame too.

The LeapPad 2–complete with music player, Cartoon Director app, Art Studio app, Pet Pad writing app, upgraded LF 2000 processor and better battery life–is being listed at $99.99. The $69.99 Leapster GS gets a thinner design, a larger display, 2GB of RAM, a motion sensor, and an upgraded version of Leapster Explorer.

[Source]

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To be published in the Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine journal, “Exposure Limits: The underestimation of absorbed cell phone radiation, especially in children” says that setting the exposure limits based on adult absorption may not be terribly appropriate. Using the industry-designed process for evaluating microwave radiation, the study found that children were taking in twice as much to their heads.

But there’s more. Further study revealed that the hippocampus and hypothalamus in a child’s brain could be absorbing up to triple what an adult brain absorbs, as well as greater absorption in the eyes and up to 10 times more in the bone marrow. Presumably, this is because children have generally thinner bones and fewer defense mechanisms.

The FCC standard is based on a “a large man whose 40 brain tissues are assumed to be exactly the same,” but the paper is pushing for a more varied approach for different ages, including pregnant women.

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A UK developer has taken the wraps off his project to change the world learns. We saw it once with OLPC, where affordable laptops that could be used in schools around the world to educate less fortunate children. Now, David Braben of Frontier Developments has unveiled a prototype of a $25 computer that is the size of a USB stick. We hope this isn’t a hoax like the $35 Android tablet.

Braben’s plan is to have them mass produced by a company so that they can then be given away at schools to children. The mini-computer has a USB port for a keyboard and an HDMI port to output video to a monitor. The OS is Linux Ubuntu and with a 700MHz ARM11 processor on board with 128MB of RAM and OpenGL ES 2.0, the 1080p output would allow students to do everything from surfing the web, checking email and working on documents and spread sheets. The computer also has a 12MP camera for video conferencing and an SD expansion slot.

David Braben explains the raspberry PI scheme designed to give a £15 computer on a stick to every child. He is talking to the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones.

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When I went to school for my psychology degree, it was quite common for my classmates to sign up as assistants for people who were doing applied behavior analysis (ABA) training and therapy for children with autism. Now, we could be looking at much more technological approach.

Say hello to Kaspar. He might look like some creepy doll who would be hanging out with Chucky on the weekends, but he’s actually a specially designed bot to help autistic children better recognize human emotions and social cues. That’s the biggest struggle with autism and it could be due to the variability in human responses.

That’s how Kaspar is supposed to help. His responses to stimuli — like when the child tickles his feet — are exactly the same every time. This helps the children get a better sense of predictability. That makes the world less scary for them and, as such, they slowly become better equipped to recognize social cues and emotional responses.

At least, that’s the idea. For my part, Kaspar just looks like a creepy doll. But hey, if he really is effective, all the more power to his creators.

[University of Hertfordshire]

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Children’s cells are still growing and dividing and their thin skulls don’t absorb as much of the radiation, experts say, meaning they’re not only at risk from developing brain tumours but DNA damage too.

In Britain, more than 50 percent of 7-year-old children own a cell phone, 75 percent of 10-year-olds, and more than 90 percent at age 16. This may be a “huge time bomb,” says Powerwatch.

While the British health authority isn’t looking to ban children from using cell phones, they do advise parents to only let their children use the phones in emergency situations.

To avoid harm, children should use text messages, hands-free kits or speakerphone functions to avoid putting the phone directly against their head, according to the BMJ Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

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These days almost everyone has a mobile phone or some other type of wireless device. A study by MRI shows that twenty percent of American children ages 6-11 currently own a cell phone, up from 11.9% in 2005. The most shocking increase has been among 10-11 year olds (+80.5%).

The study was done on a group of 5000 participants, and talked about the feature-rich, kid friendly phones like Disney Mobile’s LG Phone and the FlyPhone. Some more information is discussed on how boys and girls use their phones differently. While girls make more calls and send text messages, boys are more interested in instant messaging, downloads, games, music and videos.

It’s interesting that the MRI study did not mention any health concerns, it was more focused on what the different child groups were interested in for what seemed to be a market summary for businesses. We are talking about a large population of developing children being subject to electromagnetic fields and radio frequency radiation, but I guess big business tends to avoid these issues.

A study released just last January showed mobile phone use before the age of 20 will increase chances of malignant brain tumors by five times. The international group of scientists studied these effects at two university hospitals in Sweden, they concluded that current standards for exposure to microwaves during mobile phone use is not safe for long-term exposure and needs to be revised.

It is also known (PDF: Summary Findings ) that calls lasting a mere two minutes can open the blood-brain barrier in children, as well as adults. This allows toxins in the bloodstream to cross the blood vessel gateway into the skull and attack brain cells. The same two-minutes of cell phone exposure can also disrupt the natural electrical activity of a child’s brain for up to an hour after. Now get to school kids and try to learn.

Chart provided by Silicon Alley Insider.

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