How metadevices can make electronics faster

How social media use impacts adolescents’ development and brain development: A multi-agency study of teen social media usage habits and a recommendation to parents and healthcare practitioners

The study found that those who checked their platforms frequently were more sensitive to social rewards and punishments.

And adolescence is simultaneously a time of high social media use and critical brain development. Adolescent brains are going through the most development and reorganization, second only to infancy, making them more susceptible to environmental influences, Telzer said.

169 sixth and seventh graders were studied in rural North Carolina to determine how checking social media impacted their development.

It is important not to worry too soon, she added. The study can’t say for sure if the link between social media habits and greater sensitivity to feedback is true or not.

“Social media can be used to get feedback from your peers, regardless of the excitement of a post or the mean comment.” said Dr. Chaudhary, who is the chief medical officer of BeMe Health. The study did not involve him.

Doing so can help young people connect more deeply in person, feel more present and “separate from the constant, often anxiety-provoking, influx of information about the world and other people’s lives,” she said.

In a story written in 2021, she recommended that families take a four-step approach to teens’ social media use, which includes evaluating how they use it, asking how social media serves them, encouraging them to identify changes they want, and making a plan to get there.

And even for young people who like to spend time online, there are ways to do it that don’t pose some of the potential risks social media does, she added.

“It might be time to find those non-social media apps and digital experiences and rethink how much time you spend on platforms that aren’t leaving you feeling calm, refreshed, and in a better headspace,” Chaudhary said.

Nature Briefing: Small electronic devices that can plant seeds in remote areas by burying data in a self-burying device – Notes from He Jiankui

In the past, increasing the speeds of electronics required designing smaller components, but further reductions in size are being hampered by increasing resistance. To get around this, researchers have demonstrated a ‘metadevice’, which prevents resistance building up by concentrating the flow of signals into specific regions of the device. The hope is that using this method will be able to make even smaller electrical components.

We discuss the highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, we discuss self-burying devices that can plant seeds in remote areas from the air, and scientists’ reactions to a talk by CRISPR-baby researcher He Jiankui.

Don’t forget to watch an episode. You can listen to the NaturePodcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favourite app. An RSS feed for Nature Podcast

 is available too.