• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Light Safety Roundup

Light Safety Roundup

September 28, 2012
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/120928_sciup_light.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Proceeding with caution on yellow lights. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

If you hit your breaks as soon as you see a yellow light, the car behind you could slam into you; sail through the light, and a car could hit you from the side. Heshem Rakhar at Virginia Tech tries to find the best timing for yellow lights to give drivers with slower reaction times long enough to stop, without encouraging daredevils to press their luck. In most cases, he’s found that 4.2 seconds on a 45 mph road is ideal. Rakhar says that one day, in-car systems may provide warnings that adjust to individual drivers and weather conditions.

In other news, researchers in Israel report that lights, TVs, and computer screens are wreaking havoc with the body’s circadian rhythms, causing chronic disorders. Since avoiding artificial light is nearly impossible, scientists are looking at adjusting the light’s wavelengths to minimize the problem. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Zooming through a yellow traffic light can put you in the red very quickly. (Unisouth/Wikimedia Commons)

 

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Medicine & Health, Social & Behavioral Sciences
Previous Post:Blocking Alzheimer’s
Next Post:Podcast for 28 September 2012

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos