Commute Making You Fat? Study Links Driving Distance To Obesity

Eating or drinking while driving is as dangerous as using a cellphone

Enlarge Photo

Is driving—and America's automobile-centric lifestyle—largely to blame for our obesity problem?

It's not surprising that driving and obesity are linked. And now Sheldon Jacobson, a professor, researcher, and data analysis expert at the University of Illinois claims to have found an association, in the data, between obesity and automobile usage.

Between 1985 and 1987, looking at annual vehicle miles traveled and obesity rates, the analysis found a 99-percent correlation.

Driving could, in fact, be as much to blame for our obesity problem as common scapegoats like video games, or the higher cost of healthy food. Those might be factors, but driving distance is a societal factor that we need to think out as a nation.

High-calorie food plus driving help put on the pounds

Jacobson points to an "energy imbalance" as people consume high-calorie food, then as they climb into vehicles instead of expending those calories in activities, the behavior ultimately leads to obesity.

Eating food in your car is one of the worst scenarios, as you're already sitting in your vehicle, burning few calories, and taking in, probably, food with very high calorie density.

It's no coincidence that obesity has become a problem during the past 60 years or so, while America has revolved around the automobile. "Because we choose to drive rather than walk or cycle, the result is an inactive, sedentary lifestyle," Jacobson told PhysOrg. "Not coincidentally, obesity also became a public health issue during this period."

The same thing is happening now in China and India, where cars are increasingly accessible and common...and sure enough, bad American habits like fast food are popping up to meet the 'lifestyle.'

Driving less could do more than just reduce some of our reliance on oil, or make our air a little cleaner; it could make a significant difference in the obesity rate.

Can't forget the costs of obesity

And obesity has its own costs. It's one of the primary issues in healthcare reform; in 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the healthcare costs alone (not including other economic costs) to be about $147 billion per year.

That doesn't even consider, either, a 2006 study that points to about a billion extra U.S. gallons of gasoline consumed annually due to average gains in body weight.

If each driver reduced travel by one mile, in just six years the obesity rate would be more than two percent lower (with about 5 million fewer obese Americans), Jacobson estimates; and to completely eliminate the obesity problem, he estimates that every American would need to reduce daily driving by about 12 miles a day (about a third of the daily average)—while still accomplishing what they currently do.

Time to rethink the commute and slim down?

Since this isn't easily possible, given the vast distances that some Americans travel from work to home, one of the central points is that we might need to rethink how we're settled, and the choices we make in how and why we commute.

Or does this calculation seem a little one-sided: Are issues like government food subsidies (cheap meat, expensive vegetables), domestic habits, or our culture of super-sized portions more to blame?

[PhysOrg.com via Fast Company] 

View the original article here

Researchers: Hackers Could Break Into Vehicles From A Distance

If you drive a new or nearly new car, you could be packing just as much computing power in your vehicle as you have on your desk or in your briefcase.

Plus, vehicles are more connected than ever before. And that connectivity, while it can make our vehicles better and our experience more convenient and secure in most cases, can also be exploited by hackers.

Last week, researchers presented findings to the National Academies Committee on Electronic Vehicle Controls and Unintended Acceleration, which included an examination of electronic throttle controls as well as other electronic vehicle functions, looking at their design, reliability, software, environmental factors and, notably, their cybersecurity.

In the research, a team of ten computer-security experts looked at vehicle security over the course of two years—following up on a paper we reported on last year—and looked for vulnerabilities through which they might gain control of the vehicle or some of its subsystems.

Could they hack into a vehicle's Bluetooth hands-free system? Check. Its emergency-services cellular-network connection? Check. Could they access central vehicle controls through those entry points, without any physical access to the vehicle? Check.

The researchers didn't single out any brands or models, but they looked at a number of vehicles that include an embedded cellular connection to provide an automated emergency response, as well as call-center concierge services. Examples include OnStar (GM), Safety Connect (Toyota), Enform (Lexus ), Sync (Ford), and Mbrace (Mercedes-Benz).

Although they point to no specific or dire vulnerabilities, the exercise essentially demonstrates to automakers and suppliers that if an attacker is determined (and knowledgeable) enough, he or she can gain access.

The hackers even managed to hack into vehicles using vulnerabilities in cellular-connection-based safety features—such as those that automatically allow concierge services when the airbags inflate (or trigger the systems to call 911).

In one attack scenario, the team looking for these vulnerabilities showed that thieves or mischief-makers could target particular models of vehicles remotely, find their location, and unlock them without forcing any physical entry. Worse yet, the team showed that they could disable a vehicle's brakes electronically.

The research team's findings will be assembled in a report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in hopes of new standards for security in vehicle systems.

Is this all too alarmist? Perhaps. A professor overseeing the research told Technology Review that the primary researchers both feel comfortable driving their vehicles.

That said, it's probably time for automakers to think a little more seriously about security.

Are you concerned about the security of certain vehicle options or components? Let us know which ones and why.

[Center for Automotive Embedded Security, via New York Times and Technology Review]

View the original article here