Candid camera

Duke University, with sponsorship by the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research, is developing a smartphone app to learn more about childhood autism and even screen for signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury.

In a press release, the Navy notes that the app, called “Autism & Beyond,” is “available for free download from the Apple App Store to families wishing to participate in a six-month medical research study by Duke University.”

Using the smartphone’s user-facing “selfie” camera, the app records a child’s facial expressions in response to a series of questionnaires and videos designed to get him or her to smile, laugh, or be surprised. The app’s core algorithm maps key points on the child’s face to assess emotional responses.

“We analyze the video to track position and movement of the head and face, including the lips, eyes and nose—all of which indicate emotions,” Guillermo Sapiro, a professor at Duke University who developed the algorithm, said in a statement. “For example, while watching stimuli like a funny video, does the child smile, look toward the caregiver or ask the caregiver to view the video as well? We study all of that. Lack of emotion and social sharing are possible characteristics of childhood autism.”

Sapiro hopes to expand the autism study to tailor apps for warfighter-related conditions such as PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, and depression.

Toilet 2.0

Toilet technology isn’t glamorous, but it’s important enough that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation established the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge in 2011 to “bring sustainable sanitation solutions to the 2.5 billion people worldwide who don’t have access to safe, affordable sanitation.”

With the help of a Gates Foundation grant, researchers at Cranfield University in the U.K. developed a toilet that uses no water or chemicals and actually generates clean water and burnable fuel as byproducts.

The Nano Membrane Toilet, designed for households of up to 10 people, uses a rotating mechanism that transports solid and liquid waste into a chamber where special fibers and nanocoated beads separate them and keep pathogens and odors from escaping. Liquid waste is filtered to the point where it can be used for household washing or irrigation. Solid waste is treated with a biodegradable nanocoating that allows it to be collected and burned for fuel.

Even the ash from the burned waste is nutrient-rich and could be used on farms as fertilizer, according to a report on Gizmag.com. The new “green” toilets may be tested this year in Ghana, rented to households there for less than 5 cents per person, per day. —M.C.

Sleeper flight

Anyone who’s flown a long-distance air route across multiple time zones has likely experienced jet lag—that uncomfortable feeling you get when your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle doesn’t match up with your surroundings.

According to tech publisher Digital Trends, the latest jet from Airbus, the A350 XWB, is designed to fight jet lag. Panels of adjustable LED lights are programmed to vary from cooler to warmer tones, mimicking sunrise and sunset colors based on particular time zones. The controlled lighting is supposed to help regulate passengers’ sleep-wake cycle. —M.C.