Samsung is introducing four new gaming monitors at Gamescom today, and they’re the first Odyssey models to have Samsung’s Gaming Hub built in. This gaming hub provides quick and easy access to Xbox Cloud Gaming, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, and Nvidia GeForce Now game streaming services.
The Samsung Odyssey G70B and G65B are both designed primarily for PC gaming, with the G70B available in both 27- and 32-inch flat IPS options with 4K support at 144Hz and 1ms gray-to-gray (GtG) response times. The G65B is a curved monitor (1000R) with the same 1ms GtG response times, and it’s available in 27- and 32-inch sizes with 1440p support at 240Hz. Samsung doesn’t mention whether the G65B is IPS, VA, or TN, but given its history with curved panels at these sizes it’s likely VA.
Samsung’s new Odyssey G70B monitor.Image: Samsung
Samsung’s new Odyssey G65B monitor.Image: Samsung
Samsung’s Gaming Hub is built directly into all four of these models for quick access to game streaming services, but there’s also a new Game Bar tool that lets PC gamers view gaming settings and modify response times, screen ratios, and game modes easily.
You can even use these monitors without a PC, thanks to Samsung’s Smart Platform integration. Samsung lets G70B and G65B owners wirelessly connect to PCs or Macs, mirror an iPhone or iPad screen using Apple AirPlay 2, or even use Samsung DeX — one of the closest things we have to using our phones as PCs. Apps for Netflix and Amazon Prime can also run straight on the monitors if you just want to switch off from gaming or work.
Samsung hasn’t released full specs, release dates, or pricing for the Odyssey G70B and G65B yet. These new models “will be available globally from Q4,” says Samsung.
Kosovo and Serbia — two Balkan countries that fought a bloody war in the 1990s and have been living in uneasy coexistence ever since — are once again at odds, this time over moves by Kosovo to force ethnic Serbs living in its northern regions to obtain license plates issued by Kosovar authorities.
The seemingly mundane move is anything but, as the status of ethnic Serbs living near the border between Serbia and Kosovo is at the heart of a protracted conflict between the two governments. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008, but Serbia still considers Kosovo its province.
“The overall security situation in the Northern municipalities of Kosovo is tense,” NATO’s peacekeeping force in Kosovo said Sunday in a statement. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said, “We have never been in a more difficult situation.”
What are the tensions in Kosovo about?
The latest flare-up in tensions is tied to new rules over license plates and cross-border travel documents.
Under new regulations that were meant to take effect on Aug. 1, ethnic Serbs living in villages in northern Kosovo would have had to apply for license plates issued by Kosovar authorities for their vehicles. Since the 1998-99 war, some in that population had used Serbian license plates with a different status. Authorities in Kosovo tolerated the dual-track system to preserve the peace but said last year they would no longer do so.
Another rule would have forced Serbian nationals visiting Kosovo to get an additional entry-exit document from Kosovar authorities at the border. Previously, they could enter without it. Serbia imposes a similar rule on Kosovars seeking to cross its borders.
Kosovo-Serbia tensions flare; NATO peacekeepers track border protests
The government in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, has been trying for years to assert full institutional control over the ethnic Serb-majority areas of northern Kosovo, but it has faced fierce resistance from residents who still consider their communities part of Serbia.
On Sunday, ethnic Serbs blockaded roads in northern Kosovo to protest the new rules, forcing Kosovar authorities to shut down two border crossings, Jarinje and Brnjak. Kosovar police said shots were fired in their direction during the protests, although no one was hurt, Reuters reported.
Belgrade argues that the new rules violate a 2011 agreement on freedom of movement between Kosovo and Serbia.
Kosovo’s allies, including the United States and European Union, called for calm and urged Pristina to delay implementation of the new rules. Late on Sunday, Kosovo agreed to a 30-day delay if all roadblocks were removed. Albin Kurti, Kosovo’s prime minister, accused the protesters of trying to “destabilize” Kosovo and charged that Serbia was orchestrating “aggressive acts” during the protests.
In cooperation with our international allies, we pledge to postpone implementation of decisions on car plates & entry-exit documents at border crossing points w/ Serbia for 30 days, on the condition that all barricades are removed & complete freedom of movement is restored. pic.twitter.com/oJNaQi0qPO
— Albin Kurti (@albinkurti) July 31, 2022
Josep Borrell, the E.U.’s top diplomat, welcomed Kosovo’s decision to postpone the new measures until Sept. 1 and said he expects “all roadblocks to be removed immediately.”
How is this related to the Serbia-Kosovo conflict?
The roots of the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo go back to the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 2000s, which itself followed a drawn-out period of ethnic conflicts between the Yugoslav republics in the 1990s. Serbia and Kosovo fought a brutal war between 1998 and 1999 that ended with the involvement of NATO in a U.S.-backed bombing campaign against Serbian territory.
Serbia is a majority Orthodox Christian nation, but Kosovo — previously a province of Yugoslavia — is dominated by ethnic Albanians, who are largely Muslim, in addition to a minority of ethnic Serbs. Tensions flared between the groups, particularly over moves in 1989 by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, a nationalist Serb, to abrogate the autonomy of Kosovo enshrined in the Yugoslav constitution.
In response, Kosovar militants formed the Kosovo Liberation Army and staged attacks against Serbia in the following years as they pushed for the creation of a new state encompassing the region’s ethnic Albanian minorities. Members of the Kosovo Liberation Army were also accused of committing war crimes against ethnic Serbs in Kosovo and those they viewed as collaborators.
Authorities in Belgrade violently cracked down on the Albanian population of Kosovo, viewing them as supportive of the KLA and its separatist attacks. More than 1 million Kosovar Albanians were driven from their homes.
Western countries and NATO became involved, bringing the parties together in France in February 1999 to negotiate a truce. While the Kosovar side agreed to a truce, Yugoslavia — which by then encompassed only Serbia and Montenegro — did not. Atrocities committed against Kosovar Albanians continued in what the U.S. State Department at the time called a “systematic campaign” by “Serbian forces and paramilitaries” to “ethnically cleanse Kosovo.”
In response, NATO launched a devastating 11-week bombing campaign against Yugoslavia that ended in June 1999, when the country signed an agreement with NATO to allow a peacekeeping force into Kosovo.
Why is NATO in Kosovo, and what is its mandate?
NATO has had a peacekeeping force in Kosovo — Kosovo Force, or KFOR — since June 1999. The creation of the force was approved by a U.N. Security Council resolution.
KFOR’s initial goal was to prevent conflict from restarting between ethnic Serbs and Albanians after NATO and Yugoslavia signed a peace agreement allowing for the return of ethnic Albanians displaced by the war.
Since then, the force has gradually been reduced, from roughly 50,000 troops to fewer than 4,000 today. In its own words, it works to maintain security and stability in the region, support humanitarian groups and civil society, train and support the Kosovo Security Force and “support the development of a stable, democratic, multi-ethnic and peaceful Kosovo.”
In its statement about the protests in Kosovo on Sunday, KFOR said it was “monitoring” the situation and was “prepared to intervene if stability is jeopardized.”
How is this related to the Russia-Ukraine war?
The Balkans have not escaped the reverberations of the war in Ukraine.
Kosovo has supported Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, which Kurti, the prime minister, called “an attack against us all.” Ukraine has not recognized Kosovo’s independence.
Russia — a long-standing ally of Serbia — does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state, either, and has echoed Serbia’s president in blaming the government in Pristina for the renewed tensions in northern Kosovo.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, accused Kosovo on Sunday of using the new licensing laws and ID documents to discriminate against the Serbian population.
“We call on Pristina and the United States and the European Union backing it to stop provocation and observe the Serbs’ rights in Kosovo,” she said, according to Russia’s official Tass news agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited Kosovo to justify his recognition of two separatist provinces in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. “Very many states of the West recognized [Kosovo] as an independent state,” Putin told U.N. chief António Guterres when the two met in April. “We did the same in respect of the republics of Donbas.”
Rachel Pannett and Ishaan Tharoor contributed to this report.
Sony Electronics is launching a gaming gear brand called Inzone, aimed at PC gamers. The company announced its new brand Tuesday with two 27-inch monitors and three variations of gaming headphones.
Inzone had been in the works since 2019 — before the pandemic — as Sony executives observed growth in the video game and esports industries.
“We are entering the gaming gear industry with monitors and headsets at an exciting time, since gaming and esports have gotten even more popular over the last few years,” Kazuo Kii, Sony president of home entertainment and sound products told The Washington Post. “We are leveraging Sony’s high quality display and audio technologies to deliver products that will allow gamers to immerse themselves into their gaming world.”
The name of the brand, Kii said, is meant to refer to the immersive feeling gamers experience when they are “in the zone.”
Admitted latecomers to the PC gaming market, Sony plans to win players over through competitively priced products. Sony plans to sell a $899 4K resolution monitor with a 144-hertz refresh rate, available this summer, and a $529 1080p monitor with a 240-hertz refresh rate, coming later this year.
PS5 designer: ‘When I started drawing, it was much larger’
The Japanese conglomerate hopes that PC gamers — particularly first-person shooter players — will give Inzone a chance, and not associate Sony primarily with consoles. The name of the brand is meant to refer to the immersive feeling gamers experience when they are “in the zone,” according to Kii.
“We are not saying we are not focusing on the PS5 users. But because we are latecomers to monitors and headphones for [the] gaming segment, we believe we have a chance to catch up,” Kii said. He added that he hopes Sony can catch up by appealing to top competitive gamers and influencers who might use Inzone products and promote them to their audiences.
“I believe if top players from top companies mention ‘Oh, Sony’s Inzone is great,’ we can catch up,” Kii said.
While Sony hopes to woo PC gamers, it hasn’t left PlayStation 5 users behind. Aesthetically, the monitors and headsets are designed to blend in with the PS5, should users happen to own one. The two monitors work with the PS5, which will optimize screen colors once connected. The monitors also have a switcher feature, allowing users to connect a single keyboard, mouse and headset to a PC and PS5 at the same time, and switch between the two.
Sony’s approach to gaming headphones is to try to see which of their options resonate with consumers. The company will offer a wireless headset for $299 with noise cancellation and synthetic leather, along with a pared down $229 wireless headset (no leather or noise-canceling) and a $99 pair of wired headphones. Kii said that all three pairs will be equipped with a spatial sound field feature; gamers will be able to hear how far opponents are from them and where they are located, based on sound cues.
The headphones are also designed to be less tight around the ears so that players can wear them comfortably for hours.
Read more: With the PS5, Sony’s big bet is that what’s good for developers will be great for players.
The new brand launch comes shortly after Xbox’s announcement in early June that it was trying to court Japanese developers, who have traditionally worked more with PlayStation. While Inzone takes aim at a gaming community more commonly associated with Windows PC and Xbox, Kii denied that the brand launch was a bid to compete for Xbox’s audience, saying that many players use multiple devices to game.
Inzone hardware builds on Sony’s current offerings for TVs, monitors and noise-cancelling ear buds, tailoring that technology to appeal to gamers. The company is still undecided on whether it plans to offer hardware besides monitors and headsets under the Inzone brand, according to Kii.
Inzone will come packaged with a software program called Inzone hub for users to access and change settings such as lighting and bass.
“Sony’s gaming division, PlayStation, has primarily been focused on the console games market,” said Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at research firm Niko Partners. “More recently the firm has been looking to reach a broader gamer demographic beyond console, starting with those that play games on PC. Asia is one region of the world where console gaming is dwarfed by PC and mobile gaming. As Asia is a critical market for the games industry, Sony is finding ways to address that market beyond consoles with this move.”
Last week, I reported via Try Hard Guides that Sony was gearing up to potentially reveal a new PlayStation 5 Pro controller in the near future. This assumption was based on the knowledge that Sony is in fact revealing new hardware at the end of this week.
Although there’s been no confirmation on if the controller will be revealed or not, it does make sense. There’s still no official confirmation or “insider” confirmation that this is the case, however, sources have confirmed, to their knowledge, what will be shown off from Sony next week.
Information on one set of hardware has already been revealed, which is Sony’s new headsets. These are the new “INZONE” H-series headsets, with three sets to be revealed next week. The INZONE H3, INZONE H7, and INZONE H9 all come with 360 spatial sound for gaming and are all Discord certified.
INZONE H3:
Wired headset
Cheapest headset
360 Spatial Sound
INZONE H7:
Wireless headset
360 Spatial Sound
Best battery life
Wireless headset
360 Spatial Sound
Most expensive headset
Noise-canceling sound
The price points of the headsets are yet to be revealed. In addition to the three new headsets, Sony is also set to reveal two brand-new gaming monitors under the INZONE brand, that feature “exclusive features for PlayStation”, which includes auto HDR Tone Mapping and Auto Genre Picture Mode.
According to my sources, one of these monitors will be for 4K gaming at 144Hz, whereas the other will be full HD gaming at 240Hz. Both devices were described as being “perfect for PS5” and have received VRR (HDMI/G-Sync) support and feature low latency (1ms GtG). Sony has also kept HDR in mind (DisplayHDR600 in 4K/144Hz, DisplayHDR400 in FullHD/240Hz) for both monitors.
It’s also believed that both of these monitors will come with “gaming assist features”, which include the monitors displaying the number of FPS, game time, a viewfinder, improve brightness in dark locations (Black Equalizer), and refining brightness and contrast – to better see enemies with these features being turned off/on depending on the user’s desires.
The price points of the monitors are yet to be revealed. However, it’s still unclear whether Sony will also reveal the new Pro controller or not, but my sources have said that these five pieces of new hardware are set to be revealed next week and are set to be a part of Sony’s new “INZONE” brand.
Currently, the CDC is monitoring six people in the United States for possible monkeypox infections after they sat near an infected traveler who had symptoms while on a flight from Nigeria to the United Kingdom in early May.
Separately, CDC officials also are investigating a case of monkeypox confirmed in a man in Massachusetts who had recently traveled to Canada. And the New York City Health Department is investigating a possible infection in a patient currently at Bellevue Hospital.
Meanwhile, recent monkeypox infections have been identified in several other regions around the world where the virus is not usually common, including Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Northern Ireland and Spain.
“We have a level of scientific concern about what we’re seeing because this is a very unusual situation. Monkeypox is normally only reported in West Africa or Central Africa, and we don’t see it in the United States or in Europe — and the number of cases that are being reported is definitely outside the level of normal for what we would see,” Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology within the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Thursday.
“At the same time, there really aren’t that many cases that are being reported — I think maybe a dozen, a couple dozen — so, the general public should not be concerned that they are at immediate risk for monkeypox,” she said. “We’re working through the investigations.”
Overall, “we have people who are being monitored for diseases all the time,” CDC spokesperson Christine Pearson wrote in an email, Thursday. That means that if someone might have been exposed to a pathogen, their health is monitored, and they should see physicians if they develop symptoms.
As for the six people currently being monitored for potential monkeypox, they all “are healthy, with no symptoms and are considered at low risk for monkeypox,” Pearson wrote, adding that none were seated next to the ill passenger and none had direct contact.
As the CDC’s investigation continues, discussions have started to include the topic of vaccines.
CDC ‘discussing and evaluating’ smallpox vaccine
CDC officials are evaluating whether smallpox vaccine should be offered to healthcare workers treating monkeypox patients and other people who may be at “high risk” for exposure to monkeypox, McQuiston said.
“It’s definitely something that we’re discussing and evaluating, whether offering smallpox vaccine makes sense in the current setting,” she said. “We’ll be closer to making recommendations for that in the next day or so.”
The variola virus that causes smallpox and the monkeypox virus are somewhat related as they are both members of the Orthopoxvirus genus, belonging to the scientific family of “pox” viruses. Therefore, some of the same vaccines administered to prevent smallpox have also been shown to prevent monkeypox. Even though the viruses are related, monkeypox is less contagious than smallpox and causes less severe disease.
“We have vaccines that are stockpiled and available to be used, and if judged as a way to help manage this outbreak, we have the availability to use them,” McQuiston said.
“I would say that we are in the early days of understanding what is causing this outbreak — and the fact that we’re seeing cases reported in multiple places around the globe suggests that maybe it’s been going on for a couple of weeks,” she said. “As we work to complete our investigations and get our arms around it then hopefully we’ll have much stronger recommendations for folks.”
Monkeypox, a viral disease, is rare in the United States and the virus does not occur naturally in the nation, according to the CDC. But cases have been identified that were associated with international travel or importing animals from areas where the disease is more common. After the virus jumps from an animal to a human, human-to-human transmission of monkeypox can occur when a person encounters the virus through direct contact to: large respiratory droplets, bodily fluids, or lesions on the skin.
Monkeypox symptoms can include fever, headache, muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes. A characteristic of the disease is that it can cause lesions and a rash on the body, including the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet.
“This is not a disease that is going to sweep across the country,” Dr. Daniel Bausch, president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, told CNN on Thursday.
“From a public health angle, of course, we need to investigate and respond — I think the general population should just be aware of this — but there’s certainly no reason to panic and I think it’s highly, highly, highly unlikely that we will get any sort of large outbreak of this,” he said. “And if you haven’t had contact in Massachusetts and you’re not related to the person who had disease or in that link at all — until we have any other reason to expect or to understand how this disease got into the United States — your risk of getting monkeypox is really low.”
A monkeypox mystery
In Massachusetts, physiciansdonning the same personal protective equipment they wear for Covid-19 patients have been treating the US monkeypox patient at a special pathogens unit within Massachusetts General Hospital, where he originally was diagnosed.
“They were undergoing a workup related to symptoms and the infectious diseases physician seeing the patient, learning about some of the cases in the United Kingdom, decided that the patient could possibly have monkeypox,” Dr. Erica Shenoy, medical director for the Regional Emerging Special Pathogens Treatment Center and associate chief of the infection control unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, told CNN on Thursday.
“Then we had discussions with our state public health officials. The decision was made that yes, they did meet criteria for testing,” Shenoy said. The patient tested positive.
“I think to the public overall, there really is no clear risk at this point,” Shenoy said. “This is an evolving situation that we’re looking to understand better — why these clusters that have been reported as well in the UK and in Portugal and Spain are happening, and to better understand the epidemiology.”
Both in the United Kingdom and Canada, health authorities have noted that many of the monkeypox cases were identified in men who have sex with men — but the virus is not typically described as a sexually transmitted infection and investigations into these recent cases continue.
Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like illness were seen in colonies of monkeys that were kept for research, leading to the name “monkeypox,” according to the CDC. The first human case of monkeypox was reported years later in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, during a time when intense efforts were underway to eliminate smallpox.
In the United States, the last outbreak of monkeypox recorded was in 2003, when 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported in six states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. “No instances of monkeypox infection were attributed exclusively to person-to-person contact,” according to CDC.
All of the people infected with monkeypox during that outbreak became ill after having contact with pet prairie dogs, the CDC found. Those pets were housed at an animal vendor’s facilities in Illinois where they may have been infected with the virus. The facilities housed other small mammals imported from Ghana that tested positive for monkeypox virus: two African giant pouched rats, nine dormice and three rope squirrels.
“The prairie dogs got monkeypox from the imported animals and then passed it on to the humans,” Bausch said. “It’s a bit of a misnomer calling it monkeypox. The reservoir for this virus, the natural reservoir in nature is probably certain types of rodents.”
US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said Thursday that people should not be worried about monkeypox at this point, but that they should be aware of symptoms and when to reach out for help.
Murthy explained on CNN’s New Day that monkeypox is rare in humans, “but when it does come up, it’s a serious one that we should investigate, and we’ve got to make sure that we understand if and how it is spreading from person to person.”
Symptoms generally are similar to the flu, he told CNN’s John Berman and Erica Hill.
“The good news is we have one confirmed case right now. But we should always be on the lookout for more cases,” he said. “At this time, we don’t want people to worry. At this point, again, these numbers are still small — we want them to be aware of these symptoms and if they have any concerns to reach out to their doctor.”
The device can be worn on the upper arm while the wearer goes about their day. Credit: Laboratory for Nanobioelectronics / UC San Diego
Imagine being able to measure your blood sugar levels, know if you’ve had too much alcohol to drink, and track your muscle fatigue during a workout, all in one small device worn on your skin. Engineers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have developed a prototype of such a wearable that can continuously monitor several health stats—glucose, alcohol, and lactate levels—simultaneously in real-time.
“This is like a complete lab on the skin.” — Joseph Wang
The multi-tasking device is only about the size of a stack of six quarters. It is applied to the skin through a Velcro-like patch of microscopic needles, or microneedles, that are each about one-fifth the width of a human hair. Wearing the device is not painful—the microneedles barely penetrate the surface of the skin to sense biomolecules in interstitial fluid, which is the fluid surrounding the cells beneath the skin. The device can be worn on the upper arm and sends data wirelessly to a custom smartphone app.
Researchers at the UC San Diego Center for Wearable Sensors describe their device in a paper published today (May 9, 2022) in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.
The device can be worn on the upper arm and sends data wirelessly to a custom smartphone app. Credit: Laboratory for Nanobioelectronics / UC San Diego
“This is like a complete lab on the skin,” said center director Joseph Wang, a professor of nanoengineering at UC San Diego and co-corresponding author of the paper. “It is capable of continuously measuring multiple biomarkers at the same time, allowing users to monitor their health and wellness as they perform their daily activities.”
Most commercial health monitors, such as continuous glucose monitors for patients with diabetes, only measure one signal. The problem with that, the researchers said, is that it leaves out information that could help people with diabetes, for example, manage their disease more effectively. Monitoring alcohol levels is useful because drinking alcohol can lower glucose levels. Knowing both levels can help people with diabetes prevent their blood sugar from dropping too low after having a drink. Combining information about lactate, which can be monitored during exercise as a biomarker for muscle fatigue, is also useful because physical activity influences the body’s ability to regulate glucose.
“With our wearable, people can see the interplay between their glucose spikes or dips with their diet, exercise, and drinking of alcoholic beverages. That could add to their quality of life as well,” said Farshad Tehrani, a nanoengineering Ph.D. student in Wang’s lab and one of the co-first authors of the study.
Microneedles merged with electronics
The wearable consists of a microneedle patch connected to a case of electronics. Different enzymes on the tips of the microneedles react with glucose, alcohol and lactate in interstitial fluid. These reactions generate small electric currents, which are analyzed by electronic sensors and communicated wirelessly to an app that the researchers developed. The results are displayed in real time on a smartphone.
The disposable microneedle patch detaches from the reusable electronic case. Credit: Laboratory for Nanobioelectronics / UC San Diego
An advantage of using microneedles is that they directly sample the interstitial fluid, and research has shown that biochemical levels measured in that fluid correlate well with levels in blood.
“We’re starting at a really good place with this technology in terms of clinical validity and relevance,” said Patrick Mercier, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC San Diego and co-corresponding author of the paper. “That lowers the barriers to clinical translation.”
The microneedle patch, which is disposable, can be detached from the electronic case for easy replacement. The electronic case, which is reusable, houses the battery, electronic sensors, wireless transmitter, and other electronic components. The device can be recharged on any wireless charging pad used for phones and smartwatches.
The device can be recharged on an off-the-shelf wireless charging pad. Credit: Laboratory for Nanobioelectronics / UC San Diego
Integrating all these components together into one small, wireless wearable was one of the team’s biggest challenges. It also required some clever design and engineering to combine the reusable electronics, which must stay dry, with the microneedle patch, which gets exposed to biological fluid.
“The beauty of this is that it is a fully integrated system that someone can wear without being tethered to benchtop equipment,” said Mercier, who is also the co-director of the UC San Diego Center for Wearable Sensors.
Testing
The wearable was tested on five volunteers, who wore the device on their upper arm, while exercising, eating a meal, and drinking a glass of wine. The device was used to continuously monitor the volunteers’ glucose levels simultaneously with either their alcohol or lactate levels. The glucose, alcohol and lactate measurements taken by the device closely matched the measurements taken respectively by a commercial blood glucose monitor, Breathalyzer, and blood lactate measurements performed in the lab.
Next steps
Farshad Tehrani and fellow co-first author Hazhir Teymourian, who is a former postdoctoral researcher in Wang’s lab, co-founded a startup company called AquilX to further develop the technology for commercialization. Next steps include testing and improving upon how long the microneedle patch can last before being replaced. The company is also excited about the possibility of adding more sensors to the device to monitor medication levels in patients and other health signals.
Reference: “An integrated wearable microneedle array for the continuous monitoring of multiple biomarkers in interstitial fluid” by Farshad Tehrani, Hazhir Teymourian, Brian Wuerstle, Jonathan Kavner, Ravi Patel, Allison Furmidge, Reza Aghavali, Hamed Hosseini-Toudeshki, Christopher Brown, Fangyu Zhang, Kuldeep Mahato, Zhengxing Li, Abbas Barfidokht, Lu Yin, Paul Warren, Nickey Huang, Zina Patel, Patrick P. Mercier and Joseph Wang, 9 May 2022, Nature Biomedical Engineering. DOI: 10.1038/s41551-022-00887-1
Funding: NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
There are some really great deals today. If you’re looking for a capable gaming laptop, Alienware, Lenovo, and Acer RTX 3070 (or 3070 Ti) laptops are all on sale today with prices starting at only $1399. If you’re looking for a gaming PC instead, the Alienware RTX 3080 desktop PC just dropped to $1799. In other deal news, pick up the Samsung 980 Pro 1TB SSD for your PS5, a Seagate Firecuda 1TB Gaming Hub hard drive, a 49″ Samsung DQHD gaming monitor, or the Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing Edition at the lowest prices of the year.
Update: To get this deal, you must select Support – 1 Year Hardware Service with Onsite In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis ($100) in the customization page and then apply coupon code “50OFF699” in your shopping cart.
This Alienware m15 laptop is equipped with a powerful AMD Ryzen 7 5800H 8-core processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and of course the RTX 3070 video card. The RTX 3070 found in this laptop has a TDP rating of 125W (115W + 10W dynamic boost), which is higher than the RTX 3070 TDP rating you’ll find in most other gaming laptops. Higher TDP means more power is supplied to the graphics card, and that directly equates to better performance in games. Most laptops are willing to sacrifice gaming performance in order to conserve power and reduce heat, allowing for thinner laptop designs with more basic cooling. Alienware laptops, however, prioritize gaming performance first and foremost. The video cards are more powerful, the proprietary “Cryo-Tech” cooling is more effective at cooling the components, and the main tradeoff is s slightly heftier 5.5lb weight.
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16″ RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16″ 2560×1600 AMD Ryzen 7 5800H RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
Walmart is offering an outstanding deal for a powerful gaming laptop from Lenovo. The RTX 3070 found in this laptop has a TDP rating of 140W. That is the maximum TDP rating you’ll find for a mobile RTX 3070 graphics card, meaning this is the one of the most powerful RTX 3070 gaming laptops you can get. Higher TDP means more power is supplied to the graphics card, and that directly equates to better performance in games.
Acer Nitro 15″ Intel Core i7-12700H Alder Lake RTX 3070 Ti Gaming Laptop
Acer Nitro 5 15″ 2560×1440 Intel Core i7-12700H Alder Lake RTX 3070 Ti Gaming Laptop with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
The Acer Nitro is jam packed with the newest tech that gaming laptops have to offer. To start off, this is one of the first laptops that features the new 12th gen Intel Core i7-12700H mobile processor with a whopping 14 cores. This processor is significantly faster than any Intel CPU before it, and actually beats out the Apple M1 Pro chip in many scenarios (albeit at a higher power consumption). The RTX 3070 Ti is the next generation of mobile RTX 30 series GPUs. Performance-wise it sits right in between the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080, no big surprise there. The 15″ display also boasts an above-average resolution of 2560×1440.
55″ JVC 4K QLED Roku TV for $248
Simply put, if you’re looking for a good sized 4K smart TV and want to pay as little as possible, you can’t get better than this. This JVC TV is currently the least expensive 55″ 4K TV you can get, and it even features a quantum dot LED LCD display (QLED) for wide color range and great contrast, and the excellent Roku smart TV interface.
CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme RTX 3060 Gaming PC
CyberPowerPC Intel Core i5-11600KF RTX 3060 Gaming PC with 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD, 1TB HDD
Currently this is one of the least expensive RTX 3060 gaming rigs we can find. It’s sold and shipped by Amazon direct (not a 3rd party vendor). Although the ship date is a little while off in early April, there are reports of some people getting it much earlier. The low price tag might imply that the RTX 3060 is not up to snuff, but nothing could be further from the truth. The RTX 3060 is about 20% faster than the RTX 2060 SUPER and is on par with the RTX 2070. That means it handles 1080p gaming beautifully and has the chops to take on 1440p and VR.
Alienware Aurora R10 RTX 3080 PC for $1799.99
Alienware Aurora R10 Liquid Cooled AMD Ryzen 7 5800 RTX 3080 PC with 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
The RTX 3080 is way more powerful than the previous generation’s best video card, the RTX 2080 Ti, and is the best recommended video card for 4K gaming. The RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 are the only cards that are (very slightly) more powerful, but they cost hundreds of dollars more. The RTX 3080 is paired with an AMD Ryzen 7 5900 CPU, which is still one of the best processors out there, whether it be for gaming or for workstation purposes. It’s been upgraded with liquid cooling as well. The rig is ready to go out of the box with 16GB of DD4-3200MHz RAM and a generously sized 1TB M.2 PCIe NVME SSD. Don’t worry, even the power supply is up to snuff with an ample 1000W rating.
Samsung CRG9 49″ Gaming Monitor for $699.99
Need to add $14.99 Gamestop Pro membership to cart
The Samsung CRG9 shares many of the same features of the Odyssey G9 at a substantially lower price point. Like the G9, it boasts the same 49″ panel size, the same 5140×1440 DQHD resolution, and the same HDR1000 quantum dot (QLED) panel with 95% DCI-P3 color space. Unlike the G9, however, the CRG9 has a 120Hz refresh rate and it’s not NVIDIA certified G-SYNC compatible. The latter is really a moot point, though, because even though it’s not officially G-Sync compatible, plenty of people have reported that this monitor works perfectly well with G-SYNC enabled.
Seagate Firecuda 8TB RGB Gaming Hub
Seagate FireCuda 8TB Gaming Hub RGB USB 3.2 External Desktop Hard Drive
You’ll need a traditional hard drive instead of an SSD in order to get 8TB of storage for an affordable price, but you might as well get the fastest hard drive there is. The Seagate Firecuda 8TB Gaming Hub sports a USB 3.2 interface and a performance hard drive that spins at 7200RPM as well as fancy Razer Chroma-compatible RGB accent lighting. It also has USB 3.2 Type A and Type C ports as passthrough. It normally retails for over $200, but Gamestop has far and away the lowest price at only $138.99. Considering the fact that a regular ol’ non-RGB 8TB 7200RPM external hard drive usually costs more than this hard drive, you can see why this is a pretty sweet deal.
The Acer Predator XB323U is a 32″ 2560×1440 IPS gaming monitor with a 1ms response time, 170Hz refresh rate (through DisplayPort), NVIDIA G-SYNC compatibility, and VESA certified HDR600. It normally retails at $800, but Amazon is offering it for $300 off.
10% Off $50 Nintendo eShop Gift Card
Save $5 off any game at the eShop with this digital gift card from Amazon. Use it to pick up rarely discounted favorites like Super Smash Bros Ultimate or Metroid Dread, recent new releases like Kirby and the Forgotten Land or Triangle Strategy, or DLC like the new one for Animal Crossing: New Horizon. Or you can just hold onto the card and use it during the next eShop sale, since it stacks with instant discounts.
Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing Console with Game
Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing Edition Console with Animal Crossing: New Horizons Game and Aloha Carrying Case
This is a convenient bundle for those who want the Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing themed gaming console, the Animal Crossing: New Horizons game, and the official Animal Crossing Aloha Edition carrying case. It’s also cheaper than buying each item separately (the game retails for $60 and the case retails for $25). This themed Switch console is, in my opinion, the best looking and most thought out design of the themed Switch consoles. In addition to the exclusive pastel blue and green Joy-Con controllers, both the Switch dock and the rear of the Switch chassis features cute Animal Crossing designs.
Xbox Series S Console with 2nd Controller
Dell is offering the Xbox Series S gaming console (which comes with one wireless controller) bundled with a second Xbox wireless controller for only $317.99. That’s basically paying $18 for that second controller. Considering the Robot White controller normally runs about $60, that’s a great deal if you were planning to pick up a second controller anyways.
48″ and 55″ LG C1 4K OLED Smart Gaming TVs
Supports 4K @ 120Hz for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X gamers
This is the lowest price we’ve seen for both the 48″ and 55″ LG C1 OLED TVs. If money isn’t an object, OLED TVs are considered the best TVs you can buy right now. Compared to traditional LED LCD TVs, they offer better image quality, deeper blacks, better contrast ratio, wider color gamut, and super fast response times. They excel at both gaming and viewing 4K HDR content. In terms of general usability, they consume less power and they’re very thin and sit flusher against the wall. Amongst OLED TVs, the LG C1 is oft considered the flag bearer; it’s the one TV that all other OLED TVs are compared against. The LG OLED TV boasts several generations of optimizations under its belt and the latest C1 model is future proofed with technology like HDMI 2.1 (4K @ 120Hz), variable refresh rate, G-SYNC, the newest LG A9 Gen4 processor and a revamped webOS smart TV interface.
New Apple AirPods Pro Noise-Cancelling Earbuds
New 2021 Update
New AirPods Pro Active Noise Cancelling WIreless Earbuds with MagSafe Wireless Charging Case
This is the newest generation model with the MagSafe compatible wireless charger. The AirPods Pro is considered one of the best noise-cancelling in-ear headphones you can get, especially for under $200. The noise cancellation is considered to be even better than the Bose Quietcomfort because of the natural noise isolating design of the in-ear earbuds.
Apple Watch Series 7 and SE
The Series 7 is Apple’s latest and greatest watch. Today, both the 41mm and 45mm models are heavily discounted on Amazon (cheaper than Black Friday). The biggest upgrade the Series 7 has over the Series 6 is the display. It has the same always-on Retina display, but it’s 20% bigger and features a more crack-resistant front crystal screen. It also adds on even more health-related features, like measuring your blood oxygen or taking an ECG. If the Apple Watch Series 7 is out of your budget and you don’t think you’d make much use out of the health features, the newest Apple Watch SE is also on sale today at the lowest price ever. This affordable smartwatch features a Retina OLED display, Aple S5 chip, optical heart rate sensor, fall detection, and an always-on altimeter.
After much anticipation, Dell is now offering the Alienware AW3423DW 34″ QD-OLED gaming monitor for $1299.99 on its website. Although by no means inexpensive, this is the first ever QD-OLED monitor we’ve seen and thus the price point is surprisingly reasonable for the new tech. Undoubtedly due to the hype, it has been going in and out of stock throughout the day, so don’t hesitate if you’ve been waiting for this release. If you don’t put your order in now, you’ll have to wait a very, very long time to receive it; estimated ship date has already been pushed back to June.
HP Victus RTX 3060 Ti Gaming PC for $975
Select RTX 3060 Ti
HP Victus AMD Ryzen 5 5600G RTX 3060 Ti Gaming PC with 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD
This is far and away the lowest price we have ever seen for a prebuilt gaming PC equipped with an RTX 3060 Ti GPU. Once you hit the product page, you’ll have to select “RTX 3060” for $250 and a “500W Power Supply) for $50. You can buy the system as is, or you can choose to add a few more choice upgrades. You certainly have leeway with this super cheap price.
ASUS Vivobook 14″ Laptop w/ WQXGA+ OLED Display
ASUS VivoBook Pro 14″ WQXGA+ (2880×1800) OLED Intel Core i5-11300H Intel Iris Xe Laptop
This ASUS Vivobook laptop has one of the best laptop displays we’ve seen, especially at this really low price. The 14″ OLED display sports a 16:10 WGXGA+ (2880×1800) resolution with a 100% DCI-P3 color range and Pantone color calibration. It’s paired with an Intel Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD. It even has a Thunderbolt 4 port.
Samsung 980 Pro 1TB M.2 SSD
EXPIRED
PS5 Compatible
Samsung 980 PRO 1TB PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 SSD (up to 7000MBps)
If you want to stick with another brand you’re probably more familiar with, check out the Samsung EVO 980 PRO solid state drive. Samsung EVO SSDs need no introduction, and the 980 PRO is the best of the best. It is fully PS5 compatible with read speeds of up to 7,000MB/s. No heatsink is included but you can pick up a cheap $10 one on Amazon.
Every year, the Consumer Electronics Show previews a massive amount of products planned for release during the year. 2022’s show revealed the latest in PC monitors targeting better image quality, faster refresh rates, and features that help facilitate increasingly virtual workplaces.
There was a lot to see, so we’ve broken down seven of the most interesting monitors announced at CES 2022 below. We’ve included no concepts, no gag releases, and no gimmicks (OK, maybe a few gimmicks). Regardless, none of these products should end up as vaporware.
Here’s a look at some of the most unique monitors expected to come out over the next 12 months.
Asus ROG Swift 360 Hz PG27AQN
Enlarge / Check out the colorful stand.
Asus
When Nvidia announced new RTX 3000-series graphics cards at CES, the company also promised 27-inch 1440p monitors that could hit 360 Hz to accommodate the new GPUs (today’s fastest monitors can do 360 Hz but are limited to 1080p). Numerous brands announced 1440p 300 Hz monitors at CES, but Asus was the only one to take 1440p up to 360 Hz.
In its announcement, Asus said the ROG Swift 360 Hz PG27AQN is the fastest monitor the company has ever made “in terms of response time in real-world use.” That means Asus’ monitor should have extremely little ghosting. Unfortunately, Asus didn’t confirm an official response time spec (we’ve asked about that and will update this article if we hear back). However, it did detail the new type of IPS (in-plane switching) technology it made with gaming display manufacturer AUO in order to achieve its speed.
“Response time” measures how long it takes for a monitor’s pixels to turn from black to white and then black again, which happens when the display turns its liquid crystals to change the amount of light coming through. To get a faster response time on the PG27AQN, Asus made an IPS panel with liquid crystals carrying higher birefringence (basically, light refraction in two directions) and lower viscosity (or stickiness) to allow the liquid crystals to twist rapidly so light can pass through.
And instead of having liquid crystals that are parallel to the polarizer as usual, the crystals are slightly angled toward the polarizer, making them more efficient, Asus said.
Enlarge / The liquid crystals are angled to make them more efficient.
The monitor also uses a dual-layer (instead of a single-layer) voltage drive. Rather than twisting liquid crystals by starting from the upper-left corner of the panel and working down to the bottom-right corner, the monitor twists liquid crystals by working from the upper-left and bottom-right corners simultaneously “for a smoother, more consistent image,” Asus said.
Asus told Ars Technica that the price and release date for the PG27AQN is still to be determined.
Samsung Odyssey Neo G8
Enlarge / The fastest 4K monitor.
Samsung
Time for more high-resolution speed. While the PG27AQN brings 1440p resolution to its highest refresh rate, the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 will do the same for 4K resolution. We’re not yet updating 8,294,400 pixels 360 times per second, but the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 does hit a respectable 240 Hz.
The Odyssey Neo G8 is the first 4K monitor to claim a 240 Hz refresh rate and apparently uses compression to do it, since the monitor uses only HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 ports. Additionally, the gaming display claims a 1 ms gray-to-gray (GtG) response time.
If its premium resolution and speed aren’t enough, Samsung also gave the monitor the most extreme curve you can find in a monitor— 1000R.
For a closer look at the screen, check out our article on the Odyssey Neo G8.
Samsung told us it would share the monitor’s price and release date “later this year.”
LG DualUp Monitor (28MQ780)
Enlarge / A PC monitor built with more height than width.
LG
Most computer screens are wider than they are tall, but the last couple of years have seen laptops embracing screens with a bit more height than is typical. LG has taken the tall-screen trend even further by announcing a monitor with a 16:18 aspect ratio.
The 27.6-inch LG DualUp Monitor (28MQ780) is taller than any other consumer PC monitor. But it’s notably closer to a square shape than the more traditional 16:9 monitor or an ultra-wide one.
With a 2560 x 2880 resolution, the DualUp gives you the same number of pixels as two 21.5-inch 16:9 monitors, making it an option for heavy productivity and those who just want more space for long newsfeeds.
You can read up on the DualUp by checking out our article on the announcement of LG’s ultra-tall 28MQ780.
LG did not provide a specific price or release date.
In 2021 LG added an OLED-based monitor for pros to its lineup, and now the company has revealed the follow-up UltraFine OLED Pro monitors it’s planned for 2022. While its first effort was only available as a $3,999 31.5-inch 4K monitor, next year’s version will include a 27-inch variant.
Image: LG
Naturally, the 32BP95E and 27BP95E still feature the precise lighting control you’d expect from an OLED panel; however, these screens aren’t meant for gaming or even TV and movie watching. The promise LG’s DisplayHDR 400 True Black technology ensures that if you’re editing photos or video, everything looks the way it truly should. They’ll also ship with detachable self-calibration sensors and monitor hoods and use the LG Calibration Studio software to adjust their settings for the environment. Other hardware specs like their port selections appear to be similar to the 2021 edition.
Image: LG
The monitors say they can accurately display colors covering 99 percent of the DCI-P3 and AdobeRGB color gamut plus a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, so it will be difficult to find as accurate reproduction on any consumer display. LG didn’t note a refresh rate in its press materials, so we’d expect it’s still set at 60Hz. You could buy an expensive screen like this and use it for gaming, but it’s not really intended for use in daytime lit environments or fast-moving action.
It also won’t hit the peak brightness of LCD monitors like LG’s own UltraFine displays, or the $4,999 (plus $999 optional stand) Apple Pro Display XDR we reviewed in 2020, but even with local dimming, those simply can’t display absolute black like an OLED panel can. As Nilay said about Apple’s monitor, “while it can run with the very best full-array local dimming LCDs I’ve ever seen, it’s still a local dimming LCD: sometimes it blooms, and sometimes all of the dimming zones are lit up, and blacks look gray across the whole screen.” We would expect that things will be different with these screens.
There’s no word on pricing but they should start shipping next month in “key markets.” Still, hopefully, the smaller monitor will be a bit cheaper than last year’s, which finally started shipping in the US in September — if you can’t wait for the updated versions, that one’s available from Amazon, LG, or B&H.
When Lizzie Rothwell, an architect in Philadelphia, sent her son to third grade this fall, she stocked his blue L.L. Bean backpack with pencils, wide-ruled paper — and a portable carbon dioxide monitor.
The device gave her a quick way to assess how much fresh air was flowing through the school. Low levels of CO2 would indicate that it was well-ventilated, reducing her son’s odds of catching the coronavirus.
But she quickly discovered that during lunch, CO2 levels in the cafeteria rose to nearly double those recommended by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She shared what she’d learned with the principal and asked if students could eat outside instead.
“He expressed surprise that I had any data at all,” she said.
Ms. Rothwell is one of a growing number of parents who are sneaking CO2 monitors into schools in a clandestine effort to make sure their children’s classrooms are safe.Aranet, which makes a monitor popular with parents, says orders have doubled since the new school year began.
Some school systems have made the monitors part of their official pandemic precautions. New York City has distributed the devices to every public school, and the British government hasannounced plans to do likewise.
But elsewhere, parents are taking matters into their own hands, sneaking in the monitors — which can cost a hundred dollars or more — in their children’s backpacks or pants pockets.
Although the devices, which can be set to take readings every few minutes, work best when exposed to the open air, they can generate informative data as long as they are not completely sealed away, said Dr. Alex Huffman, an aerosol scientist at the University of Denver who has sent the monitors to school with his children. (He recommended leaving backpacks or pants pockets unzipped, or tucking the monitor into the mesh water-bottle pouch that is now standard on many backpacks.)
Many of these parents have forged a community on Twitter, where they are using the hashtag #CovidCO2 to trade tips about how to smuggle the monitors into the classroom, how to interpret the data they are collecting and how to approach the school with their findings.
Some school officials have frowned upon these guerrilla air-monitoring efforts, but parents say the devices have armed them with data to advocate for their children.
“It’s possible that the school district may not be all that happy with this because I think it gives us a window into the fact that they may not actually be treating ventilation as seriously as they should be,” Dr. Huffman said.
A window into indoor air
The coronavirus spreads through tiny, airborne droplets known as aerosols. Improving indoor ventilation reduces the concentration of these aerosols and the risk of infection in an indoor space, but there is no easy way for members of the public to measure the ventilation rate — let alone the accumulation of viral aerosols — in shared spaces.
“Ideally there’d be some machine that cost $100 and it starts beeping if the virus is in the air,” said Jose-Luis Jimenez, an aerosol scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, who is sending a carbon dioxide monitor to school with his son. But in the absence of such a device, he said, “CO2 is something that provides an affordable and very meaningful shortcut.”
Every time we exhale, we expel not just aerosols but also carbon dioxide; the worse the ventilation, the more carbon dioxide builds up in an occupied room.
“If we see the CO2 rising, then that also implies that the concentration of aerosols are rising,” Dr. Huffman said. “Even just bringing sensor for a day or two can give you a really interesting and useful window into the world of the ventilation of that space.”
Jeanne Norris, who lives in the St. Louis area, said that she bought her monitor after losing confidence in officials in her son’s school district.
“They just hadn’t been very transparent about their ventilation,” she said. “They say that it’s fine and that they did their own testing but then they wouldn’t share that data with me.”
Ms. Norris and her husband are both science teachers, and so far their data suggest that the ventilation is excellent in both of their classrooms. But CO2 levels in her son’s classroom sometimes surpass 1300 parts per million. The C.D.C. recommends that indoor carbon dioxide levels remain below 800 p.p.m.
After she collects more data, she plans to take her findings to school officials and ask them to improve the ventilation. “I’m willing to be creative and brainstorm with them,” she said.
Some parents have gotten results. When Jeremy Chrysler, of Conway, Ark., sent a monitor in with his 13-year-old daughter, this fall, the CO2 readings were a sky-high 4,000 p.p.m.
He brought his findings to district officials, who discovered that two components of the school’s HVAC system were not working properly. After the units were fixed, CO2 levels plummeted.
“What my measurements showed was, hey, measuring CO2 can identify problems and sometimes those problems are easy to fix,” he said.
Although Ms. Rothwell has not convinced her son’s school to move lunch outdoors, the principal has said he is committed to improving the ventilation in the cafeteria, she said.
Results may vary
“There are some success stories,” said Kimberly Prather, an atmospheric chemist at the University of California, San Diego. “Unfortunately I’ve heard more parents rejected.”
After Shanon Kerr, of Waterloo, Canada, found high CO2 levels in some of her daughter’s school spaces, she asked district officials to monitor indoor air quality throughout the building, even offering up her own CO2 monitor. “They’ve been very dismissive,” she said.
In an email to The Times, Loretta Notten, director of education of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, said that follow-up testing in the classrooms Ms. Kerr identified revealed that carbon dioxide levels “were within acceptable parameters.”
Air quality testing is done on an as-needed basis, she said: “The Board does not intend on performing ongoing monitoring of carbon dioxide.”
(Ms. Kerr has also run into resistance closer to home. Her daughter no longer wants to take the monitor to school. “I’ve been bribing her with KitKat chocolate bars but it’s not working anymore,” she said.)
Graham Freeman, the father of two boys in Santa Cruz, Calif., said his request to send CO2 monitors to school with his sons was denied.
Kris Munro, the superintendent of Santa Cruz City Schools, said she is confident in the ventilation upgrades the district performed last winter and that it would be inappropriate to put individual students in the position of monitoring school air quality.
“It’s our responsibility to assure every space is safe,” she said. “Not just to have individuals coming on campus to find out: Is a specific space safe?”
Mr. Freeman has been sending the monitors into school anyway, tucked into the pockets of his sons’ cargo pants. He’s been pleasantly surprised by the readings,which have remained under 700 p.p.m. as long as the classroom doors and windows have been open.
But the monitors did capture a small spike, when CO2 rose above 900 p.p.m., during a lockdown drill at his son’s middle school, when the teacher closed the classroom door.
So his sons will continue taking the devices to school for the indefinite future. “We’re going to be wearing a lot of REI cargo pants and CO2 monitors in the pockets,” he said.
A monitor in every classroom
There are limitations to the monitoring. Some devices are more reliable than others, and the readings can be skewed by a variety of factors, including where the monitor is placed.
Children can still catch the virus in spaces with low CO2 levels and good ventilation. And high-quality air filters can trap viral aerosols, but have no effect on carbon dioxide levels. So in schools that have installed these filters, CO2 readings alone may overestimate the risk of viral transmission.
But even in the absence of the virus, reducing indoor carbon dioxide levels can have benefits. Studies show that even moderately high levels of the gas may muddle thinking and that improving ventilation can boost performance on cognitive tasks.
Of course, many families cannot afford a $100 air quality monitor — and they should not have to, parents and scientists said.
Mr. Chrysler, whose CO2 readings prompted his Arkansas district to repair its HVAC system, is now lobbying officials to buy air quality monitors for every classroom in the district.
Pointing to Belgium, which has mandated CO2 monitors in restaurants, gyms and other buildings, Dr. Jimenez said he would like all public indoor spaces to provide permanent real-time displays of the carbon dioxide levels: “This is something that we should do permanently in schools but also in all places where we share air.”
