Warm up before playing Wii, parents warned

Middle-aged parents must stretch properly to avoid injuries when playing Wii games, doctors have warned.

The Nintendo console – which is expected to be one of the most popular presents again this year – allows players to simulate a range of energetic sports in their own home.

But parents who are not used to regular exercise could seriously hurt themselves if they do not warm up and warm down properly before playing.

Osteopaths have reported a rapid increase in the number of back, neck and elbow injuries among older people who claim to have overexerted themselves on games such as Wii tennis.

Health and fitness experts are warning those older parents playing Wii games with their children to stretch properly to avoid a pain filled festive period.

Read the full story by Martin Evans at the Telegraph.co.uk

Will airports screen for body signals? Researchers hope so

The USA has invested a healthy amount of money into combating the terrorist threat -- certainly a bit more than $100. According to a CNN report, one of a few experimental methods being used to identify suspicious dudes at the airport uses Nintendo's Wii Balance Board (Wii Fit Plus).

Scientists part of the Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) program have taken the Wii Fit peripheral and adjusted it to measure how a person shifts their weight. Scientists hope to find "a level of fidgeting that would suggest the need for secondary screening."

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- The days of being able to walk through airport security checkpoints while wearing shoes and a jacket could return if an experimental program proves successful, some Department of Homeland Security officials say.

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The Homeland Security-funded project is Future Attribute Screening Technology, or FAST. Instead of focusing on whether you have hidden explosives or whether you're carrying a weapon, sensors and cameras located at security checkpoints would measure the natural signals coming from your body -- your heart rate, breathing, eye movement, body temperature and fidgeting.

Those physiological signs, measured together, will indicate whether you might have the desire or intent to do harm, project manager Robert Burns said.

"There's been a large field of research that ties your physical reactions to your mental state, your emotional state. We're looking for those signals that your body gives off naturally," Burns said.

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