Life Changes
Healing Through Storytelling: Lessons from The Odyssey
The journey of Odysseus in Homer's 'The Odyssey' offers profound insights into healing...
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- Written by: Andrew George, Brunel University London
Everyone knows that Britain’s conclusive victory over Napoleon was at Waterloo. The story of that day – the squares of infantry repulsing cavalry charges, the Imperial Guard retreating under murderous musket fire delivered by a red line of soliders, the just-in-time arrival of Field Marshal Blücher’s Prussian army – is one of excitement, horror and heroism.
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- Written by: David Pye, University of Salford
We know so much about the genes that cause disease, so why are we not approaching an age of Star-Trek-like medicine in which a doctor can wave a handheld device over a patient, claim to have sequenced the genes of the offending pathogen, then move rapidly to a cure?
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- Written by: Garrath Williams, Lancaster University
Last week, the National Obesity Forum caused a furore by claiming that eating fat, including saturated fat, will help cut rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Public Health England hit back, calling NOF’s advice “irresponsible”.
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- Written by: Andy Henion, Michigan State University
Marisa Fisher's research suggests people with Williams syndrome can learn to say no to strangers, refuting past studies that indicated sociability may be hard-wired in individuals with Williams syndrome.
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- Written by: Claire Rostron, The Open University
Alcohol: why do we drink it? People have been consuming alcohol for at least 10,000 years. And when drinking water was rather risky, alcohol seemed a much safer bet. Amaldus of Villanova, a 14th-century monk, even wrote that alcohol “prolongs life, clears away ill humors, revives the heart and maintains youth”.
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- Written by: Jim Dryden, Washington University in St. Louis
"As doctors, we throw things like antihistamines, ointments, and lotions at patients who suffer chronic itching, but if there is something profoundly abnormal about the immune system—as it appears there is—then we can't solve the itching until we address those underlying causes," says Brian S. Kim.
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- Written by: James Borrell, Queen Mary University of London
In the past week you’ve probably eaten crops that wouldn’t exist in nature, or that have evolved extra genes to reach freakish sizes. You’ve probably eaten “cloned” food and you may have even eaten plants whose ancestors were once deliberately blasted with radiation. And you could have bought all this without leaving the “organic” section of your local supermarket.
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- Written by: Laurel Mellin, University of California, San Francisco
Despite massive government, medical and individual efforts to win the war on obesity, 71 percent of Americans are overweight. The average adult is 24 pounds heavier today than in 1960. Our growing girth adds some US$200 billion per year to our health care expenditure, amounting to a severe health crisis.
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- Written by: Yasmin Anwar, University of California, Berkeley
"Conflict happens in every marriage, but people deal with it in different ways. Some of us explode with anger; some of us shut down," says Claudia Haase. "Our study shows that these different emotional behaviors can predict the development of different health problems in the long run."
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- Written by: Marian Brady, Glasgow Caledonian University
“I have something to say. I want to share it with you.” By tapping a few keys in a specific sequence, I have made a code emerge on the screen. When you see these words, the language area of your brain (usually the left side) converts the sequence into meaning. If I have selected well, this meaning will match the message I wanted to convey.
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- Written by: Bob Mash, Stellenbosch University and Zelra Malan, Stellenbosch University
Traditionally, someone who suffered from hypertension – or high blood pressure – would only receive treatment when his or her blood pressure was measured and the reading was found be higher than normal. But this meant that the condition was often picked up only when the person had a stroke or a heart attack – and in many instances this was too late.
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- Written by: Cameron Webb, University of Sydney
It only takes a single fly to alight on your picnic lunch to make you uneasy about what germs may have landed with it. But what harm can come from a fly landing on your food? Should you throw it away?
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- Written by: Kacie Dickinson, Flinders University and Louisa Matwiejczyk, Flinders University
Consuming too much energy – whether from fat or carbohydrates, including sugar – will make you gain weight. If left unchecked, this excess weight increases your risk of lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
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- Written by: Ben Brumfield, Georgia Institute of Technology
"It's a little bit like some kind of Halloween stuff happening," says Omer Inan. "You're listening to your bones rubbing on each other, or maybe cartilage."
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- Written by: Duane Mellor, University of Canberra and Nenad Naumovski, University of Canberra
Have you ever wondered why you have so many different types of flour in your pantry? You might have cornflour and arrowroot, self-raising, and plain flour. And if you like to bake bread, possibly strong bakers’ flour.
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- Written by: Marla Paul, Northwestern University
The study shows that blue-enriched light exposure acutely altered metabolic function in both the morning and the evening compared to dim light
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- Written by: William Harms, University of Chicago
"A shift of attention is needed from disease-focused management, such as medications for hypertension or high cholesterol, to overall well-being across many areas," says William Dale.
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- Written by: Marc J Buehner, Cardiff University
Some of us are more ticklish than others, but nearly everyone is unable to tickle themselves. The answer is tied to how we see and how we perceive movement.
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- Written by: Leslie Waghorn, Texas A&M University
BBP is not used in food preparation, but it is used in the conveyor belts and plastic fittings on machines used to process many prepared foods. Food becomes contaminated when BBP leeches into it from the plastic.
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- Written by: Eric Schoch, Indiana University
"These findings provide us with a much better understanding of how this class of drugs may act upon the brain in ways that might raise the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia," says Shannon Risacher. "Physicians might want to consider alternatives to anticholinergic medications if available when working with their older patients."
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- Written by: Christina Sumners, Texas A&M University
"People who live in rural areas and who use private wells need to have their well water tested, particularly if they are thinking about becoming pregnant," Jean Brender says.
