Category: Feature
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Sláinte! Does a glass of wine a day keep the doctor away?
Thomas Vinterberg’s Dutch film Another Round or Druk won the Oscar for international feature in 2021. The film revolves around 4 teachers who – over a birthday dinner – discuss a theory proposed by Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud that humans must consume low doses of alcohol to compensate for a natural deficiency and realise their…
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A fresh dip into the health benefits of outdoor swimming
Alkisti Kallinikou asks if open water swimming can help your physical and mental health.
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Could genetically modified animal organs solve the human transplant crisis?
Emma Nance discusses the pig-culiar story of the man who had a pig’s heart.
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Novel findings in the biology of depression: Is now the time to update the 60-year-old serotonin theory?
Serotonin is a hormone produced by nerve cells from tryptophan, an amino acid which enters our body through our diet. Foods such as nuts, cheese and red meat are rich in tryptophan and hence, consumption of these products correlates with higher serotonin levels. Serotonin systemically affects our body, from motor functions to emotions. Serotonin in…
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How brain cells repair their DNA reveals “hot spots” of aging and disease
The brain is the organ responsible for our personality, consciousness and ability to process our surrounding environment. It, quite simply, makes us who we are. Unfortunately, as we age it is not solely our body that begins to fail us, but our mind responsible for our identity also deteriorates. However, the process behind this deterioration…
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Music was my first love…
New research illustrates the potential for music therapy for people with Alzheimer’s. We’re all aware of the power of music – be that its ability to make you move your feet, shed a few tears, or take you back to the first time you ever heard a song. This power is being harnessed by music…
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Robotic Touch: Artificial skin brings robots closer to ‘touching’ human lives
When we anticipate the different future innovative technologies we imagine that the manufacturing industry will be completely automated, routine medical procedures will be robot-assisted and the world’s most puzzling crimes will be unraveled by robotic-detectives. It’s fair to say that robots have made significant developmental strides since their inception into our society. Although robotic process…
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Venus Flytraps Generate Measurable Magnetic Fields
Magnetic fields produced by the venus fly trap have been measured by an interdisciplinary team of scientists. Lily Sharratt-Davidson explores the impact these findings could have on plant diagnostics. The venus flytrap (or Dionaea Muscipula) is a well-recognised carnivorous plant – infamous for its ability to capture small insects inside its cage-like leaves. This unusual…
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Mine, Mine, Mine: The Epidemic of Vaccine Nationalism and Hoarding
Linta Nasim explores emerging vaccine nationalism and its implications on public health strategy and ending the coronavirus pandemic. Ugly vaccine nationalism, as feared by the World Health Organisation (WHO), human rights and public health advocates worldwide, is here. As recently as September last year at the UN General Assembly, nations were united as the global…
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Can our oceans save us? The role of seaweed in large scale carbon capture
With governments such as the UK’s looking to rapidly accelerate investment into large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies that will target excessive carbon dioxide emitted found in the air, should policy-makers and ministers set their sights on the sea instead to find an effective solution to the mounting carbon emissions? Sami Cheqrouni-Espinar investigates. A…