It is not surprising to hear that sales of alcohol are rising during this COVID-19 pandemic. Retail sales data for the United Kingdom reported an additional £104 million was spent in the last week of March, which is when lockdown measures were introduced, compared to the week before. Lager is where the greatest spend was […]
Large numbers of people around the globe have been forced into solitude due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, social distancing is utterly at odds with our drive for social connection, the cornerstone of human evolution. Suddenly confronted with a lack of social interactions, many of us are now experiencing more loneliness. We are missing that […]
A glass of wine or beer is a relaxing way to end the day, but in these times of COVID-19 stress, is it possible to drink a little too much? Casual drinking could tipple into something more if we aren’t mindful of it, said psychologist Becky Ponting, a University of Alberta counsellor who often helps […]
Through its Healthbox subsidiary, HIMSS is facilitating peer-to-peer sharing of COVID-19 technology solutions and lessons learned on the COVID-19 Digital Think Tank. On today’s HIMSSCast, host Jonah Comstock chats with Healthbox President Neil Patel about how to use the platform, how it came about, and what he’s seen on it so far. Neil and Jonah […]
Data from two years ago shows that close to 60% of children in South Africa lived below the poverty line, while a third were below the food poverty line. Statistics also show that households with children are more likely to experience hunger than those without. This will be aggravated by any loss of jobs or […]
To the nannying gurus telling us to stick to ultra-low-calorie diets during the crisis: Now is NOT the time to give up custard creams It’s a very British tradition that offers comfort in even the darkest of times – settling down with a cup of tea and a biscuit. It certainly helps in my house – […]
From the first moment your newborn baby is placed in your arms, what they eat is one of your biggest concerns. Breast milk or formula? When should you wean? And what do you do if you have a picky eater who won’t eat anything you put in front of them? An issue that’s not often […]
You might have heard about contact tracing which, when combined with social distancing, has proven a powerful asset in controlling the spread of COVID-19. In short, it means assigning a “contact tracer” to interview each person with a confirmed case of COVID-19. The contact tracer, through painstaking and quick detective work, finds out who else […]
An international collaborative study led by researchers from the NUI Galway provides findings on the neural basis of intelligence, otherwise known as general cognitive ability (IQ). This new research uses an imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to provide an insight into how small variations in this wiring system are associated with differences in […]
As the country moves into lockdown mode in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are increasingly faced with serious ethical questions about what ordinary people should be obliged to do for others. These challenges can perhaps best be seen in the outrage as people flocked to Bondi Beach and packed into pubs and cafes over […]
