Our sense of who we are is thought to be influenced by things like our childhood experiences, our interactions with others, and now, researchers say, our bodies. A study appearing August 26 in the journal iScience shows that, when pairs of friends swapped bodies in a perceptual illusion, their beliefs about their own personalities became […]
Prosthetic limbs affect our attitudes to disability: Expressive design might change things for the better
Amputation can have a devastating effect on a person’s body image and sense of self. The use of prosthetic limbs may help, but when it comes to their appearance, options are often limited. The choice, if there is one, usually comes down to either a prosthesis with a realistic appearance that helps users hide the […]
Peanut butter overtakes jam as our breakfast spread of choice
Peanut butter overtakes jam as our breakfast spread of choice but how healthy is it? Dietitian investigates which jars are worth going nuts for Peanut butter has overtaken jam as our breakfast spread of choice, with sales up Peanuts are high in satiating protein and fibre, and provide fatigue-fighting iron So how healthy are they? Helen […]
The coronavirus risk Australia is not talking about: Testing our unlawful migrant workers
As Australia starts to emerge from its coronavirus lockdown, authorities are on high alert for any fresh breakouts of the disease. One of the risks we need to keep an eye on is hard to see: the tens of thousands of unlawful migrants who work here every day without a valid visa. My research shows […]
SARS-CoV-2 may be exploiting our immune system’s ‘first responder’ cells
The new coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, may be using part of the human body’s own immune response against us, a new study suggests. The novel coronavirus is known to use a keyhole called the ACE2 receptor to “unlock” a cell and get inside, where it replicates and wreaks havoc. Now, researchers have found that the […]
How the coronavirus is putting our relationship with alcohol to the test
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 […]
Social distancing may be a rare chance to get our sleep patterns closer to what nature intended
The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting daily routines around the world. Overwhelmed hospitals, desolate schools, ghostly towns and self-isolation echo a campy horror flick, but an all too real one. Companies are laying people off by the thousands, the service industry is teetering on the brink of collapse, and socialist ideas suddenly don’t sound so bad […]
Celebrating our genomic diversity: Fine-scale differences in the Japanese population
Geographically isolated from mainland Eurasia, the island nation of Japan has seen little in the way of population mixing for thousands of years. In fact, after two waves of human migration—one 40,000 years ago from Southeast Asia and one 3,000 years ago from the Korean Peninsula—Japanese people are recognized as a relatively homogeneous and isolated […]