Frontal lobe paradox: where people have brain damage but don't know it

Aug 13, 2018 13:40 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

Humans have big brains and our frontal lobes, just behind the forehead, are particularly huge. Injuries to this part of the brain often happen after blows to the head or a stroke. Paradoxically, some people with frontal...

The influence of opium and cocaine panic in Canadian drug policy

Aug 13, 2018 13:30 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

Current discussions on the history of prohibition and drug laws in Canada have explored the narrative that Canadas drug laws were fuelled by racism. The story goes like this: A 1907 anti-immigration attack on Chinese...

Five easy ways to boost children's spatial skills

Aug 13, 2018 13:29 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

When we read maps, pack the car for holidays, assemble flat-pack furniture or cut cake into equal slices, we use spatial reasoning skills. These allow us to mentally manipulate objects or think in a way that relates to...

Is it time to remove the cancer label from low-risk conditions?

Aug 13, 2018 13:28 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

Over the past few decades, our understanding of cancer has changed. We now know some cancers dont grow or grow so slowly that theyll never cause medical problems. But the way we label disease can harm. The use of more...

Obesity is a market failure and personal responsibility will not solve it alone

Aug 13, 2018 13:27 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

This is the first of a two-part series on obesity as a market failure. Read the second part here. Obesity levels in Australia and around the world are high and rising. This comes at an enormous economic cost for society...

Obesity is a market failure and innovation, not sin taxes, may be the solution

Aug 13, 2018 13:26 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

This is the second of a two-part series on obesity as a market failure. Read the first part here. The standard economic response to high and rising obesity is to levy whats known as a sin tax. The thinking is simple ...

Health Check: why do we get nose bleeds?

Aug 13, 2018 12:50 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

Nose bleeds, or epistaxes, are often a mystery to the 60% of us who have had at least one in our lifetime. Suddenly, and without obvious cause, bright red blood starts streaming from one nostril. Usually theyre not...