Not everyone who takes painkillers for fun is an addict; some have just found a different way to cope

Apr 19, 2016 04:52 am UTC| Insights & Views Health Law

The misuse or abuse of pharmaceutical pain medications usually opioids has received increasing media attention recently. The focus of such news items has largely been on people who transition from oral use of medication...

How to start nudging people to drink less alcohol

Apr 19, 2016 04:21 am UTC| Health

Millions of pounds is spent each year to bombard us with information on the risks of alcohol. But do such campaigns work? Our research shows that some simple tweaks to how the message is delivered by applying findings...

Why the baby brain can learn two languages at the same time

Apr 18, 2016 08:49 am UTC| Health

Any adult who has attempted to learn a foreign language can attest to how difficult and confusing it can be. So when a three-year-old growing up in a bilingual household inserts Spanish words into his English sentences,...

Why the Internet isn't making us smarter – and how to fight back

Apr 18, 2016 08:28 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

In the hours since I first sat down to write this piece, my laptop tells me the National Basketball Association has had to deny that it threatened to cancel its 2017 All-Star Game over a new anti-LGBT law in North Carolina...

Reducing stress at work is a walk in the park

Apr 18, 2016 08:07 am UTC| Health

The sky is blue and you are walking through a park, speaking with a colleague, discussing a new project. You feel energised, puffing slightly as your pace speeds up with the excitement of tossing around ideas as you walk...

Vaccination objection rates aren't skyrocketing

Apr 18, 2016 08:04 am UTC| Health

There has always been a group of people who reject vaccination. They were seen 200 years ago when Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine and they persist today. But, in recent years, commentators have lamented the...

Can people actually multitask?

Apr 18, 2016 04:18 am UTC| Health

Many of us believe we can do two things at once. We try it every day even though our limitations are obvious. Yet we persist, so much so that laws need to be passed to deal with our foolishness. For instance, it is...