There are no 'schizophrenia genes': here's why

Apr 08, 2016 16:40 pm UTC| Health

Genetic theories of schizophrenia were popular in the early part of the 20th century. They were built on 19th century concepts of eugenics that assumed a tainted gene pool that underpinned insanity, idiocy, prostitution,...

It's good to eat walnuts, but is it true that they prevent heart disease?

Apr 08, 2016 09:53 am UTC| Health

On a morning when much of the worlds media focused on the revelations from the Panama Papers, one British title chose to focus on a rather different story. Walnuts prevent heart disease, declared the Daily Express in a...

Understanding plague in the 21st century

Apr 08, 2016 09:39 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

In medieval times, plague was known as the black death and resulted in millions of Europeans dying. Plague still persists in many areas, with the highest annual burden of disease in Africa. The advent of antibiotics means...

Medical tourism: having an op overseas adds to the everyday risk of surgery

Apr 08, 2016 09:35 am UTC| Health

Medical tourism is the practice of travelling outside ones home country for medical or surgical treatment. It includes dental tourism, but not wellness tourism, which usually refers to visiting spas, homeopathy treatments...

Booze and driving don't mix but a zero blood alcohol limit isn't the answer

Apr 08, 2016 09:32 am UTC| Health

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians wants to see blood alcohol limits for Australian drivers drop from .05% to .02% and then zero. Dont get me wrong, there is a good argument for lowering the blood alcohol...

How children's brains develop to make them right or left handed

Apr 08, 2016 09:31 am UTC| Health

As children grow older, they tend to favour one hand over the other for certain tasks, particularly for writing or drawing. A childs handedness is generally categorised as right, left or mixed, and tends to settle around...

Diet and lack of exercise main reasons for dramatic rise in diabetes

Apr 07, 2016 05:26 am UTC| Health

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released the first Global Diabetes report. In 1980, WHO reported that 108 million adults were living with diabetes. Since then the numbers have quadrupled, with the disease claiming...