All posts in Health
Mosquito-borne diseases: Fighting fire with fire
I have a decidedly “live and let live” approach to life. There are no animals in this world which I harbour any malicious feelings towards, regardless of how many of those animals would think nothing of poisoning, eating, maiming, or [...]
Fat to the rescue, is our fat the answer?
Fat is rarely anyone’s favourite word to hear. Often associated with being unhealthy, many of us look for ways to reduce, remove and destroy our unwanted areas of fat. But before we all step away from the buffet and onto the treadmill [...]
15 million mobile phones used to track malaria
We all know that mosquitoes spread malaria. What we never quite realise is that humans also spread malaria — and quite significantly. In some places, the spread of malaria is directly linked to the mass movements of human populations. The [...]
Morphine Hurts
Why does Morphine cause pain? He was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 27. At the age of 39 he was in so much pain he begged his doctors to die. He was in pain because of morphine. [...]
Predicting the next epidemic
In some parts of this world the rains predict disease, and a hot, dry, dusty wind is the harbinger of a meningitis outbreak that is yet to come. Now, from where you sit, Google will soon predict the next great [...]
Bacon Fans United: The Pig Genome Sequenced
Breeding healthier and meatier piggies has been one of the many scientific challenges of the past decades; creating more reliable models to study human diseases is another. The swine disease model is indeed much better to use when studying human [...]
BioGrid Australia wins People¹s Choice Excellence in BI Award for 2012
BioGrid Australia has won the hotly contested People¹s Choice Excellence in Business Intelligence Award for 2012 for its application of information technology in e-health. The Excellence in Business Intelligence Award, sponsored by BusinessMinds, was won by Telstra for a customer centric solution using [...]
The Continuing Saga of the Genetically Modified Plant
GM (Genetically Modified) Foods “Jack! Did you see that potato move?! He’s a GM, that one, he’s sprouted eyes and I bet he’ll grow legs next! He’s gonna round up his buddies and take over the farm!” That opening is [...]
Panique au village: the revolution that caused an epidemic
It boasts, struts, and flaunts with that kind of assurance that only comes from the mentality of knowing that you are right, and that even if you may be wrong, others will admire you for it. This is Paris. Where [...]
The evolution of human mortality
How long until we live forever? The general consensus is that we are getting older and living longer. Despite consequences and kryptonite, it is getting easier to stay alive. Heaven can wait, it seems. Every year each baby born is [...]
Weekly Science Picks
Sigh, my photo caption sums it all up… But here are the news stories that caught my eye and I hope you find them interesting as well. Maybe reading them will inspire your own work or to dig deeper for [...]
Weekly Science Picks
“La rentrée!” Paris — first week of September. It’s when the city reignites again, everyone comes back from holiday and gets back to work, and — more importantly — kids go back to school. In celebration of “le bon retour” [...]
An outdated appetite control system in a rapidly evolving world?
Imagine yourself for a moment waiting for a meal at your favourite restaurant, local takeaway store or at home counting down the time until the oven buzzer sounds. You know you’re hungry, but we seldom think or care about the [...]
America in the time of AIDS
This week the world descends on Washington DC, to discuss, evaluate, and get the state of the art of what is probably the disease of our times: HIV/AIDS; as the city prepares to host the International AIDS Conference (AIDS2012). It [...]