If you’re one of the world’s 1.3 billion regular Facebook users, you’ll know the feeling of being consumed by your news feed. If you don’t use Facebook, you need only get on a busy train or bus to see…
The extent to which our personalities determine aspects of our lives and health has increasingly been the subject of research over the last few years. There was the suggestion, for example, that being…
The psychologist David Lykken once wrote that most violent crime could be prevented by cryogenically freezing all males aged 12 to 28. Although this option might be appealing at times for high school teachers…
Hidden among all the other announcements in last week’s State of the Union address by US President Barack Obama was a promise to fund a new “precision medicine initiative”. The president said it would…
For many of us, memories are our most precious possessions; they makes us the people we are. Consider how you would feel then if your memories were stripped from you, as they are from people diagnosed…
It’s a sign of how much has changed in a few years that health has barely featured in the Queensland election campaign, despite being one of the issues that voters still say they care most about. That…
Cancer screening is beneficial when it’s able to prevent people dying from cancer. And it should clearly be adopted where there’s evidence showing this. But using cancer survival rates to promote screening…
Most of us would admit to feeling shy from time to time, or anxious about public speaking: the larger the crowd the greater the terror. It’s also not unusual to feel awkward while making small talk with…
In 2010, the Greek economy entered a deep, structural and multi-faceted crisis, the main features of which were a large fiscal deficit, huge public debt and the continuous erosion of the country’s competitive…
It’s almost universally recommended that for optimal physical and mental health, children engage in 60 minutes of physical activity each day and limit the time they spend watching TV, playing computer…
There’s always one in a crowd, a sort of harbinger of the oncoming mosquito onslaught: a person mosquitoes seem to target more than others. What is it about these unlucky chosen few that makes them mosquito…
Are neck, hand or forearm cooling, ice-cube sucking or cold showers effective ways to lose heat on those dog days of summer? Can sports clothing keep you cool by wicking away sweat? When the heat is on…
The government has backed down from its plan to cut Medicare rebates to doctors, which was to start on Monday, January 19, after several days of public pressure. For those not au fait with the world of…
The Abbott government is struggling with its Medicare co-payment reform, scrapping the latest version for a period of consultation, starting this week. The government claims it wants to make Medicare sustainable…
There’s always one in a crowd, a sort of harbinger of the oncoming mosquito onslaught: a person mosquitoes seem to target more than others. What is it about these unlucky chosen few that makes them mosquito…
Are neck, hand or forearm cooling, ice-cube sucking or cold showers effective ways to lose heat on those dog days of summer? Can sports clothing keep you cool by wicking away sweat? When the heat is on…
Baby Boomer women are challenging ideas around what it means to grow old.
Cesar Vargas/Flickr
Older people, and particularly older women, are often thought of as being asexual or sexually undesirable. Although the particular age this is believed to happen varies somewhat in the popular imagination…
At the dawn of the 21st century, 189 UN member states adopted the Millennium Declaration as the first common framework for promoting global development, committing to eight goals (six covering health and…
Medicare reform must focus on increasing value, not just cutting costs.
World Bank Photo Collection/Flickr
The primary care reform debate of the last 15 months got off on the wrong foot. It was framed in terms of cutting government spending, with an overlay that consumers needed to bear the brunt of system…
Only recently has conversation about access to new drugs been moving to acknowledging the need for a community debate about affordability as well.
pixxiestails/Flickr
Decisions about public subsidies for high-cost drugs are naturally quite complex. And while patients have increasingly been given a voice in the process, the views of the wider community have generally…
The AMA described the proposed reimbursement changes for level B consultations as “an assault on general practice”.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has emerged from the recent brouhaha over the Abbott government’s proposed Medicare reforms as both a winner in the protection of doctors’ incomes and an apparent…
A blueprint for Medicare reform must include cost control, but also support quality and equity.
Dave Hunt/AAP
The Abbott government is struggling with its Medicare co-payment reform, scrapping the latest version for a period of consultation, starting this week. The government claims it wants to make Medicare sustainable…
Non-communicable diseases were responsible for 38 million (68%) of the world’s 56 million deaths in 2012.
Dave/Flickr
The World Health Organization (WHO) has just released its Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases, the second in a series tracking worldwide progress in the prevention and control of cancers…
Typical sports nutrition guidelines advocate eating carbohydrate-rich food before, during and after exercise to maximise performance.
jeffreyw/Flickr
Carbohydrate-rich diets are often recommended as part of exercise regimes to promote recovery and maximise performance. But recent research suggesting such foods may not help exercise recovery and their…
Most of us struggle with our own attractiveness and whether we have enough of it.
Tony Bowler/Shutterstock
You probably aren’t beautiful. It’s statistical, not personal. Most of us are average, a few of us are ugly, and a tiny number of us are beautiful or handsome. Many of us struggle with our own attractiveness…
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