Between one and three of every 1,000 newborns will have a significant, permanent hearing loss. These babies have a six-month window of opportunity for treatment that will allow them to retain their developmental…
When you tell someone a story, do you plan it out beforehand so that it’ll sound good? Do you carefully plot what you’ll say, in a specific order? Or does the story find a way of telling itself, the plot…
Losing weight is very hard, so it’s not surprising many people succumb to the allure of miracle weight-loss pills and potions available online. But they do so at their own peril, as today’s Emergency Medicine…
We’ve all heard the phrase “peer review” as giving credence to research and scholarly papers, but what does it actually mean? How does it work? Peer review is one of the gold standards of science. It’s…
We live in an ageing society, with the global median age rising steadily. Australia’s economic viability will increasingly rely on retaining older people in the workforce for longer. This, of course, relies…
Almost everyone will know someone with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): an incurable disease of the lungs that makes breathing difficult. Never heard of it? Well, chances are you’ve heard…
The offside rule is perhaps one of the most controversial rules ever applied to football. We only need to look to Mexico vs Cameroon on day two of the 2014 World Cup. Thank god for the 61st minute goal…
Whether choosing a dinner, a car, a spouse or an investment, experts now know what part of the brain our likes and dislikes are encoded, how we represent alternatives, and even how we choose. This has…
Contemporary dance is a catch-all phrase used fairly indiscriminately, meaning many things to different dance communities across a wide range of cultures. In fact, it’s probably easier to say what contemporary…
Of the dangers facing travellers to Brazil for the World Cup, yellow fever is one of the least likely to pose a real threat. But there are two important things to know about the illness. First, it’s a…
An outbreak of parechoviruses in Queensland is causing concern because of the severity of the illness among infants younger than three months old. Dozens of cases have been detected in Australia since…
Social cognition is our ability to understand other people, and it enables us to predict their behaviour and share experiences. It’s also critical to understanding the many nuances underpinning everyday…
Vitiligo, a human skin condition that turns patches of skin and hair white, it is not a disease we hear much about, although it affects approximately 1% of the population. Most famously, Michael Jackson…
After a night of political uncertainty, the Victorian Labor opposition has indicated it will move to have ex-Liberal MP Geoff Shaw expelled from parliament instead of accepting his offer of support for…
Chances are you’ve heard of an art biennale, even if you haven’t visited one. This year’s Biennale of Sydney hit the headlines with a controversy over sponsor Transfield’s links to off-shore refugee detention…
James Lyne from IT security firm Sophos recently carried out a two-day public awareness exercise as part of the InfoSec 2014 conference. In a low-emission variation of war driving, Lyne cycled around the…
Tick bite poses a potentially serious health risk in itself but sometimes the way people try to remove ticks just makes things worse. This is because urban myths and conflicted advice from local and overseas…
In the days since the Abbott government released its first budget, the Labor Party, the Greens and the Palmer United Party have all said they will block parts of it in the Senate. Threats to block the…
Oscar Pistorius’ trial took another dramatic turn earlier this week when the judge in the case agreed to a prosecution request to have his mental health assessed. After a psychiatrist called by the defence…
The vast majority of people can probably tell you that autism is associated with problems relating to others and interacting socially. Far fewer people will be able to tell you about another developmental…