Everybody knows that to lose weight you should eat less and move more. But, of course, it’s not that simple; the combination of today’s environment and human biology can make it really, really hard to shed pounds. To reduce diseases caused by being overweight or obese, society needs to change, but those changes will be slow to come. We need effective weight-loss strategies now.
Health Check: why do I get a headache when I haven’t had my coffee?
Research Check: can sleeping too much lead to an early death?
Designed to deceive: How gambling distorts reality and hooks your brain
To call gambling a “game of chance” evokes fun, random luck and a sense of collective engagement. These playful connotations may be part of why almost 80 percent of American adults gamble at some point in their lifetime. When I ask my psychology students why they think people gamble, the most frequent suggestions are for pleasure, money or the thrill.
Frontal lobe paradox: where people have brain damage but don’t know it
Ageing in human cells successfully reversed in the lab
Why stretching is (still) important for weight loss and exercise
Brains keep temporary molecular records before making a lasting memory
To uncover how the brain keeps track of an animal’s experience, we started by asking how the brain records its electrical activity. Every experience you have, from chatting with a friend to smelling french fries, corresponds to its own unique pattern of electrical activity in the nervous system and brain. These activity patterns are defined by which neurons are active and in what way they’re active.
How clean is your desk? The unwelcome reality of office hygiene
Hospital bacteria are starting to tolerate hand sanitizer
Thousands more suicides are ‘likely’ as temperatures rise
Why your brain never runs out of problems to find
7.5 billion and counting: How many humans can the Earth support?
What getting too little vitamin D does over time
Why alcohol after sport and exercise is a bad idea
You’re eating microplastics in ways you don’t even realize
We’re increasingly aware of how plastic is polluting our environment. Much recent attention has focused on how microplastics – tiny pieces ranging from 5 millimetres down to 100 nanometres in diameter – are filling the seas and working their way into the creatures that live in them. That means these ocean microplastics are entering the food chain and, ultimately, our bodies.
Getting hot and sweaty: how heat and spice might affect our appetite
The secret information hidden in your hair
Your hair can say a lot about you. It doesn’t just give people clues about your personality or your taste in music. It can also record evidence of how much you drink, whether you smoke or take drugs, and perhaps even how stressed you are. My colleagues and I research how hair can be used to provide more accurate testing for these attributes. And a recent court case shows how far the technology has come.
Sleep problems are influenced by our genes – but this doesn’t mean they can’t be fixed
Some people struggle greatly with sleeplessness, whereas others appear to be able to nod off effortlessly, regardless of the circumstances. Perhaps the most obvious explanation for differences between us in terms of our sleep is the environmental challenges that we face. An unrelenting stint at work, relationship difficulties or receiving bad news are just some of the many life challenges that can lead to sleepless nights.