May 2019
Climate change: seeing the planet break down is depressing – here’s how to turn your pain into action
What if you’re concerned about the environment, but it seems too hard to make a life change? While actions that serve the climate and our communities may seem difficult before we try them, much of that perceived effort lies in the conservative inertia of our current habits, and how much we believe that we can change.
Anger linked to illness in old age
Older people are happier. When following people over a ten-year period, positive emotional experiences are shown to increase with age, peaking at 64 and never returning to the levels observed in the average young adult.
Type 2 diabetes: losing even a small amount of weight may lower heart disease risk
People who lost at least 5% of their weight in the year after they were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes had a 48% lower risk of cardiovascular disease after ten years, compared with people who kept the same weight.
Globalisation was rife in the 16th century – clues from Renaissance paintings
Leah Clark, The Open University For many, the Renaissance was the revival or “rebirth” of Western classical antiquity, associated with great artists painting the Sistine Chapel and the invention of the printing press in Europe. These local, European phenomena seem…
Brexit’s ‘Global Britain’: UK needs a clear economic strategy for its trading future, not a dead colonial fantasy
The EU may or may not be the way forward, but the Global Britain narrative is likely to prove counterproductive either way.
NZ introduces groundbreaking zero carbon bill, including targets for agricultural methane
Agriculture contributes 48% of New Zealand’s total greenhouse gas emissions. This is an important issue not just for New Zealand and all agricultural nations, but for world food supply.
Corporations are funding health and nutrition research — here’s why you should be worried
Many experts in nutrition and public health suggest that the food industry is copying tactics from tobacco companies. Corporations can now determine our health.
Japan: a new emperor and a new era – but women are still excluded from the Chrysanthemum Throne
it is hoped that the Japanese government will open the way for women to succeed to the Chrysanthemum Throne. This would be a long overdue gesture that would have an enormous and significant impact for women, parity and recognition of their contribution and achievement throughout Japan.
Empathy in healthcare is finally making a comeback
The effects of therapeutic empathy are quantified the same way drug effects are quantified. More and more carefully controlled trials are comparing what happens with healthcare practitioners who practice empathic, positive communication (being positive is a part of empathy), with those who carry on as usual. The results are overwhelmingly encouraging, with empathic and positive communication improving conditions ranging from lung function and length of hospital stay, to pain, patient satisfaction and quality of life.
AS YOU LIKE IT
the building was designed in Gothic Revival style by the renowned theatre architect Samuel Beazley, and was completed in 1836 but it has never actually been used as a castle. The vision of Francis Lyttleton Holyoake, high sheriff of Warwickshire, started with £120,000 budget ( £14.5m today) and was an extraordinary home to his family. After seven decades of decadent living, Francis' dream came to an end
Online abuse: teenagers might not report it because they often don’t see it as a problem
Freedom of speech can be wrongly viewed as a “catch-all” right for people to say whatever they like online. In some cases, children’s views mimicked alt-right arguments in favour of liberty, free speech and the right to offend.