COVID Virus Crisis

Ebola and Zika epidemics are driven by pathologies of society, not just a virus

Mar 30, 2016 15:37 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

The global health threats posed by recent viral epidemics, such as avian flu, H1N1, Ebola and Zika, have been happening too frequently to be dismissed as coincidental. Unless the global public health community invests...

Should alcohol limits for men and women really be the same?

Mar 30, 2016 14:10 pm UTC| Law Health

The UKs new alcohol guidelines advise that men and women shouldnt drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week. Previous advice for the British drinker presented a higher threshold for men, so this represents a considerable...

Chemical messengers: how pregnancy hormones affect the body

Mar 30, 2016 13:37 pm UTC| Health

The breasts go first, and then the waist and then the butt. Nobody ever tells you that you get a butt when you get pregnant. Elle Macpherson. Multiple hormones produced by the mother, placenta and the foetus drive and...

When is a smoker an adult? Why we shouldn't raise the legal smoking age to 21

Mar 30, 2016 13:27 pm UTC| Health

The Tasmanian government is considering whether to raise the age at which people can legally purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21 or possibly even 25. California is also moving to increase the legal age to 21. The...

Palliative care or assisted dying? We just need to start talking more about 'the right to die well'

Mar 30, 2016 12:45 pm UTC| Health

In most parts of the world the proponents of palliative care and of assisted dying do not see eye to eye. Palliative care activists say the problems that lead to assisted dying requests can usually be dealt with in ways...

Explainer: what is restless leg syndrome?

Mar 29, 2016 05:17 am UTC| Health

Restless leg syndrome is a common affliction characterised by uncomfortable feelings in the legs accompanied by an irresistible urge to move the legs to relieve the sensations. People with restless leg syndrome often keep...

COVID Virus Crisis

New mosquito threats shift risks from our swamps to our suburbs

Mar 29, 2016 05:10 am UTC| Health

The outbreak of Zika virus has refocused the attention of health authorities on mosquito-borne disease. The virus has now been reported from almost 40 countries and the list is growing with imported cases of the disease...