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Saturday, 05 October 2019 05:20

Why aren't we living longer?

For the best part of two centuries people's life expectancy has been improving at a pretty rapid and consistent rate. In the 1840s people did not live much past 40 on average. But then improvements in nutrition, hygiene, housing and sanitation during the Victorian period meant by the early 1900s life expectancy was approaching 60. As the 20th Century progressed, with the exception of the war years, further gains were made with the introduction of universal health care and childhood immunisations. From the 1970s onwards, medical advances in the care of stroke and heart attack patients in particular, saw big…

Saturday, 05 October 2019 05:19

Want to live longer? Science says to do these 5 things

When it comes to staying healthy, most people have the same motivation: living as long and fulfilling a life as possible. And while science has yet to find a true fountain of youth, researchers have identified certain behaviors that can increase longevity. One study, published in the journal Circulation last year, even argued that adhering to just five healthy habits could extend your lifespan by roughly a decade. Here’s what they are, and what research to date says about living your longest life. Eating a healthy diet Diet is strongly linked to longevity. Research has long suggested that following a…

Saturday, 05 October 2019 05:18

The story behind the biggest crocodile ever caught

A struggling immigrant family's lives were changed forever when the glamorous matriarch picked up a rifle and shot a crocodile between the eyes. Krystyna 'Krys' Pawlowski had no choice but to kill the beast that day in 1955 in Kaumba, in Queensland's Gulf Country - the reptile was creeping up on her three-year-old daughter, Barbara. 'My brother came out and saw it and yelled "Barbara, crocodile!" and my mother grabbed a rifle and shot it between the eyes,' Krys's son George Pawlowski told Daily Mail Australia. That shot would make the family famous because at 8.6 metres, the reptile was,…

Friday, 04 October 2019 05:54

How brain forgets useless memories - Report

Brain cells work to actively forget memories during a specific phase of sleep. That's according to scientists, who hope their research could help to deepen our understanding of Alzheimer's disease. When we sleep, our brains clear out the memories we've made while we're awake, deciding what to keep and what to discard. Forgetting is an active process, explained the authors of the study published in the journal Science. But less is known about this process during the different phases of sleep. The team found that during the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phase—or active sleep when we are thought to…

Tuesday, 01 October 2019 05:21

Do you often forget things? This is how you can improve your recollection skills

How many times have you met somebody for the first time, only to forget their name within seconds of them introducing themselves? It's a frustrating (and embarrassing) situation many of us have found ourselves in - but according to a memory expert, there are a few simple techniques we can employ to ensure we never suffer those awkward moments again. Chester Santos, known as the 'International Man of Memory', firmly believes no one has a 'bad' one - rather, they simply don't have the right skills to make theirs work as effectively. He has spent the last 11 years teaching…

Saturday, 28 September 2019 05:36

This is how long meal-prepped food stays good - Report

Meal prep is the simplest way to ensure you eat well throughout the week, but just how long does prepared food stay fresh? That's the question we posed to Katie Heil, a certified professional in food safety (CP-FS) at StateFoodSafety. Katie explained that prepared foods - such as cooked poultry and meats, salads, and soups and stews - should last in the refrigerator for three to four days. If you store meal-prepped food in the freezer, it can last even longer - at least two months, in most cases. " Technically, because freezers halt bacterial growth, meal-prepped foods that are…

Friday, 27 September 2019 05:57

People wouldn’t hand in a family member if they had committed a crime

People are willing to bench their sense of right and wrong when it comes to their own family, even if it means breaking the law. A study from the University of Michigan found that when a member of the family behaves abhorrently, people are often inclined to protect them. The familial protection happens for any moral infraction, but becomes more intense when a person is guilty of a severe events, such as theft, blackmail and groping. The study authors said in the paper, published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, that they were surprised people become more protective…

Thursday, 26 September 2019 05:28

How to be a human lie detector of fake news

Fake news existed long before the internet. In an essay on political lying in the early 18th century, the writer Jonathan Swift noted that "Falsehood flies and the truth comes limping after it." You have to hire a train to pull the truth, explained English pastor Charles Spurgeon in the 19th century, while a lie is "light as a feather ... a breath will carry it." Clearly, humans have always been susceptible to mistruths. And social networks simply provide another way to propel falsehoods. MIT researchers recently studied more than 10 years' worth of data on the most shared stories…

Monday, 23 September 2019 04:50

Getting 'hangry' is a real thing, scientists find

Getting 'hangry' and operating on an empty stomach can lead to poor decision making, a study has discovered. Researchers at the University of Dundee assessed how hunger alters people's decision-making and found it causes people to make significantly different choices. It causes people to become impatient and makes them more inclined to settle for a small reward instead of waiting for a guaranteed larger one at a later date. It includes food options but also seeps into bigger decisions, such as financial options. WHAT IS HUNGER? After a meal, our gastrointestinal tracts slowly empty by pushing food through the stomach…

Sunday, 22 September 2019 05:48

How liars can take advantage of you

I recently spent an evening at an event with the legendary comedian Jim Carrey. Carrey has starred in dozens of movies, but the one that always sticks with me is Liar Liar, where he played a man forced to always tell the truth. It was the perfect role, as Carrey’s antics were backstopped by the paradox of trying to determine whether or not it is a good thing to always be truthful. I loved every bit of the movie, but it also left me with a dull headache and a sense of mental exhaustion. Ironically, the feeling is not much…