Planets & Transits
New Moon in Leo August 12, 2026
The New Moon arrives in Leo August 12 at 8:36 PM UTC, and with it comes a singular...
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- Written by: Jordan Smith, Lecturer , University of Newcastle
We all know exercise is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, and most will agree kids should be doing more of it. However, a recent study found while parents are positive about their children engaging in aerobic activities (running, playing sports), they have much more negative views when it comes to strength exercises.
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- Written by: Amy Reichelt, Senior Research Fellow, UNSW Australia
Everyone loves a study that turns one of our favourite vices into a health benefit. This week, the news headlines tell us “eating chocolate improves brain function” and that it “could help protect against normal age-related decline”.
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- Written by: James P Sheppard, Senior Research Fellow in Primary Care, University of Oxford
My heavily pregnant wife went to see her GP last week for a routine check-up. During her appointment, the doctor measured her blood pressure and got a high reading. My wife was surprised by this and insisted that she felt fine, so he took a second reading. But that was high, too. The doctor was concerned enough to book her a follow-up
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- Written by: Nick Fuller, Research Fellow, Clinical Trials Development and Assessment, University of Sydney
The list of over-the-counter dietary and weight loss supplements is exhaustive, with the majority based on scant supporting evidence from studies conducted in humans to support their claims. Weight-loss products make up one of the largest growing markets in the world.
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- Written by: Jane Peek, Post-doctoral researcher, Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Billy Connolly picked up a special recognition award at the recent National Television Awards for 50 years in the entertainment industry – but it was the effects of the comedian’s illness that shaped the headlines.
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- Written by: Steve Ellen, Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Monash University
Marital resemblance is the degree to which we marry people who resemble us in some characteristic or another.Is it true that like attracts like? When it comes to mental health, it seems the answer is yes.
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- Written by: Irene Maeve Rea, Professor emeritus, Queens University Belfast
There are many reasons why some people live long healthy lives while others don’t, but one of them is undoubtedly genes. That doesn’t mean we should be negative about our chances of ageing in good health. Although our genes are handed down from our parents, the hand that we are dealt seems to be influenced by our lifestyle, too. Food,
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- Written by: Daniel Angus, Lecturer, The University of Queensland
Researchers at CSIRO and University of Queensland have developed an app called Harlie that is designed to chat with humans. Unlike Siri and Google Now – which are designed to answer specific questions – Harlie is designed for small talk.
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- Written by: Richard Hoffman, Lecturer in Nutritional Biochemistry, University of Hertfordshire
Who doesn’t like a ready meal once in a while? People in the UK certainly do: consumption of ready meals and convenience meat products has increased five-fold over the last 40 years, according to the latest National Food Survey on UK food-buying habits. High levels of calories and fat in some of these products can
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- Written by: Jim Dryden, Washington University in St. Louis
"If you weigh 200 pounds, you will be doing yourself a favor if you can lose 10 pounds and keep it off," Samuel Klein says. "You don't have to lose 50 pounds to get important health benefits."
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- Written by: Peter Gates, Senior Research Officer, National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Australia
Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in Australia, with one in three adults using it at some point in their life. It’s legal in some places around the world, and offered medicinally in others. But what does smoking pot do to your mental health?
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- Written by: Nathan Hurst, University of Missouri
New research suggests that aerobic exercise could offer protective benefits for the liver against damage caused by excessive alcohol consumption. A study using 'runner rats' indicates that higher levels of physical activity may mitigate the risks of fatty liver disease and inflammation associated with chronic drinking.
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- Written by: Zoë Krupka, PhD Student Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University
The story of how psychology framed women for their own assaults began, as so many of psychology’s stories do, with some trapped animals. In the late 1960s, psychologist Martin Seligman conducted a series of behavioural experiments with dogs. He electrically shocked them at random and observed their responses.
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- Written by: Andrew Whitehouse, Winthrop Professor, Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia
One of the great and enduring mysteries of autism is what causes the brain to develop so differently. The behavioural differences of many individuals with autism are so apparent that it seems intuitive that the causes would also be obvious.
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- Written by: Keith Laws, Professor, University of Hertfordshire
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has become a byword for unbiased, evidence-based healthcare advice. Its recommendations strongly influence which treatments are made available on the NHS. We wouldn’t expect NICE to make recommendations that are unsupported by evidence or, worse, contain contradictory evidence.
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- Written by: Jana Králová, PhD Candidate , University of Bath
In 2100, I will be 117 years old, and my younger sisters will be 112 and 107. According to the Cambridge academic, Peter Laslett, we can now live to such ages, but those of us who do will be experiencing the fourth age, “an era of final dependence, decrepitude and death”. Not quite the dream
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- Written by: Jennie Jackson, Lecturer in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Glasgow Caledonian University
In the film The Martian, Matt Damon’s character, Mark Watney, is stranded on the red planet with nothing to eat but spuds. Now, a 36-year-old Australian is following the same diet, voluntarily. In an attempt to lose weight and improve his relationship with food, Andrew Taylor has decided to eat nothing but potatoes for a year.
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- Written by: David Caldicott, Emergency Medicine Consultant, Australian National University
Last night’s Four Corners focused on party drugs and the policies Australia is implementing to combat their use. Not only is what we’re doing not working, we’re falling behind the rest of the world and what evidence says is best to ensure we have fewer deaths from illicit drugs.
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- Written by: Saad B. Omer, Professor of Global Health, Epidemiology, and Pediatrics, Emory University
Every year in the United States, about 226,000 people are hospitalized because of the flu, and 23,000 die. And about 80-90 percent of flu-related deaths occur in people over 65 years old.
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- Written by: Kevin Arbuckle, Honorary postdoctoral research fellow at University of Liverpool, University of Liverpool
Passing on our genes to the next generation is the key process in evolution that happens through natural selection. So why do women suddenly stop having periods when they have at least a third of their lives left
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- Written by: James Betts, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition, Metabolism and Statistics, University of Bath
In the middle of the last century, popular nutrition author Adelle Davis advised people to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. Her advice stuck. Recent examination of the merits of adults eating breakfast has raised the question of whether we should indeed eat like kings at breakfast or just skip it all together.
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