Wildcard

When most people think about donating body parts to science or medicine, they might think of life-saving donations of organs, tissues or blood. But you can also donate your poo. The idea is to use it for poo transplants, otherwise known as faecal microbiota transplantation. That’s when poo products made from healthy donor poo are…

Honey is often praised for a range of health benefits, from soothing a sore throat and helping you get to sleep to healing woulds and lowering risk factors for diabetes and heart disease. Honey’s acidity has the potential to prevent bacterial growth, while its density and stickiness generates osmotic pressure (in the same way as…

You would hope for your dying days to be full of calm and care. But our research with people who are dying shows this is far from the reality for many people. Instead, financial stress plays a huge and increasing role in who can afford a “good death”. What we did In our recent study,…

The ceramic bowl with an uneven glaze. The teacup mended with gold lacquer. The images are calming and attractive. They are said to reflect wabi-sabi – a Japanese aesthetic often summarised in the West as valuing imperfection, impermanence and incompleteness. And wabi-sabi is having a moment on social media. It’s linked to everything from interior…

At least 20,000 Australian women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. And more than 3,300 die from the disease. To save women’s lives, we need to detect breast cancer early. Breast screening, which halves women’s risk of dying from breast cancer, is key to that. A new Australian study published today in The Lancet…

Irritability is one of the most common and distressing problems teenagers and their families face. Its main symptom is an excessive reaction to negative emotional stimuli, resulting in temper outbursts and severe irritable mood. While current treatment options such as psychotherapy and medications are helpful for some, they can be inaccessible or poorly tolerated. Our…

Just like in the modern world, people in ancient times wanted to know how to live a long and healthy life. Greeks and Romans heard fantastic tales of far-away peoples living to well beyond 100. Greek essayist Lucian (about 120–180 CE) writes: Indeed, there are even whole nations that are very long-lived, like the Seres…

Some mornings, you wake up and the dream is right there. Clear and vivid. You might still feel the emotion in your chest, and it can take a few minutes to remember where you are and what was real. Other mornings, you open your eyes and there is nothing. Just a quiet sense of having…

Black sesame is the latest plant-based product to go viral, with its appealing colour and nutty taste. Social media is full of claims these dark sesame seeds are better for you than the white ones. They’re said to be better at reducing your blood sugar levels, risk of heart disease, and even reversing grey hair….

Have you ever heard someone claim they have a “fast metabolism”? This typically means they can eat whatever they want without gaining weight. Meanwhile, others blame their inability to lose weight on having a “slow metabolism”. But can you actually have a fast or slow metabolism? Let’s see what the science says. Remind me, what’s…