With the launch of a new resource for parents and teachers who deal with children suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), John Holden looks at how the condition affects people untreated in later life.
US engineers unveil a new super fast data transmission device 2,000 times more energy efficient than any device in use today, writes John Holden.
New research furthers efforts to reverse the ageing process without the ethical restrictions associated with embryonic stem cell research, writes John Holden.
The altogether un-hip sounding ‘Genomic Plasticity and Ageing’ Team at the Functional Genomics Institute in Montpelier France have successfully rejuvenated cells from donors aged over 100 years.
The biggest ever study of its kind has shown there are no links between mobile phone use and the development of brain and central nervous system tumours, writes John Holden.
The most significant point made at last night’s Irish Skeptics Society talk on the OPERA experiment at CERN is that pretty much all science journalism is bad, writes John Holden.
Science journalists have to get used to criticism. The nature of the content being reported on is often deeply complex and so is open to misinterpretation by non-scientists. Scientists will never admit to being sure of anything while journalists love their affirmatives.
New research from the Centre for Pain Research at NUI Galway highlights the importance of marijuana-like chemicals in suppressing pain. By John Holden.
The effects of smoking weed vary from person to person. For some it’s the perfect relaxant at the end of a long day. For others, marijuana can in fact cause anxiety and stress.
Its effects will vary depending on an individual’s own personality and make-up. However, the active ingredient in marijuana, Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), doesn’t change.
The 2011 Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry couldn’t be more deserving. After initially being ridiculed and asked to leave his research group for his findings in 1982, Israeli Daniel Shechtman, 70, takes home the 2011 Nobel ‘kudos’ and 10 million Swedish kronor (€1,082,671) for his discovery of “quasicrystals”. By John Holden.
With recent research showing that some birds ‘eavesdrop’ on other species in order to protect their young, John Holden looks at other ‘human-like’ traits we share with animals.
New studies into global warming patterns show a deep ocean masking real increases in temperature, writes John Holden.
Global warming is not as widely reported as it was in previous times. This, unfortunately, has a lot to do with the commercial and editorial imperatives of news agencies. Environmental problems haven’t gone away. It’s the economy, stupid.
Closer, more pertinent problems caused by the global recession mean the focus on big picture stuff is understandably less of a priority for most people.
The phenomenon of compulsive hoarding is not a behaviour many of us encounter very often but recognition of the disorder is increasing in Ireland, writes John Holden.