Phone_personality_A16_web

Smartphone choice and personality

You make hundreds of decisions very day. Let’s be honest, not all of those decisions are optimal but they are you and as such they reveal something about you. It would be possible to infer aspects of your personality from any choice you make but if you want to go down that road why not […]

Exercise_belief_A16_web

Exercise helps if you believe

“Self-fulfilling prophecy” and the “placebo effect” are aspects of the same continuum. Both of these phenomena tap into the notion that if you believe something will happen then you increase the likelihood of it actually happening. It might sound a bit metaphysical but it is actually just the reality of the power of your mind […]

Coffee_genetics_A16_web

Coffee and your genes

Are you a coffee drinker? In a world that has a million lines of demarcation and separation coffee drinking divides us neatly down the middle; you are either a coffee drinker or you are not (and neither camp really understands the other). Within the coffee drinking fraternity of course, there are further shades of grey […]

Hayfever_ragweed_climate_we

Climate change boosts hay fever

Spring is just around the corner and that means birds will be on the wing and snails will be on the thorn and by some estimates, that will mean all will be right with the world unless…you are one of the estimated 26 per cent of Australians who suffer from hay fever. That’s a lot […]

Cricket_hydration_web

Cricketers need water

Cricketers perform better when properly hydrated. Cricket is a largely inexplicable game to the uninitiated. Although the rules and aims of the game remain obscure one thing is clear to even the least cricket-savvy observer; cricket involves lots of standing around, often in the sun. Cricket-philes (self-dubbed “cricket tragic”) will know that fast bowlers who […]

Reading_lifespan_A16_web

Reading for a long life

Reading books can extend your lifespan. Do you read? By that I don’t mean do you look at text messages or check out Instagram posts. Rather, do you get yourself a book (not a Kindle, a paper book) and settle in for a session of reading on a regular basis. If you do, and perhaps […]