New Findings: How the ‘Five-A-Day’ Scheme has changed what we eat (or not)…

Do you think you eat enough fruit and veg? If you’re like most of us – then you probably don’t.

FruitsAlmost a decade has passed since governments around the world starting telling us to eat ‘five-a-day’. Upping your intake of vegetables has been shown to reduce your chance of heart attack, stroke and cancer. But have these high profile initiatives made even the slightest bit of difference to our eating habits?

Analysts from the University of Bolgna have been trawling through data from the UK since the British ‘Five-A-Day‘ programme started in 2003. They have just published their findings and they make some interesting revelations…

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The Science of Attraction: What makes a beautiful face?

It all started as a disagreement one evening. The men ended up vehemently defending their opinion that – yes, Keira Knightley did indeed have an attractive face. The women had a completely different point of view – I won’t repeat what they said, but it wasn’t pleasant (poor Keira).

Does Keira Knightley have an attractive face? Discuss…

How we got so heated about the facial features of Ms Knightley, remains a mystery. But some questions remained: Were the men wrong? Or were the women just jealous? Could there even be a logical reason why  so many men would sell their pet cat to have a date with her? (Of course I wouldn’t – I love my cat too much)… Read more

Flower Power! New Study shows Plants can Boost Your Brain Power!

His FingerprintsDo you ever struggle to concentrate? You’re probably not alone. If you, like millions of us, spend the day working at a computer screen – then you will now that distactions are aplenty. The internet has been widely blamed for undermining our attention spans, and using social networking sites like Facebook seems to be costing businesses millions of dollars a day in lost productivity.

If you hate getting distracted, and want to stay focused, a team of researchers from Norway may have come up with a simple and ingenious solution: Put a pot-plant by your desk! Read more

Research shows Skinny People at risk of Diabetes!

Fed up being told of the dangers of being fat? We all know it by now – if you’re overweight, you could be seriously harming your health. Well here’s some refreshing news – a new study from the Nutrition Journal has revealed that it’s not just obese people that are putting themselves at risk of Diabetes… but also the underweight…

So Tough
A picture of health? Hardly - being underweight may increase the risk of Diabetes

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Out of This World! The Amateur’s Guide to Making Your Own Satellite

Money
What would you do with US$10,000? (That's about £6,000) ... Build your own satellite perhaps?
What could you do with $10,000?

Take a trip around the world? Refit the kitchen or replace the ageing car? Perhaps you would invest it in stocks and shares?

But what would you say to building and launching your very own satellite? Forget paying to have a star named after you: Technology is now smaller and cheaper than ever before, so building your very own ‘Sputnik’ is a very real possibility. Utilising the kind of gizmos normally found in a mobile phone, amateurs can buy ‘DIY satellite kits’ and build their very planetary orbiter. These ‘nano-satellites’ are no bigger than a bottle of coke and weigh less than a bag of potatoes – and nice space agencies will let you ‘hitch a ride’ on the next rocket launch for next to nothing!

Amateurs and professionals alike are flocking to get a piece of the action: Ever fancy starting your own satellite TV station? What about monitoring weather patterns or having your personal Hubble Space Telescope?

Read on to find out the steps to making your very own ‘CubeSat’… Read more

Myth-Busting: 3 Facebook facts you thought were true (but aren’t)!

We are loving our time here in California: It’s a place famous for movies, sandy beaches and huge citrus fruits! We clearly like to keep good company, because Barak Obama has been visiting San Francisco at the same time as us. I somehow don’t think that El Presidente’s visit to the West Coast has been as much fun as ours – we’ve been enjoying visiting vineyards while he was meeting with Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) and a bunch of other technology executives to debate  ‘ways to encourage innovation and job creation’. I think we got the better deal…

facebook engancha
Is Facebook wreaking real relationships?
After enjoying the recent movie ‘The Social Network‘, a good friend of mine (BenVealPR) blogged an interesting article asking the question “What role does Facebook play in your life?”. Ben thinks that Facebook is “a fantastic tool …[for] maintaining relationships”.

Could he be right? Or is Facebook and ‘social networking’ an evil that undermines real relationships? I decided to hunt down some facts and figures to find out a bit more… Read more

“Did You Pack Your Own Bags?” and other pointless airport security questions…

We’re off on our holidays, but (groan) we are stuck in the airport because our plane has been delayed – again!

An Airbus in downtown Hong Kong
The last time I flew, I had to tend to a medical emergency...
The reward for hours of waiting for security and immigration checks is… even more waiting! It’s been a bit like queueing to get on a ride at DisneyLand: The line deceptively curves and bends behind buildings and scenery so you never really know how long you are going to wait. Our hope is that the end result of all the sitting around will be somewhat more worthwhile – and less eventful – than a runaway train on Big Thunder Mountain! And please no medical emergencies like last time…

Perhaps it’s the jet lag setting in;  maybe it’s the boredom – but my wife and I have decided that airport security questions such as “Have you packed these bags yourself, sir?” are pretty pointless and should be replaced with some far more interesting alternatives…  Read more

Earn a Nobel Prize in your Lunch-Break! The Best “Citizen Science” Games Reviewed!

Have you ever felt like you could be an undiscovered genius? Well scientists have now come up with ingenious ways of you using your brain to push back the boundaries of science... by playing video games! So if you'd like the chance to see if you're the next Einstein (without the hair) just put down that Sudoku, stop playing Angry Birds and take a look at these computer games! You never know, by playing them you just might help discover the cure for cancer...

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Why ice cream tastes SO good! (Even on a rollercoaster)

We all have our personal weaknesses. A quick survey in the office told me that chocolate or cigarette addictions are common frailties. My wife’s Achilles heel is buying handbags. My weak spot? Eating ice cream.

ice cream horrorLight, creamy and sweet… Ice cream is perhaps the ultimate in feel-good foods. Having a bad day? An ice cream is the answer! (although your waist-line might not thank you too much)

Twice I have tried to make ice cream at home, but both times were a complete disaster: My best attempt resembled a rock-solid lump of green milky ice! So despite having abandoned an alternative career as an ice cream entrepreneur, I still wonder how those ice cream makers (such as Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen Daz) get their ice cream to taste SO good? Welcome to the secrets and the science behind the worlds most under appreciated frozen dessert…

(and if you don’t like the science bits you can laugh at a video of people trying to eat ice cream on a rollercoaster) Read more

Are you a Shopping Addict? Try the ‘Shopaholic Test’!

I’m starting to get concerned. My wife has just started looking for her next handbag, and she has expensive tastes…

Free Mall Girls Riding on The Escalator Creative Commons

Personally, I just don’t ‘get’ the shopping bug: For me, a Saturday afternoon on the high-street sounds like a traumatic experience. It would be tempting to say it is a ‘woman-thing’, but I would risk the wrath of many an equality-minded woman. And besides, I know many a man who can’t resist the allure of the clothes/guitar/video-game shop.

But are you the type of person who lives to shop? Or are you like me, and do you think that ‘retail therapy’ is a contradiction in terms? Today’s blog is all about the ‘Shopping Addiction’ phenomenon: Find out what it is, shopaholic myths and take an online quiz to find out if you are a shopaholic… Read more