Mario turns 30! How playing video games can be good for us (sometimes)

Super MarioHappy Birthday Mario! The large-nosed plumber, famous as Nintendo video game character who jumps down pipes and collects mushrooms, has just turned just turned thirty*. And he now the iconic video game star has a real reason to jump for joy. Research is increasingly showing us that video games could be good for us, which means all of us could benefit from a bit of Mario-time every once in a while.

Originally a tiny 130 pixel graphic, the mustachioed 1985 superhero went on to spawn a franchise worth over $10 million and in 1993 inspired the first Hollywood movie to feature a video game. (Called Mario Bros. it stared Bob Hoskins, but was awful.) Today’s photorealistic games are a far cry from these early days and are no longer the preserve of closeted teenage boys. People of all ages play computer games in their front rooms, often together. This hasn’t stopped parents and doctors being concerned, however, and photorealistic action games tend to cause the most controversy. Read more

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It’s official: you’re only as old as you feel (and look)

Forever Young by Roberto Ventre on Flickr“You are only as old as you feel,” or so the saying goes. This adage is great for cheering yourself up when the grey hairs start to take root, but science has recently revealed that the time-honoured expression is alive and kicking – the younger you feel, the younger you actually are.

Ground-breaking new research has shown what happens when you follow the lives of 1,000 twenty-somethings over a period of ten years. A team of American and New Zealand scientists monitored each volunteer’s ‘biological of age’ over this period, measuring their ‘true age’ through tests for cholesterol, heart and lung health, immune system function and DNA damage (among other things). Incredibly, they found that each person’s body aged at a different rate. Read more

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Beware the health scan scams: don’t be fooled by the long words

The original Magic 8 BallMagic 8 Ball toys are great fun when you’re a kid. The fortune-telling plastic spheres have been entertaining children since the 1950s and are delightfully simple – you ask the black ball a question, give it a shake, and an answer ‘magically’ emerges out of the inky darkness. “Will I be popular at school?” The ball says: “It is decidedly so.” “Should I ask Debbie to out to the disco?“ The ball replies: “Signs point to yes”. “Will I be a millionaire someday”? “Don’t count on it,” replies the ball. All is not lost, however, for those who aspire after the high life: you can keep shaking until you get the answer you want. Read more

Why drinking milk is good for us (and our farmers)

Red top milkMilk prices are sinking fast and UK dairy farmers are fighting to stay afloat. The ‘milk trolley challenge’ and supermarket protests have helped raise the profile of their plight but our appetite for the white stuff has never been lower. Twenty years ago we drank three times as much whole milk as we do today; sunflower oil spreads have all but killed the butter market, and even sales of cheddar are starting to crumble.

For the past decade, nutrition ‘gurus’ have drip-fed us the idea that all dairy is bad for and milk-free diets are healthy. Science has shown us that milk may not be the elixir of life we thought it was fifty years ago, but it is packed with nutrients that can benefit us in all stages of life. In childhood, this is especially true. Very few foods contain as much calcium as milk does and research shows that kids who drink milk end up significantly taller than their schoolmates who don’t. Bones get stronger and thicker until early adulthood, thereafter they gradually weaken. A daily dose of milk in childhood helps to ensure a lifetime of strong bones and reduces the chances of developing osteoporosis (brittle bone disease) in old age. Read more

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Ditch the ‘detox’: don’t let the diet myth cleanse your wallet

Lemon teaLady Macbeth kept scrubbing but she couldn’t get the marks out. Shakespeare’s character was so wracked with guilt that imaginary blood stains appeared on her hands and, try as she may, she couldn’t get herself clean. It’s not just fiction: research shows that all of us have a powerful urge to wash, bathe, shower, or purge whenever we feel we may have wronged. In the 21st Century, however, we are more likely to feel guilty about a weekend of overindulgences than we are for religious transgressions; but instead of washing our hands we go for a dietary ‘detox’ – the modern day body cleansing craze. In fact, detoxing has now become so widely believed that it is difficult to convince most people that it is utter hocus-pocus – even though the British Dietetic Association, NHS and British Nutrition Foundation all agree that it is just marketing mythology. Read more

Gardener beware! 4 deadly plants that could be in your backyard

Monkshood (Source: Wikimedia)
Monkshood (Source: Wikimedia)
Vegetable growers will know that there is little to beat eating the fruit of efforts. A bowl of garden-grown lettuce leaves, tomatoes and cucumbers, sprinkled with freshly cut basil leaves puts any shop-bought salad to shame. The mysterious death of gardener Nathan Greenway, however, highlights the dangers of unwittingly harvesting the wrong kind of plant. Experts believe that the Hampshire gardener may have died from monkshood poisoning after handling its leaves without gloves. There are many plants that gardeners and foragers should always keep at arm’s length but here are just four to watch out for.

Monkshood. Also known as wolf’s bane or aconite, monkshood has tall ‘hooded’ flowers that come in a variety of colours. It looks elegant but is one of Britain’s most deadly plants, containing a paralysing toxin that attacks nerves and stops the heart beating. Monkshood has killed countless people throughout history; Cleopatra used it dispatch her brother and our early ancestors made poison arrows with it. Make sure you know what it looks like because monkshood poison can be absorbed through the skin and so should never be touched with bare hands. Read more

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Test yourself: Could you spot a skin cancer? Never miss a melanoma.

Test yourself: which do you think are malignant skin cancers? Click to enlarge. Answers at bottom of post.
Test yourself: which do you think are malignant skin cancers? Click to enlarge. Answers at bottom of post.

If you ever doubted humankind’s ability to do great things for our planet, just look at the sky. Or rather, look toward the ozone layer high in the stratosphere. If you cast your mind back, you will remember that there was a lot of talk of the ‘hole in the ozone layer’ brought on by CFCs in the eighties and early nineties. Today, no one seems to mention it anymore, even though climate change is still a very hot potato. This fragile ozone layer is the Earth’s way of blocking out the worst of the sun’s harmful UV rays and without it everyone would die of cancer. But ever since all the world’s nations outlawed all CFC-releasing chemicals in 1987 – such as those in fridges and aerosol cans – ozone layer damage has stopped. Better than that, the ozone layer is now actually repairing itself and the ‘hole’ is shrinking. Read more

Choosing Wisely: when you should refuse a medical test

A crazy-looking doctorToday I offer you an exclusive preview of a forthcoming late summer blockbuster. Due for premiere later this year, it will be a medical drama billed to be more engaging than Terminator: Genisys and more disturbing than Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension. Directed and produced by an internationally respected team from America, Canada and the UK, the drama will be called ‘Choosing Wisely’ and the star of the show will be… you. ‘Choosing Wisely’ isn’t a movie but it is a health campaign that promises to reveal all about an ongoing medical scandal – and a scandal in which you may unwittingly be a part of. Read more

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Get off your bum! Your office chair could be killing you (very slowly)

An office chair. Yesterday.I have some bad news to tell you – are you sitting down? Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, but your office chair could be killing you. I know it looks harmless, with its ergonomic arm rests and comfy sponge seat, but each hour you spend sitting in it could be causing your arteries to harden. That chair could also be making you fatter and even increasing your chances of diabetes. Read more

Strokes are NOT rising among people of working age, despite news reports

A strike of lightningIf there were an award for the world’s most stupidly named medical condition, ‘stroke’ would win. We use it when talking about petting a dog or caressing a lover – the complete opposite of what a medical stroke is. A serious and life-threatening condition, strokes frequently cause paralysis, slurred speech, confusion – or worse. For those who survive, a stroke can be a wholly terrifying experience – the word originally meant “stuck by God” (a far more befitting term). A stroke is caused by lack of oxygen to a part of the brain – similar to what happens during a heart attack – and any brain function can be affected. To you and me, it’s good enough just to think of stroke as a medical emergency that needs an ambulance. Read more