Category: Health

shutterstock Nicoleta Ionescu/Shutterstock When six-year-old Seren was prescribed antibiotics, taking them four times a day quickly became a battle. The orange liquid tasted revolting, and much of it ended up on kitchen surfaces rather than in her mouth. Her mother was never sure how much she had actually swallowed, but was afraid to give her […]

Jonathan McG/Shutterstock.com COVID vaccines saved millions of lives, but months into the rollout, a small number of people began developing dangerous blood clots in unusual parts of the body. These only happened after vaccines that used a modified adenovirus to deliver its payload – such as the AstraZeneca vaccine. Why these blood clots formed was […]

24Novembers/Shutterstock Our health is shaped long before we get to see a doctor. It is shaped by the health of our parents, the air we breathe, the homes we live in, the work we do, the food we can afford and the strength of our communities. For millions, these conditions are defined by poverty, inequality […]

Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock.com When South Korean doctors launched a nationwide thyroid cancer screening programme, diagnoses shot up 15 fold. Yet the death rate from thyroid cancer didn’t budge. More patients were being created than lives were being saved. It is a clear illustration of a problem that is quietly reshaping how doctors think about cancer: overdiagnosis. Not […]

Hayfever season typically runs from March to October. PeopleImages/ Shutterstock Spring is just around the corner. While many look forward to the warmer weather after the long winter months, others may be filled with dread as spring marks the start of hay fever season. If this is you, the good news is there are plenty […]

The Glass Works, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: memorial statue tribute to the victims and key workers of the COVID pandemic Steve Travelguide/Shutterstock A couple of years ago I dug up an artefact buried under soil, grass and leaves in a park close to my home in Exeter. It was not some ancient object but rather […]

New Africa/Shutterstock.com While driving recently, a long-forgotten song came on the radio. I found myself singing along; not only did I know all the lyrics to a song I hadn’t heard in 25 years or more, but I also managed to rap along. How is it that I could give this rendition, but often cannot […]

The gut microbiome has an important role in many aspects of health. Fotogrin/Shutterstock The gut microbiome plays an important role in many aspects of health, from digestion and immune function to metabolic balance and neurological processes. Several diseases have even been associated with changes in the microbiome’s composition, including inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, obesity […]

The dominant nostril naturally switches multiple times a day. Daniel Hoz/ Shutterstock One of the most bothersome things about being sick or having seasonal allergies is that it makes your nose stuffy and blocked. This makes breathing in through your nostrils frustrating – if not altogether impossible. But even when you aren’t sick, perhaps you’ve […]

Some parents keep their baby’s umbilical cord as a sentimental keepsake after birth pu_kibun/Shutterstock Celebrity outfits and endorsements often dominate social media, but Elton John recently drew attention for a very different reason. The musician has been spotted wearing jewellery made from his own kneecaps. After a double knee replacement in 2024, he asked his […]