Screening

Halloween MRI Special: Guts, Brain, Skeleton, etc (in fact, *my* guts, brain, skeleton, etc)

Welcome. Mwa-hah-hah-hah-hah-ha! Yes, it’s Halloween, a sort of Beta Christmas. And as is typical, local streets and shops are festooned with images of witches, pumpkins, ghosts, and — of course — skeletons. Because skeletons are scary, you see. In an age of austerity, it is good to consider ways of […]

Cancer: Misinformation is a risk factor too

People who know me personally will know that I don’t take cancer lightly (for various reasons I won’t go into here). So I am always a bit reluctant to criticize people who make the fight against cancer their life’s mission. After all, there are easier jobs. But cancer is not just […]

Happy Meals make you unhappy? Not so fast…

So here is even more scientific research into the non-obvious consequences of eating junk food. As regular readers will know, we’ve recently heard of a couple of studies claiming that eating chocolate either (a) helps you lose weight or (b) helps you lose even more weight. Of course neither is true. Or […]

Scientific advice for Christmas (Original Soundtrack), Part 2

Happy Solstice everybody! As James Brown (above) puts it, it’s time to hitch up your reindeer and go straight to the ghetto! This is because it’s time for Part 2 of my… …SCIENCE-OF-CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! Woo-hoo! (Again) Last time out things were, I suppose, a bit morbid. This time you will be […]

The Science of Misunderstanding

Just over a week ago, I gave a public lecture for Cork Skeptics at the magnificent Blackrock Castle Observatory. Subject to technological issues (i.e., assuming it worked), a video of the talk will be available online soon. In the meantime you can view the full slideshow above. The evening was very […]