An Age of Magic

Solving the age-old problem of acne.

The internet has become a very interesting tool in recent times to the extent that people are now using it to diagnose their own illnesses. Would you try such a thing…?

Most families, years ago, had one of those medical encyclopaedias that sat on the bookshelf in the living room or study. If the kids came down with some strange rash Mum would run to the book and look it up but always head off to the doctor in the end.

I suppose the internet, with it’s seemingly endless store of information, has replaced the old family medical bible and this has proved to be a divine providence for some people. One lady suffered recurring miscarriages until she looked up her symptoms online and took her information to the doctor – she now has two healthy children. Another lady in the UK was desperate to find out what was causing her little girl’s sudden blackouts – scans and tests had not revealed the cause – she went online and after a few weeks of searching discovered the actual cause. Result…? her little girl is now receiving the treatment she needed and is doing well.

It seems that a ‘find-it-yourself cure can be found online so long as you are diligent and willing to put in the time to do the searching. Depending on what the condition is just a few keywords could suffice; then there are conditions which are very well served on millions of websites enabling people to stay up to date on new advances in treatments. Just for an example; those with recurring acne will be able to find a myriad of brands of best acne medication online these days – the words  will lead you to a host of solutions.

Just remember though, as informative as the internet can be, don’t forget that your doctor needs to be kept in the picture along the way.

Popularity: 26% [?]

Do you trust a foreigner…? here’s why.

A foreign accent makes a person seem less honest, researchers have found.

Listeners are less likely to regard what the speaker says as truthful, and the problem increases with the strength of the accent, according to a study from the University of Chicago. To test the impact of accent on a person’s perceived credibility, participants were asked to judge the truthfulness of trivia statements by native or non-native speakers of English, such as: ‘A giraffe can go without water longer than a camel can.’ The researchers tried to minimise the effect of prejudice by telling participants the statements were prepared for the speakers, and were not based on their own knowledge.

But despite knowing they were simply reciting from a script, the participants judged as less truthful the statements coming from people with foreign accents. On a truthfulness scale prepared for the experiment, they gave native speakers a score of 7.5, those with mild accents 6.95 and those with heavy accents 6.84.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Eureka – water on the moon!

Scientists have discovered that there is water everywhere on the moon. Analysis of moon rock suggests that a chemically altered form of water is bound up within a volcanic lunar mineral. The findings lead experts to believe that water is widespread on both the outside and inside of the moon.

And the discovery means that it would be far easier for humans to one day set up a space station on the moon’s surface. Tapping a local supply of water would be a lot more convenient than ferrying it from Earth while it can also be split into its two component gases. Hydrogen can be turned into rocket fuel to enable astronauts to explore other planets in the solar system and oxygen is vital for breathing.

To be precise, the scientists found evidence of hydroxide ions – negatively charged molecules identical to those of water but missing one hydrogen atom. The hydroxide was discovered in apatite, a calcium phosphate mineral, the researchers reported in the journal Nature.

The discovery was made after US researchers examined a basalt rock underlying the moon’s surface that was formed by lava flows billions of years ago and brought back to Earth by the 1971 Apollo 14 mission.

Popularity: 28% [?]