95 posts · 84,157 views
Hospital doctor turned lecturer and medical writer. I love writing about science, watching movies, drinking coffee, eating ice cream and wine tasting (not usually at the same time).
Dr Stu's Science Blog
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- October 14, 2011
- 05:47 AM
- 627 views
“Hey you, Fatty! Stop eating so much!” declares UK government
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
That’s right, being fat is your fault after all. Yesterday, the UK minister for health, Andrew Lansley jabbed his not-too-chubby finger at the overweight far lacking insight into their food addiction. In a rally-call to the 60% of overweight adult Britons, his announced a new ‘national ambition’ is to cut out the hamburgers and go … Continue reading »... Read more »
McCormick, B., Stone, I., & , . (2007) Economic costs of obesity and the case for government intervention. Obesity Reviews, 8(s1), 161-164. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-789X.2007.00337.x
- March 16, 2011
- 05:48 AM
- 625 views
The Science of Attraction: What makes a beautiful face?
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
It all started as a disagreement one evening. The men ended up vehemently defending their opinion that – yes, Kiera 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 Kiera). How we got so heated about [...]... Read more »
Komori, M., Kawamura, S., & Ishihara, S. (2009) Averageness or symmetry: Which is more important for facial attractiveness?. Acta Psychologica, 131(2), 136-142. DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2009.03.008
Rhodes, G. (2001) Do facial averageness and symmetry signal health?. Evolution and Human Behavior, 22(1), 31-46. DOI: 10.1016/S1090-5138(00)00060-X
- November 26, 2011
- 05:02 AM
- 604 views
The stupid things Scientists say: What the jargon really means…
by Stuart Farrimond in Guru: Science Blog
Don’t scientists talk a load of old prattle? Put an academic in front of a TV camera, and it’s odd how many of the world’s top brains seem unable to communicate what they mean. Of course there are the exceptions, and often they are scooped up by news agencies and media outlets. I remember being [...]... Read more »
Somerville, R., & Hassol, S. (2011) Communicating the science of climate change. Physics Today, 64(10), 48. DOI: 10.1063/PT.3.1296
- April 30, 2012
- 07:57 AM
- 602 views
Rare, Medium or Well done? The science of a perfect steak
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Vegetarians, look away now. Today’s post is distinctly carnivorous. Read on, you red meat eaters, as we are discussing an issue of upmost culinary importance… You can’t beat a good steak, I say. Quality medium-rare beef fillet; served with fries and salad is true feel-good food. I know I’m not the only one: it is … Continue reading »... Read more »
Koebnick, C., Strassner, C., Hoffmann, I., & Leitzmann, C. (1999) Consequences of a Long-Term Raw Food Diet on Body Weight and Menstruation: Results of a Questionnaire Survey. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 43(2), 69-79. DOI: 10.1159/000012770
Faller, A., & Fialho, E. (2009) The antioxidant capacity and polyphenol content of organic and conventional retail vegetables after domestic cooking. Food Research International, 42(1), 210-215. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2008.10.009
Gerber N, Scheeder MR, & Wenk C. (2009) The influence of cooking and fat trimming on the actual nutrient intake from meat. Meat science, 81(1), 148-54. PMID: 22063975
Obuz E, & Dikeman ME. (2003) Effects of cooking beef muscles from frozen or thawed states on cooking traits and palatability. Meat science, 65(3), 993-7. PMID: 22063680
- May 14, 2012
- 03:45 AM
- 569 views
Ofsted Head says Teachers don’t know Stress. Perhaps Sir Michael Wilshaw should have done his homework.
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Teaching is an incredible privilege. It’s hard to underestimate the importance of inspiring and motivating young people – helping them achieve and grow. It was therefore more than a little surprising when Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of the UK schools inspectorate Ofsted, started a finger-wagging tirade accusing teachers of being shirking whiners. “You youngsters don’t … Continue reading »... Read more »
Ferrie JE, Martikainen P, Shipley MJ, Marmot MG, Stansfeld SA, & Smith GD. (2001) Employment status and health after privatisation in white collar civil servants: prospective cohort study. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 322(7287), 647-51. PMID: 11250849
Taylor, S. (2009) Wealth, health and equity: convergence to divergence in late 20th century globalization. British Medical Bulletin, 91(1), 29-48. DOI: 10.1093/bmb/ldp024
- January 19, 2011
- 01:00 PM
- 563 views
The Top 10 Medical TV Myths
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Everyone loves a good hospital drama. They tick all the boxes for good TV: Gritty plots, life and death situations, steamy relationships, ethical dilemmas and blood and gore. Now more popular than ever, medical TV dramas have come a long way in the last 50 years. But just how accurate are they?
You might be surprised to discover just how many inaccuracies modern hospital TV dramas have in them. Here’s the Top 10 list of things you will only ever see in a TV hospital…... Read more »
Treakle AM, Thom KA, Furuno JP, Strauss SM, Harris AD, & Perencevich EN. (2009) Bacterial contamination of health care workers' white coats. American journal of infection control, 37(2), 101-5. PMID: 18834751
- July 2, 2012
- 08:46 AM
- 560 views
Do old people get more grumpy?
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
It is said that during our twenties we spend our time worrying about what other people think . In our thirties, we blame our parents for all our problems. In our forties, we finally realise that no one was really paying us that much attention and all our issues aren’t our parent’s fault after all. … Continue reading »... Read more »
Noftle EE, & Fleeson W. (2010) Age differences in big five behavior averages and variabilities across the adult life span: moving beyond retrospective, global summary accounts of personality. Psychology and aging, 25(1), 95-107. PMID: 20230131
Roberts BW, & DelVecchio WF. (2000) The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: a quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological bulletin, 126(1), 3-25. PMID: 10668348
Franco OH, Wong YL, Kandala NB, Ferrie JE, Dorn JM, Kivimäki M, Clarke A, Donahue RP, Manoux AS, Freudenheim JL.... (2012) Cross-cultural comparison of correlates of quality of life and health status: the Whitehall II Study (UK) and the Western New York Health Study (US). European journal of epidemiology, 27(4), 255-65. PMID: 22392587
Orth U, Trzesniewski KH, & Robins RW. (2010) Self-esteem development from young adulthood to old age: a cohort-sequential longitudinal study. Journal of personality and social psychology, 98(4), 645-58. PMID: 20307135
Robins, Richard W,, & Trzesniewski, K H. (2005) : Self-esteem development across the lifespan . Current Directions in Psychological Science, 158-162. DOI: 10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00353.x
Mak W, & Carpenter BD. (2007) Humor comprehension in older adults. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS, 13(4), 606-14. PMID: 17521496
Shammi P, & Stuss DT. (1999) Humour appreciation: a role of the right frontal lobe. Brain : a journal of neurology, 657-66. PMID: 10219779
Kruse BG, & Prazak M. (2006) Humor and older adults: what makes them laugh?. Journal of holistic nursing : official journal of the American Holistic Nurses' Association, 24(3), 188-93. PMID: 16880415
- September 12, 2012
- 05:50 AM
- 552 views
Get fit faster: listen to music!
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
It’s now officially Games Over. Gone is the excuse to bunk off work to catch five minutes of of dressage or synchronised swimming. And as our love affair ends, normal life must resume. The real challenge now begins: to stay true to those keep-fit resolutions. One of the tricks to stay motivated may be, quite … Continue reading »... Read more »
Goehr, Lydia. (2011) Sounds: Relationships between Sport and Music. Sporting The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 69(2), 233-235. info:/10.1111/j.1540-6245.2011.01465_2.x
Karageorghis C, Jones L, & Stuart DP. (2008) Psychological effects of music tempi during exercise. International journal of sports medicine, 29(7), 613-9. PMID: 18050063
Waterhouse J, Hudson P, & Edwards B. (2010) Effects of music tempo upon submaximal cycling performance. Scandinavian journal of medicine , 20(4), 662-9. PMID: 19793214
- August 24, 2012
- 01:30 PM
- 532 views
The challenge to live a ‘no impact’ life
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Of all the consumables I couldn’t live without, it wouldn’t be the internet. Neither would it be chocolate, ice cream or shampoo. I think I could cope without electricity just fine (I learnt how to make camp fires as a child). No, the one thing that would really chafe me (quite literally) would be not … Continue reading »... Read more »
Tukker, A. et al. (2006) Environmental Impact of Products (EIPRO). Analysis of the life cycle environmental impacts related to final consumption. Institute for Perspective Technological Studies. info:/
- August 10, 2012
- 12:12 PM
- 523 views
The real legacy of the Olympics: uncomfortable truths.
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
About 15 years ago, I visited the Montreal Olympic Village. A captivating and beautiful city, the Olympic Village was a complete contrast. Tired-looking vacant stadia and vast, mostly unused concrete behemoths populated by a few shuffling tourists. I found it a depressing place and the slowly flaking paint symbolised a squandered enterprise. Costing Canada $1bn, … Continue reading »... Read more »
Georgios Kavetsos, & Stefan Szymanski. (2011) National well-being and international sports events. Journal of Economic Psychology, 2010(31), 158-171. DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2009.11.005
- January 1, 2012
- 10:02 AM
- 477 views
New Year’s Resolutions – Doomed to fail?
by Stuart Farrimond in Guru: Science Blog
New Year’s Resolutions: Do they work? What’s so magical about the stroke of midnight on December 31st? Many of us pledge to get fit, save money or stop smoking. Many of us also know how often these attempts end in failure. Perhaps Oscar Wilde had it right: Resolutions are “pure vanity. Their result is absolutely nil”. Oscar [...]... Read more »
Norcross JC, Mrykalo MS, & Blagys MD. (2002) Auld lang syne: success predictors, change processes, and self-reported outcomes of New Year's resolvers and nonresolvers. Journal of clinical psychology, 58(4), 397-405. PMID: 11920693
- August 1, 2012
- 05:31 AM
- 452 views
Could you survive a week without emails?
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
It’s 7.30am and the emails have already started. As I sit, savouring a few moments calm over a bowl of muesli before leaving for work, the phone has already started to chime. The ‘silent’ phone setting insists on buzzing on the table top – vibrating my coffee mug. I have resigned myself to the alternative … Continue reading »... Read more »
Gloria J. Mark, Stephen Voida1, & Armand V. Cardello. (2012) “A Pace Not Dictated by Electrons”: An Empirical Study of Work Without Email. Proceedings of the 2012 ACM annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 555-564. info:/
- July 23, 2012
- 04:06 AM
- 447 views
Nostalgia: Why we think things were better in the past
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
They just don’t write blogs like they used to. Back in the good old days there was none of this Twitter or Facebook piffle. Web pages were once simple and images didn’t instantly appear but – like a photo being developed – gradually formed out of a pixelated mess. In the 1990s, receiving an email … Continue reading »... Read more »
Batcho KI. (1998) Personal nostalgia, world view, memory, and emotionality. Perceptual and motor skills, 87(2), 411-32. PMID: 9842580
Batcho KI. (1995) Nostalgia: a psychological perspective. Perceptual and motor skills, 80(1), 131-43. PMID: 7624184
Zhou X, Sedikides C, Wildschut T, & Gao DG. (2008) Counteracting loneliness: on the restorative function of nostalgia. Psychological science, 19(10), 1023-9. PMID: 19000213
- October 28, 2011
- 10:07 AM
- 446 views
‘Cancer Free’? What kind of Cancer does Chavez really have?
by Stuart Farrimond in Guru: Science Blog
Is the Venezuelan president really ‘cancer free’? Rumours started in July 2011 that the Venezuelan ‘dictator was’ unwell. Officials vociferously denied it. Now it is known that Hugo Chavez has been suffering from cancer, has undergone chemotherapy, and survived kidney failure. But the true nature of his illness remains shrouded in mystery. Enthusiatically claiming he [...]... Read more »
Bosetti, C., & La Vecchia, C. (2005) Cancer mortality in Latin America: implications for prevention. Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, 18(1). DOI: 10.1590/S1020-49892005000600001
- August 30, 2012
- 03:18 PM
- 435 views
Why I hope this is the last Paralympics
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Blink and you just might miss it. If you don’t live in the UK, that is. Last night, 80,000 people watched the Paralympic opening ceremony – a slightly more modest, but nonetheless equally poignant affair than its bigger brother. As the kids return to school and the Olympic feel-good fades, it offers a last-hurrah for … Continue reading »... Read more »
Moon, M. (2010) The shackled runner: time to rethink positive discrimination?. Work, Employment and Society, 24(4), 728-739. DOI: 10.1177/0950017010380648
- December 19, 2011
- 03:05 AM
- 396 views
Laugh yourself to health! Possibly the funniest Mr Bean video ever…
by Stuart Farrimond in Guru: Science Blog
On the sixth day of Christmas, my Guru gave to me… laughter! We’ve all heard that laughter is good medicine. It’s not a new idea (even the Old Testament Bible prescribes it) but does it really have a tangible benefit? Proving the health benefits of laughter is tricky. Throughout nearly every sphere of medicine, there [...]... Read more »
Strean WB. (2009) Laughter prescription. Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 55(10), 965-7. PMID: 19826144
- March 13, 2012
- 06:56 PM
- 394 views
5 things CSI gets right
by Stuart Farrimond in Guru: Science Blog
For Brits, this week sees the return of everybody’s favourite team of armed Police/crime scene/forensic scientist hybrids: the night shift of the Las Vegas Crime Scene Investigation dpt. (UK Channel 5, Tuesdays 9PM). Now entering its 12th season – it’s even been around since ‘seasons’ were called ‘series’ – CSI is the most watched TV [...]... Read more »
Durnal, E. (2010) Crime scene investigation (as seen on TV). Forensic Science International, 199(1-3), 1-5. DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2010.02.015
- June 6, 2012
- 07:12 AM
- 388 views
How can I stop…… stammering?
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
London 1940 was a grey place. In June, smog and grey skies made way for sunshine. Not that there was any summer cheer. Homes were in a perpetual gloom because of blacked-out windows. Food was scarce and kitchen broth was the family staple meal. And then the Germans were approaching. Against this backdrop, the new … Continue reading »... Read more »
Büchel, C., & Sommer, M. (2004) What Causes Stuttering?. PLoS Biology, 2(2). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0020046
Carl Herder, Courtney Howard, Chad Nye, & Martine Vanryckeghem. (2006) Effectiveness of Behavioral Stuttering Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN COMMUNICATION SCIENCE AND DISORDERS, 33(`), 61-73. info:/
Prins, D., & Ingham, R. (2008) Evidence-Based Treatment and Stuttering--Historical Perspective. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52(1), 254-263. DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2008/07-0111)
- October 31, 2012
- 09:51 AM
- 376 views
Why popular culture is obsessed with Zombies
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Flesh-eating marauding monsters – frightening? You betcha. Like many of us, I love a good scare every so often and Halloween is a great time to do it. In terms of nightmarish thoughts, there’s little to top a zombie apocalypse. The prospect of being chased by a half-decomposed Granny truly scares me. They say adrenaline-stimulating … Continue reading »... Read more »
Harper, S. (2002) Zombies, Malls, and the Consumerism Debate: George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Journal of American Popular Culture, 1(2). info:/
Deborah Christie, & Sarah Juliet Lauro, ed. (2011) Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human. Fordham Univ Press. info:other/0-8232-3447-9, 9780823234479
- October 17, 2012
- 06:00 PM
- 367 views
Bemused by The Great British Bake Off
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
I couldn’t help but laugh. “James’ choux pastry isn’t rising – it’s a real disaster” the commentator said in tones as if poor James’ house had just fallen down. I peered over my wife’s shoulder to see the unfolding catastrophe: anxious looking cooks whisked, poured and prayed (whilst gazing into ovens). An elderly woman wandered … Continue reading »... Read more »
Redden, G. (2008) Making over the Talent Show. In Exposing Lifestyle Television: The Big Reveal. Ashgate, 129-144. info:/
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