The advisory of the Delhi government brought to my mind the ‘firmaans’ that emperors used to issue to the people with “thou shall not…”. These ‘firmaans’ were obeyed as the emperors had absolute power that could also punish instances of deviation.Individual freedoms were also circumscribed at that time by the ‘greater good’ principle. The point that then arises is whether Read More

Scientists have developed a self-tuning brain implant that can help manage symptoms of Parkinson’s patients by delivering stimulation in real time, in response to neural signals. Deep brain stimulation has been used to treat Parkinson’s disease symptoms for 25 years, but limitations have led researchers to look for ways to improve the technique. The first fully implanted DBS system that Read More

Do you suffer from dizzy spells or lose your balance? You may be suffering from vertigo. The usual causes of vertigo could be a tumour or high/low blood pressure, stress or diabetes. But recently, scientists have identified a new type of vertigo with no known cause, that may respond to treatments. “These conditions can be difficult to diagnose and quite Read More

An artificial intelligence system can better detect skin cancer than experienced dermatologists, a study has found. Researchers trained a form of artificial intelligence or machine learning known as a deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) to identify skin cancer by showing it more than 100,000 images of malignant melanomas (the most lethal form of skin cancer), as well as benign Read More

We’re constantly following hashtags such as #fitspo, #fitnessgoals on Instagram. We’re looking up the latest fitness trends and healthy diets to follow. This brings us to the question – are we getting fitter as a generation? According to the latest Google search data, weight loss searches have increased over time while those on obesity have decreased. The research, conducted by Read More

Your clothes say a lot about your personality, your state of mind…and even about your weight. According to a study done by the European Association for the Study of Obesity, the choice of garment colour is a predictor of body mass index (BMI). The findings reveal that darker and multicoloured clothes are preferred by women with higher BMI, while men with Read More

While smoking is associated with a host of health problems, be it lung cancer, heart disease or skin ailments, smokers often struggle to kick the habit as chemical changes deep in the brain drive nicotine addiction. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco kills more than 7 million people each year. More than 6 million of those deaths are the result Read More

Dementia affects the memory, thinking, behaviour and the ability to perform everyday activities. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. While it is true that most cases of dementia cannot be treated, early diagnosis can greatly help in managing the symptoms in most cases. While raising awareness and offering support will always be important, we must go further Read More

Fat is an important part of any balanced diet but the type of fat you eat matters the most particularly when it comes to cholesterol levels, so make sure you are avoiding the ones that cause health problems. Manoj Acharya, food consultant at Zappfresh and Mehar Rajput, nutritionist and dietician at Fitpass tells us about the foods that are full Read More

Smartphones have taken over our lives. Why are we checking Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, then Facebook again when we just wanted to check the weather? Turns out, smartphone addiction is by design. Think of the constant stream of notifications, color schemes in apps and all the “likes,” followers and in-game trophies. Our phones and apps are designed to give us short-term, Read More