As producer for Health Check, the BBC World News, I have written a number of features over the last few months. Here is a quick update on what I’ve been putting pen to paper about:
- The tale of the dog behind the ‘kiss of life’ discovery. “[CPR] has an intriguing history stretching back over 100 years to when electricity was first being installed in domestic homes and, in part, it owes its discovery to the fate of an unnamed lab dog.”
- Why your older sibling is smarter than you. “There has long been a fascination with how our position amongst siblings affects character traits, but new research has revealed that [personality] stereotypes do not stand up to scrutiny. However, there may be other reasons to be envious of your sibling’s birth position.”
- The twists and turns of naming diseases. “When a new disease is identified in a group of patients it needs a name so it can be described, researched and treated. But, unlike naming a child, there is no little book of names for diseases. So how do you choose the right name for a new condition? It isn’t easy.”
- Avoiding the burn: how best to change sunbathers’ habits.”Global skin cancer cases are on rise, but that fact is often not enough to change people’s sun-worshipping behaviour.So how do you best persuade people to alter a habit of a lifetime?”
