freelance science journalist and author
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 4 August 2015: Countless lives have been saved in the hundreds of years that people have been receiving blood transfusions. Transfusions replenish blood lost through trauma, illness or surgery. They are a medical safety net; there for when surgery doesn’t quite go according to plan, and patients need a little … Continue reading Why experts are rethinking blood transfusions
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 17 March 2015: How many times have you been told that if you’re prescribed antibiotics, you must always finish the full course, even if you’re feeling better? The popular notion has always been that if you don’t complete the full course, you’re encouraging the development of antibiotic resistance. But in … Continue reading Antibiotics – when is enough enough?
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 1 June 2015: Time poor? Of course you are. Who isn’t, these days? We’re all desperately trying to cram two-days’ worth of activity into one, and it seems like everything has to have happened yesterday. Deadlines scream at you while yet another crumpled note from your child’s school gently nudges … Continue reading Time or money? Why you need both to be healthy
From ABC Health & Wellbeing, 14 May 2015: When it comes to healing the sick, we look to doctors. When it comes to preventing us from getting sick in the first place, many say we should look to governments. That’s because the vast majority of our biggest killers, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, lung … Continue reading Understanding what really makes us sick
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 26 February 2015: Mention the word ‘Pap smear’, and most women will reflexly cross their legs and shudder. It’s become something of a modern rite of passage for young women; receiving your invitation to join the cervical cancer screening program, and submitting yourself to the dubious pleasure of being prised … Continue reading Why there are plans to part ways with Pap smears
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 9 December 2014: “You’re too young to be in here.” I couldn’t agree more. I look around the cardiologist’s waiting room, guessing that I’m the youngest person by at least 20 years. Everyone else is slightly crumpled; soft, wrinkled and grey. But, despite my youthful vigour – well, maybe slightly … Continue reading When health anxiety set my mind (and heart) racing
From ABC Health, 18 September 2014: For a condition as complex, poorly understood and stigmatised as depression, it should come as no surprise that one of the major treatments – antidepressants – suffers the same problems. Those who are most likely to benefit are often reluctant to take antidepressants, while those less likely to benefit … Continue reading Are antidepressants overprescribed?
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 7 August 2014: Picture someone having a heart attack, and most likely, the image you see is of an older man, clutching his chest and wincing. What you’re less likely to picture is a younger woman, maybe in her forties, with some shortness of breath, struggling with fatigue, complaining about … Continue reading Heart disease: not just a man’s problem
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 24 June 2014: A little experience goes a long way towards making a man more desirable to the opposite sex, Australian researchers have found. Women are more likely to rate a man desirable if he has had one or two partners than if he has had no relationship experience, according … Continue reading Women go for ‘road-tested’ mates
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 19 June 2014 Do you know your Body Mass Index, also known as BMI? It’s easy to calculate – simply take your weight in kilograms and divide it by the square of your height in metres. If the number you reach is between 20 and 25, congratulations. You are one … Continue reading Does BMI measure up?
Bianca Nogrady 