Tagged: Addiction

Featured image: Could playing Fortnite lead to video game addiction? The World Health Organisation says yes, but others disagree

Could playing Fortnite lead to video game addiction? The World Health Organisation says yes, but others disagree - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jun 20, 2018 •

Joanne Orlando, Western Sydney University Could your child be addicted to playing video games? Maybe. If you’re a parent looking for tips on moderating your child’s gaming habits, read on. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has, for the first time, recognised “gaming disorder” – compulsive and obsessive playing of video games – as a diagnosable condition. Read More

Featured image: Rational addiction and Naloxone

Rational addiction and Naloxone - The Dismal Science

Eric Crampton • Mar 12, 2018 •

Suppose for a moment that addicts are rational and that we’re really in a Becker-Murphy world. What happens in that world if a new technology makes it safer to consume an addictive product? If you’re overdosing on opioids, Naloxone can save your life. The easier is access to Naloxone, the less likely addicts are to die if they have an … Read More

Featured image: Why social media are more like chocolate than cigarettes

Why social media are more like chocolate than cigarettes - Guest Work

Guest Author • Mar 09, 2018 •

Babak Abedin, University of Technology Sydney This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took to the social platform last week to announce a call-out for ideas about how to measure the health of online conversations. The initiative follows recent demands for government to regulate the … Read More

Featured image: How Facebook could really fix itself

How Facebook could really fix itself - Guest Work

Guest Author • Feb 05, 2018 •

Bhaskar Chakravorti, Tufts University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Facebook has a world of problems. Beyond charges of Russian manipulation and promoting fake news, the company’s signature social media platform is under fire for being addictive, causing anxiety and depression, and even instigating human rights … Read More

Featured image: Comparing technology to drugs isn’t simply a question of addiction

Comparing technology to drugs isn’t simply a question of addiction - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jul 11, 2017 •

Greg Wadley, University of Melbourne Some experts say technologies such as social media and video games are like drugs. Others disagree. This debate is really about whether technologies are addictive. But the defining property of a psychoactive drug is not “addictiveness”, but the ability to change a user’s mental and emotional state. This ability – … Read More

Featured image: Not everyone who takes painkillers for fun is an addict; some have just found a different way to cope

Not everyone who takes painkillers for fun is an addict; some have just found a different way to cope - Guest Work

Guest Author • Apr 20, 2016 •

By Stephen Tomsen, Western Sydney University and Kev Dertadian, UNSW Australia The misuse or abuse of pharmaceutical pain medications – usually opioids – has received increasing media attention recently. The focus of such news items has largely been on people who transition from oral use of medication to injecting drug use and addiction. Health … Read More

So just how do amphetamines work? - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Oct 11, 2012 •

That’s the question Ethan Perlstein, an evolutionary pharmacologist and Lewis-Sigler Fellow at Princeton University, is trying to find out. And he needs our help! Ethan is trying to raise US$25,000 on the crowdfunding platform RocketHub to find out where radioactively-labelled amphetamine and methamphetamine accumulate within the brain using lab mice. This is an important gap in our … Read More

Chocolate as a Medium for Science Communication - Molecular Matters

Michael Edmonds • Jun 25, 2011 •

Last night I was one of three speakers at “Unwrapping the Secrets of Chocolate” an event developed to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry. It was held at She Chocolat Restaurant in Governor’s Bay just over the hill from Christchurch. The event consisted of three talks and several videos. My talk was first and looked at the chemistry of … Read More