John Kerr • Sep 06, 2016 •
New research has offered a glimpse into the inner workings of one of the most dangerous results of volcanic eruptions – pyroclastic flows. “They are basically mixtures of hot volcanic particles and gas that race down the flank of a volcano to destroy everything its path,” says Dr Gert Lube from Massey University, describing these volcanic juggernauts. He and his … Read More
Michael Edmonds • Feb 19, 2012 •
Although this clip is a year old it is an interesting glimpse at the state of homeopathy in Canada, where it appears to have a strong hold though clearly, like New Zealand, very few people appear to understand what is in (or more accurately what ISN’T in) homeopathic remedies. It is good to see the media is investigating homeopathy … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Jan 04, 2012 •
A survivor of a hunting “accident” asks the question “Why are people still being shot?“. The MacDoctor can help with this one. He was an ED doctor for 9 years in Southland, literally the “Happy Hunting Ground” of New Zealand. Of the dozens of shooting incidents he has seen, he has yet to see one […] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Jan 02, 2012 •
Talking about the death toll from the February killer quake in Christchurch, Professor Mike Ardagh reckons that there will be a number of others who will have died from the quake who are not yet part of this toll. He is thinking mainly of those who succumbed to complications from their injuries or died as […] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Dec 26, 2010 •
Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. Just for a change of pace, here’s a bit of travel spam that’s been hijacked as a piece of vaccine propaganda. More Kiwis die on foreign soil Kiwi’s lax attitude to getting our travel jabs may be killing us. [...] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Feb 07, 2010 •
I would imagine that there is nothing scarier for a teacher than to be confronted by a child having a full-blown allergic reaction to something. It is pretty stressful for emergency-trained doctors and nurses so it must be doubly so for a non-medical person. Schools have the dilemma of wishing to reduce the risk of [...] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Jan 31, 2010 •
Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. Thanks to Crusader Rabbit for pointing me to this lovely bit of medical spam at News.com.au: Energy drinks’ ’serious’ heart risk JUST one energy drink can cause “serious heart conditions”, a world-first study has found. The report, according to Adelaide Now, has [...] Related … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Jan 10, 2010 •
Yesterday’s Weekend Herald contained a couple of articles on Bisphenol-A, otherwise known as BPA. BPA is used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics – the commonest plastic used to make drink bottles and linings of cans. There have been studies in rats and mice that show that BPA causes altered sexual development, aggression and obesity. [...] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Oct 14, 2009 •
Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. Don’t you just love it when headlines say the exact opposite of the main body of the article? Mobile phone cancer link charted Studies on whether mobile phones can cause cancer, especially brain tumors, vary widely in quality and there may be [...] … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Oct 04, 2009 •
I read with some horror that a Herald on Sunday investigation has found an energy drink with 3333mg caffeine per litre in it. The Demon Energy Shot, which contains this horrendous amount of caffeine, gets around the Food Standard Authority regulations (which restricts caffeine to a level of 320mg per litre) by calling itself a [...] … Read More