Medical doctors in the United States are twice as likely to experience symptoms of burnout as other workers, which can compromise quality of care and place patients at risk. In a study in JAMA Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic researchers suggest a new approach to fighting burnout: external professional coaching. Defined by the World Health Organization …
When wildfires burn up forests, they don’t just damage the trees. They destroy a key part of the global carbon cycle. Restoring those trees as quickly as possible could tip the scale in favor of mitigating severe climate change. Lisa A. McCauley, a spatial analyst at The Nature Conservancy, explains how quick action to thin …
‘Tickling’ the ear with a small electrical current appears to rebalance the autonomic nervous system for over-55s, potentially slowing down one of the effects of ageing, according to new research. Scientists found that a short daily therapy delivered for two weeks led to both physiological and wellbeing improvements, including a better quality of life, mood …
Genetic analysis has revealed that the ancestors of modern humans interbred with at least five different archaic human groups as they moved out of Africa and across Eurasia. While two of the archaic groups are currently known – the Neandertals and their sister group the Denisovans from Asia ¬- the others remain unnamed and have …
Ever since Richard Thaler won the Nobel Prize in Economics, “nudge” has been front and centre in the interest of researchers and policy makers. A simple definition of nudge is an intervention that attempts to influence behaviours without using economic incentives and while preserving freedom of choice. In a meta-analysis of real-life experiments drawn from …
Exercise is good for us, without a doubt. From lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes, to increasing life expectancy, the benefits of physical activity are numerous, as countless studies have shown. But does it matter when one starts to exercise, and is it ever too late to reap the benefits? New research …
Synapses in the hippocampus are larger and stronger after sleep deprivation, according to new research in mice published in JNeurosci. Overall, this study supports the idea that sleep may universally weaken synapses that are strengthened from learning, allowing for new learning to occur after waking. Sleep is thought to recalibrate synaptic strength after a day …
To learn how people react to upsetting situations and respond to others around them, the researchers examined people’s anger toward politically charged events in a series of laboratory studies with 107 participants. The team also analyzed almost 19 million tweets in response to the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. In …
School administrators needing to trim budgets often look first to music courses, because the general belief is that students who devote time to music rather than math, science and English, will underperform in those disciplines. “Our research proved this belief wrong and found the more the students engage with music, the better they do in …
Compared to traditional open surgery, robotic surgery is minimally invasive and recovery time is often shorter, making the technology attractive to patients and doctors. But the da Vinci surgical system is expensive, costing as much as $2 million, and recent studies show that for certain procedures it can sometimes lead to worse long-term outcomes than …