At three months of age we discriminate between strangers who help, or instead hinder, others reach their goals and we prefer the former. At three months of age we attempt to communicate with people who help others rather than with those who hinder them. By one year of life we prefer people who hinder people...
For most adults the “touch” interface on computers (you no longer use a keyboard) is a convenience. However, it is also a small revolution because now even small children under the age of two can use a smartphone or tablet. In the pre-touch, era to use a computer or mobile phone you had to know...
Various studies tell us that young people should sleep 8-10 hours a night to fully exploit their mental and physical potential. Sleeping less hours is associated with learning, emotional, growth and relational disorders. A new study lasting eight years and involving 68000 youngsters has shown a close relationship between number of hours slept and high-risk...
Working as a pediatrician I get to know many children and their parents, sometimes the grandparents and occasionally the great grandparents. There are not many jobs where you meet people spanning so many generations. I see the film of how things have changed in terms of educating children over eighty years. A long time ago...
Words like Gene, Neuron, DNA or Hormone are now used casually even by children. Nature, and in particular humans, are studied using instruments that until recently belonged to science fiction. Knowledge no longer comes by word of mouth, dogma, subjective truth or faith, but thanks to the scientific method which includes double blind studies, skepticism...
As a pediatrician I meet lots of ‘types’ of parent. I see many different ways of bringing up children and I see many children each with particular requirements and at times problems. I asked myself if the experience of having children is in some way useful in bringing up future children, if young parents feel...
The explanation given to me by a student as to why his classmate always scored better marks in class tests was: “Well, he has a way”. Some time ago I saw a film where a guy says to a shop owner: “Nice shop you have here! It’d be a pity if something happened to it”....
We speak of placebo effect when a substance that has no pharmacologic effect gives a therapeutic result. Fever, pain and vomiting are ways to get better but have an associated cost. The pain related to an ankle sprain stops us from walking and is the price to avoid making things worse. Fever kills bacteria, but...
