PEDIATRIC OPINIONS

The chances that a reply to a question is honest depends a lot on how the question is formulated. In...

Showing someone pictures of people helping or taking care of one another mitigates his/her response to threat, danger or provocation....

Just think if you did not have a birth certificate nor anybody who remembered when you were born. What age...

We like to believe that if necessary, we would stand up to what our boss is saying, intervene to help...

If we had no basic knowledge of numbers, we would be unable to go shopping, have a bank account, understand...

Many young girls are ‘unhappy with their body’. The dissatisfaction can lead to a variety of problems amongst which anxiety,...

To succeed in work or study you must concentrate and keep your mind on what you’re doing. However there appear...

Public opinion on issues such as gay marriage, immigration, free arms sale, driving license for women may remain unchanged for...

According to a study news concerning terrorist attacks, natural disasters or potential threats becomes more negative, imprecise and dramatic as...

“Should my child be rewarded/punished for getting a good/bad mark at school?” Are reward and punishment the opposite extremes of...

Recently a mother brought her 12-year old son in for a medical visit. No particular problem, but the teachers say...

Unemployment is a serious problem and there are many reasons why young people can’t find a job. Market problems, lack...

Having to place your money in someone’s hands would you give more importance to whether the person has been recommended...

It is often said that our facial expressions are the mirror of our moods, but recent research says this is...

The ability to work together with others for an objective is called cooperation. We cooperate because advantages are greater than...

My little boy doesn’t speak while his sister at the same age was chatting away. My child has a problem...

The parent, sibling, spouse, employer, manager who ‘look after’ a matter because ‘they know’. The one who calls the other...

It was thought that the general increase in people’s average income, with the consequent increase in financial resources to spend...

However much we wash ourselves with soap, shampoo and various products, our skin remains covered with germs, virus and fungi....

Our surprise in front of something unexpected has consequences that are rather surprising. Surprise is an emotional response, but also...

A rather obvious discovery has recently been made by a group of university researchers suggesting that there may be quite...

It is well known that tone of voice, face muscles, body movements, choice of clothes and many of our behaviors,...

If you take the hand of someone who is suffering physical or psychic pain and whom you are fond of,...

Sitting in the sun favors weight loss and this effect is greatest in the early morning hours. The phenomenon was...

About twenty years ago various studies concluded that it is very important to speak to children because there is a...

If we understand what is being said when someone speaks to us our brain sends a signal that can be...

The Matabele ants risk their lives in battle every day. Two to four times a day they leave their nests...

There are things we can do alone, things we can do if someone helps us and things we can’t do...

Emotions are contagious. They are passed on automatically, rapidly and frequently from one person to another. Such contagion is at...

Research shows that people who react emotionally to a failure are less likely to repeat their mistakes than people who...

The act of touching helps form social relationships between people through a physiological process that involves hormones, in particular cortisol,...

Human newborns are the only mammals that do not stand up soon after they are born. Elephants, giraffes, and horses...

Puberty is the time when changes in boys and girls gradually take them into adulthood. These changes used to begin...

In almost all parts of the world women live from six months to four years longer than men and in...

For various reasons some people find it difficult to fall asleep, the main reason being that they have worries and...

‘Having a conversation’ is one of the most typical human activities. The speaker usually believes that the listener is interested...

We all know that eating fish is good for one’s health. An association has been observed between diets rich in...

The number of road accidents involving motorbikes, bicycles and other two-wheel vehicles is relatively high with respect to the total...

Imagine you are walking down a crowded street. You pass thousands of people, but you only notice a few faces...

An analysis of 800 million anonymous twitter messages has shown that over the 24 hours of the day our mood...

n nature biodiversity helps guarantee that the response to environmental factors will be varied. If we only had one type...

Spending too much time alone is not considered to be a good thing for one’s health and it may have...

Researchers wonder why the human race is so clever. Some believe that cooking food (in the last few hundred thousand...

Various studies have attempted to establish what happens when two people look at one another in the eye. If we...

To be successful in life one should have goals, plan ahead and avoid getting distracted. Many researchers believe that this...

 Some children find it easy to study and get good grades at school while other children find it easy to...

It was thought that the ‘desire’ and ‘attention’ sequence was one-way: if you desire something then you focus your attention...

In today’s hectic world we often feel we don’t have the time to do everything we want. Studies show that...

A study involving 775 people aged 18-91 years concludes that difficulties in establishing social ties is a risk for physical...

Some of our most important decisions are based on intuitions. Can I trust this guy? Did he do it on...

A study involving over two million families of different cultural extraction, in 14 countries says that couples that live with...

Until a few years ago it was believed that cerebral development was almost completed in the first years of life....

The act of expressing in words, whether spoken or written the memory one has of a certain event makes that...

A fear of snakes and spiders is relatively common among adults, even when they live in places where seeing such...

The most impressive feature of human evolution is the development of an amazing brain. The effort to develop such an...

Psychologists are learning how the geography of where we live affects the way we think. In China, south of the...

Studies show how our emotions are influenced by the circumstances. Feelings of anger, anguish, hunger, fear or illness are not...

A small boy I recently spoke with gave me a recipe to reduce the number of wars fought around the...

While visiting my patients I sometimes ask them about what and where they study. If I ask why they go...

By studying fossils belonging to our ancestors, researchers have concluded that six million years ago they took a giant leap...

Of the many innate social forms of behavior, maternal instinct is the strongest. Studies have attempted to establish the developmental...

From the genetic point of view two very casual encounters are at the heart of our personality. The first concerns...

Laughing is contagious. A study explains how the brain responds to someone else laughing. When someone else laughs areas light...

When a substance with no pharmacological properties has a beneficial therapeutic effect, it is called a placebo. It was thought...

We are used to reading advertisements about fitness products that guarantee a six-pack abdomen, sculpted arms, solid buttocks. We hear...

Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and that of Piedmont is the lowest in Italy....

Parents of teenage children sometimes ask me: “How could my son/daughter do such a stupid thing? Where is his/her head?”...

Which single factor more than all others conditions how our personality forms. Some say the parents, (particularly mothers), some believe...

Learning usually implies that one studies, opens a few books, goes to lessons to receive info on some still unknown...

There is a relationship between positive emotions such as happiness and living a healthy life. A large international study confirms...

A study shows that when people are part of a group they don’t behave as honestly as when alone, particularly...

Messi, Ronaldo and Federer have exceptional bodies as well as discipline, will power and stamina. But, do they also have...

Even small children expect that in assigning rewards certain rules must be followed. A study was performed on 80 infants...

It is difficult not to be moved by a toddler who is taking its first steps, who laughs when we...

For various reasons it is easy to find oneself in a situation where people speak in a foreign language. Does...

Children’s books could be a way to spread moral values and scientific info. Four to six-year old children were read,...

Small children often speak about themselves in the third person. A child who wants a sweet may say:  Paul wants...

It is not clear why ‘keeping quiet’ is not so easy. The smaller one is, the harder it is to...

Having a little chat is probably not a waste of time and might even be socially useful. It is a...

Some time ago a mother of a child who was down with another of his usual throat infections asked me...

A century ago half of all human deaths were due to infectious diseases. Today the proportion has come down to...

Children find it very easy to make new friends and with time to become part of groups. A science is...

Many human activities are harmful for nature. We speak of climate change and global warming and we fear that water...

A study has examined if in small children who do something deserving, praising the child (“What a great child you...

Teachers are usually older than their students and usually they have had more time ‘to prepare’. In the first years...

The term Fast Food is well known around the world and to be truly fast the chewing part must be...

It is known that children brought up in stressful situations are at greater risk of developing learning and behavioral disorders....

Until a few years ago it was thought that our DNA changed over generations to adapt to the environment. However,...

A study of 16 000 people belonging to 37 different cultures as concerns spoken language, habits and history discovered that...

Parents often ask me how they should respond to children who won’t listen and whether punishments are useful. I do...

Parents of children I follow often ask me for advice on how to bring up their kids. The idea is...

There is a correlation between the amazing ability humans have to learn and their rather long infancy. The almost total...

Eating a lot of processed foods may damage our health. For example, food that is rich in sugar may be...

Many of the great talents in sport, music, art etc. were discovered as children. Some great pianists were already playing...

There is considerable variation in the expressive power of three-year old children and various studies have established that disparities at...

We recognize objects even when we just see a part such as a bicycle that is partly hidden by a...

With the birth of a new child many parents see their previous child as having suddenly grown. It was thought...

Pointing a finger may seem a rather simple action. You point a finger to show someone the road, or to...

The human papilloma virus is the primary cause of cervical cancer in women and oral and genital tumors in men....

At three months of age we discriminate between strangers who help, or instead hinder, others reach their goals and we...

For most adults the “touch” interface on computers (you no longer use a keyboard) is a convenience. However, it is...

Various studies tell us that young people should sleep 8-10 hours a night to fully exploit their mental and physical...

Working as a pediatrician I get to know many children and their parents, sometimes the grandparents and occasionally the great...

Words like Gene, Neuron, DNA or Hormone are now used casually even by children. Nature, and in particular humans, are...

As a pediatrician I meet lots of ‘types’ of parent. I see many different ways of bringing up children and...

The explanation given to me by a student as to why his classmate always scored better marks in class tests...

We speak of placebo effect when a substance that has no pharmacologic effect gives a therapeutic result. Fever, pain and...

Our social relations influence our health not only psychologically but also biologically. For the elderly being socially isolated is as...

Prevention is better than treatment. A Swedish study shows that people who are about to fall ill, but do not...

A few considerations on the measles vaccine: Molecular biology studies reveal that many infectious diseases of humans derive from similar...

By the age of 2-3 years most children are capable of asking for an ice-cream or saying they do not...

Given the importance of children as a genetic vehicle, it is natural that natural selection facilitated the development of powerful...

By the age of three years children identify themselves in a cultural group. They choose toys and clothes that are...

In a study involving 140 three year olds divided into 70 pairs of boys or girls but not mixed groups,...

The first five years of life are critical for a child’s development in terms of relationship with other people, learning...

In an ever more connected world it helps to know the intentions, feelings, requirements and priorities of others. Finding solutions...

We spend quite a few years of our life playing and imagining situations that are hardly credible. Why? The evolutionary...

Children’s behavior and personality are equally conditioned by genes and environment. But, which environment? Studies on siblings, twins and adopted...

Privacy is an important aspect of the doctor patient relationship. However, too much privacy is not necessarily a good thing....

To calm a crying infant singing is more effective than speaking. A study has revealed that infants under one year...

Small children are surrounded by an enormous amount of stimuli and information. How to they know what to use and...

Adults and children often speak using their hands. In the case of children this helps them learn better. A child...

Studies reveal that there is a close relationship between living abroad for some time and being creative. Five series of...

REM sleep is a phase of sleep in which we dream. In this stage the brain is active just as...

Six-month old infants who obviously cannot speak, can discriminate between the sounds of different consonants. However, if they are sucking...

Chimps make no distinction in asking people whether blindfolded or not for food. Hide a banana under one of three...

Ever more children and youngsters who live in Europe are bilingual. This is different from immigrants born in one culture...

Nature has programed us to respond to danger in fractions of a second. With the help of cortisol, also called...

Psychologists wonder why children can be very rational in their arguments (particularly if there is something to gain for them)...

Feeling disgusted about something is a sensation that in evolutionary terms helps protect us from disease. The feeling is still...

The Aleut were a population that lived on some islands in the North Pacific with very little vegetation and no...

Of the many reasons why children should not spend too much time in front of TV, I’ll choose two. First,...

A father recently told me that he and his wife no longer went to art exhibitions as they had two...

At eighteen months of age infants understand the intentions of adults even when these are only hinted and not followed-up...

Language allows info to rapidly pass from one person to another. This exchange of data allows millions of people to...

The enormous attraction that almost all children and teenagers feel for the world outside home is necessary if they are...

At two weeks of age newborns copy someone whom they see sticking out his tongue. Newborns map the action they...

Three or four-year old children who spend a lot of time together, as happens in a kindergarten, may ‘get infected’...

A Japanese study reveals that children under one year of age are attracted by images of heroism where the weak...

By the age of 3-4 years children understand the meaning of stealing something physical. It will still take about two...

Adults usually do not have any particular difficulty crossing a road with a lot of traffic. However, only after the...

The difficulty adolescents have in getting up early in the morning appears to be due to a particular stage of...

Every day we discover new ways our genes help us develop social bonds. We knew that the shape of our...

Children have a particularly long infancy during which they are incapable of looking after themselves. What is the purpose of...

What goes on in an infant’s brain? Thirty years ago, psychologists would unanimously have said newborns are egocentric, illogical and...

We learn quite a few things before being born. The fetus learns the sound of its mother’s voice and, once...

Your four-year old runs into the kitchen with his hands over his eyes to ‘steal’ a biscuit. He believes his...

In advanced countries the incidence of allergy is twice that of less developed countries. Various studies suggest that in the...

A study has shown that children who watch TV together with their parents understand what they see much more than...

Sweating for ten minutes a day is good for children’s health. An international study on over 11 thousand children aged...

Researchers in Finland have established that a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, cereal fish and unsaturated fats between six and...

Living with cats and/or dogs could diminish the risk of becoming allergic or obese. A study has shown that newborns...