Researchers have recorded brain signals for pain for the first time, using a machine learning technique that could lead to treatments for the condition. They recorded pain-related data inside the brains of individuals with chronic pain disorders caused by stroke or amputation. Scientists have long sought to understand how pain is represented by brain activity. Read more
Auckland intimacy counsellor Angela Rennie has seen first-hand the devastating impact pornography has on relationships and individuals. “I would say it’s the biggest addiction society has seen and no one is really doing anything about it. The statistics are eye-opening, people are watching pornography from very young,” she says. Read more
A leading expert in cyberpsychology describes a digital culture today in which children and pre-teens have virtually unfiltered access to online pornography, and she predicts that one day parents who fail to monitor their children’s online activity may be found guilty of criminal child abuse. “I can see later down the line that parents or Read more
Of the items you might expect to see in the workplace of a professor of public health, a poker machine is probably not one. The Dolphin Treasure pokie sits on a bench in Charles Livingstone’s office at Monash University in Melbourne, too heavy for even two people to move and emblazoned with gaudy dolphins swimming merrily Read more
LISBON — On a broken-down set of steps, a 37-year-old fisherman named Mario mixed heroin and cocaine and carefully prepared a hypodermic needle. “It’s hard to find a vein,” he said, but he finally found one in his forearm and injected himself with the brown liquid. Blood trickled from his arm and pooled on the Read more
Matt Talbot was a drunk. His father was a drunk. Nearly every one of his brothers was a drunk. He was uneducated and unskilled, and he died in obscurity. And someday soon, God willing, Venerable Matt Talbot will be a saint. Talbot (1856-1925) was the second of 12 children born to a working class Dublin Read more
I was visiting friends when I got the call to go to the hospital. I’d been expecting it for the last few years. I ran to find the ward on which my brother was lying in a bed on a ventilator. “Am I too late?” I asked. “No, Steve’s still with us,” somebody told me. Read more
The word “addiction” brings to mind alcohol and drugs. Yet, over the past 20 years, a new type of addiction has emerged: addiction to social media. It may not cause physical harms, such as those caused by tobacco and alcohol, but it has the potential to cause long-term damage to our emotions, behaviour and relationships. Read more
For years, poker machine addicts have been held accountable for their problem gambling. But new research reveals that it is in fact the machine’s manufacturers who should take responsibility for player addiction to the pokies. In days gone by, for many families, a lunch at the local club wasn’t complete until the adult diners had Read more
The public is becoming increasingly aware that pornography addiction is a real problem for many men and women in our culture—and Catholics are no exception. Yet as Catholics, our first thought may be to try to eradicate any sinful behavior with some good old-fashioned perseverance and, of course, grace from the Sacrament of Confession. I Read more