Cold season is upon us, so it’s no wonder you’re side-eyeing that person coughing on the bus.

But does a cough mean someone is still infectious? How do you know you’re in the clear to go back to work?

Norman and Tegan talk through the science, and also how attitudes have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic.

References:

• How Long Does a Cough Last? Comparing Patients’ Expectations With Data From a Systematic Review of the Literature
• Acute cough in outpatients: what causes it, how long does it last, and how severe is it for different viruses and bacteria? 
• Estimating influenza latency and infectious period durations using viral excretion data
• Duration of viral infectiousness and correlation with symptoms and diagnostic testing in non-hospitalized adults during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection: A longitudinal cohort study
• How the pandemic shaped presenteeism trends between healthcare and non-healthcare workers using the Korean working conditions surveys (2010–2023) 
• Sickness Presenteeism in the Aftermath of COVID-19: Is Presenteeism Remote-Work Behavior the New (Ab)normal? 
• Over‐the‐counter (OTC) medications for acute cough in children and adults in community settings
• Comprehensive evidence-based review on European antitussives

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Have you heard the phrases, "aches and pain, coming rains" or about "ill health due to evil winds"? 

Many people believe they can feel a change in weather coming on because pain flares in their joints. 

Norman and Tegan unpack what could be going on, and whether it's backed by scientific evidence. 

References:

• Associations between weather conditions and osteoarthritis pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis 
• Come rain or shine: Is weather a risk factor for musculoskeletal pain? A systematic review with meta-analysis of case-crossover studies
• Cloudy with a chance of pain: How the weather affects the pain of citizen scientists using a smartphone app 
• Temperature extremes causing gout flare hospitalisation
• Can aching joints really predict the weather? Exploring the science behind the stormy debate 
• What triggers weather-related joint pain? - Harvard Health

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It’s good to be on top of your health – but how far would you go to ensure you’re staying healthy?

Ads have popped up for full-body MRIs, promising to catch things from cancer to aneurysms.

Norman and Tegan scan through the potential benefits and risks of looking inside seemingly healthy bodies. 

References:

• Principles of screening - Cancer Council
• Incidental Findings and Low-Value Care
• Prevalence of abnormalities in knees detected by MRI in adults without knee osteoarthritis: population based observational study (Framingham Osteoarthritis Study)
• Whole‐body MRI for preventive health screening: A systematic review of the literature
• The effects of incidental findings from whole-body MRI on the frequency of biopsies and detected malignancies or benign conditions in a general population cohort study
• Clinical value of whole-body magnetic resonance imaging in health screening of general adult population
• Long-Term Psychosocial Consequences of Whole-Body Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Reporting of Incidental Findings in a Population-Based Cohort Study 
• Impact of whole-body MRI in a general population study
• Elective MRI Screening of the General Public—Buyer Beware

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• At-home DNA tests — what can they tell you?
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You might've heard the qualifier that exercise is good for you – but you need to be progressing that exercise over time.

Running further, lifting heavier, exercising for longer. How important is it to up the stakes?

Norman and Tegan flex their muscles on progressive training and its benefits.

References:

• Thomas L. DeLorme and the Science of Progressive Resistance Exercise
• Associations of Muscle Mass and Strength with All-Cause Mortality among US Older Adults
• Skeletal Muscle Strength as a Predictor of All-Cause Mortality in Healthy Men 
• Progressive overload without progressing load? The effects of load or repetition progression on muscular adaptations 
• Strength and Hypertrophy Adaptations Between Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis 
• Physical activity types, variety, and mortality: results from two prospective cohort studies 

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A cruise ship at the centre of a virus outbreak — sound familiar?

Passengers and crew are beginning to disembark the MV Hondius after several cases of hantavirus sent them into quarantine. 

The virus is usually caught through contact with infected rodent urine, droppings or saliva. Transmission between humans is rare. 

Norman and Tegan answer common questions about the hantavirus, and how it compares to the handling of COVID-19. 

It’s easy to catch a yawn – you might even yawn while you’re reading this.

It’s not just humans that yawn, but all kinds of verterbrates, even fish! But contagious yawning is rarer.

Norman and Tegan unpack why we yawn in this live recording at the World Science Festival Brisbane.

References:

• Yawning: no effect of 3-5% CO2, 100% O2, and exercise 
• Brain size and neuron numbers drive differences in yawn duration across mammals and birds 
• Excessive yawning and thermoregulation: two case histories of chronic, debilitating bouts of yawning
• Different yawns, different functions? Testing social hypotheses on spontaneous yawning in Theropithecus gelada
• Why yawns are contagious—in all kinds of animals: Evolutionary biologist Andrew Gallup explains why we yawn after others 
• Mirror neuron activity during contagious yawning—an fMRI study 
• The mirror-neuron system 

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You might know them as "vestigial" organs, but we no longer overlook organs that aren’t vital for life.

While they can be removed, your tonsils, appendix and gallbladder play important roles in the body.

Norman and Tegan define what "vestigial" actually means, and how our bodies adapt to losing an organ.

References:

• How Do We Know What Human Organs Do? - JSTOR Daily 
• Tonsils, adenoids and throat infections — do doctors still recommend surgery? - ABC News
• Association of Long-Term Risk of Respiratory, Allergic, and Infectious Diseases With Removal of Adenoids and Tonsils in Childhood 
• Influence of Tonsillectomy on Various Disease Outcomes: An Outcome-wide Association Analysis and Mendelian Randomization Analysis
• Cytokine production in patients with recurrent acute tonsillitis: analysis of tonsil samples and blood - PMC 
• Association of Long-Term Risk of Respiratory, Allergic, and Infectious Diseases With Removal of Adenoids and Tonsils in Childhood - PMC 
• Microbial Composition of Human Appendices from Patients following Appendectomy 
• Long-term impacts of appendectomy associated with increased incidence of inflammatory bowel disease, infection, and colorectal cancer
• Cholecystectomy (Gallbladder Removal)

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Not a fruit lover, but eat plenty of veggies? Ever wondered if skipping that banana might actually matter?

We all know a mix of fruit and vegetables is key to a long, healthy life.

Norman and Tegan dig into whether eating little or no fruit could actually be bad for you.

References:

• What exactly is a tomato? The difference between fruit and veg - ABC News
• Key statistics and data about child and adult consumption of fruit and vegetables - Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Fresh fruit consumption and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: findings from the China Kadoorie Biobank  
• Fruit consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: results from three prospective longitudinal cohort studies 
• Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality: Results from Two Prospective Cohort Studies of US Men and Women and a Meta-Analysis of 26 Cohort Studies 
• The global burden of disease attributable to suboptimal fruit and vegetable intake, 1990-2021: a systematic analysis of the global burden of disease study 
• Fruit and vegetable consumption and all-cause mortality: evidence from a large Australian cohort study 
• A basket of new fruit varieties is coming your way – The Economist 
• Releasing a sugar brake generates sweeter tomato without yield penalty

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If you’re into skincare, you’ve probably been advertised light therapy face masks.

These high-tech hockey masks promise to plump up or heal your skin through light – often red, but sometimes yellow, green, blue or even purple.

Norman and Tegan go through the rainbow to assess where there's evidence, and where there's not.

References:

• Sweaty sauna bathing for better health - What's That Rash?
• Near Infrared Photoimmunotherapy: A Review of Recent Progress and Their Target Molecules for Cancer Therapy
• Effect of NASA Light-Emitting Diode Irradiation on Wound Healing
• Visible Red Light Emitting Diode Photobiomodulation for Skin Fibrosis: Key Molecular Pathways
• Utilization of light-emitting diodes for skin therapy: Systematic review and meta-analysis
• Photodynamic Therapy Using HMME for Port-Wine Stains: Clinical Effectiveness and Sonographic Appearance
• Effect of Blue Light on Acne Vulgaris: A Systematic Review
• The efficacy of violet light in the treatment of acne
• Featured review: What are the benefits and risks of light therapy for treating atopic eczema?
• Light therapy for preventing seasonal affective disorder

This episode first aired on December 18, 2024. 

What determines whether you’re right or left handed? Is there really such a thing as being ambidextrous?

It’s a surprisingly complicated story, and culture comes into play – some people are forced to go against their dominant hand.

Norman and Tegan parse through the history of handedness in this live recording at the World Science Festival Brisbane.

References:

• A large-scale population study of early life factors influencing left-handedness 
• The handedness of Kerrs and Carrs
• The association between switching hand preference and the declining prevalence of left-handedness with age
• Stuttering and “Retraining” Left-Handed Children in Mid-Century U.S. 
• Can training to become ambidextrous improve brain function?  
• Brain Size Associated with Foot Preferences in Australian Parrots 
• The Influence of Handedness on the Clinical Presentation and Neuropsychology of Alzheimer Disease

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