Francis O’Gorman’s study of why we worry covers everything from medieval monastic life to modern cultural theory without really providing any answersBrooding in their cells, medieval monks identified a malaise they called accidie – not acid indigestion of the soul, but an apathetic and self-disgusted inertia. It overtook them in the static afternoons, so they called it “the noonday demon”. Francis O’Gorman has a bogey of his own, which attacks him in the middle of the night, and his book about anxiety begins at 4.06 am as he works through scenarios of imaginary disaster provoked by his uncertainty about whether he has locked the back door of his house. We have all been there; some of us spend a few hours there every night, watching a digital clock indifferently bat its eyelid as we wait for the bleary dawn to brighten the sky and wipe away our panic.A monastic worrier in the fourth century, Evagrius the Solitary, said that accidie’s symptoms included “a hatred of manual labour”. O’Gorman – who is a literature professor, and as such a remote descendant of socially marginal self-flagellators like Evagrius – here sets himself a brisk therapeutic task by writing a book that attempts to cure or at least comprehend his misery. He alleviates his problem by sharing it with the rest of us: we are all, he claims, the victims of a metaphysical calamity. We worry because we no longer believe in the gods who used to control our destinies; responsible for ourselves, we are obliged to make existential choices that ought to propel us ahead but more often leave us feeling dejected, disappointed, wondering what we did wrong. Continue reading...

A recent article argued that sexuality is down to choice, not genetics. But the scientific evidence says otherwise, and points to a strong biological originIn a recent Guardian article , Simon Copland argued that it is very unlikely people are born gay (or presumably any other sexual orientation). Scientific evidence says otherwise. It points strongly to a biological origin for our sexualities. Finding evidence for a biological basis should not scare us or undermine gay, lesbian and bisexual (LGB) rights (the studies I refer to do not include transgendered individuals, so I’ll confine my comments to lesbian, gay and bisexual people). I would argue that understanding our fundamental biological nature should make us more vigorous in promoting LGB rights.Let’s get some facts and perspective on the issue. Evidence from independent research groups who studied twins shows that genetic factors explain about 25-30% of the differences between people in sexual orientation (heterosexual, gay, lesbian, and bisexual). Twin studies are a first look into the genetics of a trait and tell us that there are such things as “genes for sexual orientation” (I hate the phrase “gay gene”). Three gene finding studies showed that gay brothers share genetic markers on the X chromosome; the most recent study also found shared markers on chromosome 8. This latest research overcomes the problems of three prior studies which did not find the same results. Continue reading...

Around 60% of differences in GCSE results can be explained by genetic factors, with the same genes responsible for maths, science and the humanitiesYou may feel you are just not a maths person, or that you have a special gift for languages, but scientists have shown that the genes influencing numerical skills are the same ones that determine abilities in reading, arts and humanities.The study suggests that if you have an academic Achilles heel, environmental factors such as a teaching are more likely to be to blame. Continue reading...

There’s no treatment that actually tackles the underlying causes of this terrible disease. Solanezumab, a genetically engineered antibody, may be the firstEvery week in my neurology clinic at the Walton Neuro-Centre in Liverpool, I see people who are worried that they may have Alzheimer’s disease. Perhaps this is not surprising, given there is a news story about the disease almost daily, an estimated 850,000 people in the UK have dementia, and the government has described it as “one of the greatest challenges of our lifetime”. This is why news of solanezumab, a drug that appears to slow decline in Alzheimer’s patients, has provoked such interest.Currently, the treatments we can offer patients with Alzheimer’s disease are very limited Continue reading...

The search for extraterrestrial life is seen as one of pure curiosity. But, as in other areas of science, we should worry about the consequences of success.

Australian scientists have used the example of the Cook Islands to look at how communities can prepare for violent storm surges. Across the South Pacific, tropical storms bring tidal surges that can devastate low-lying coastal communities. But complex modelling by researchers at the University of New South Wales is helping shed light on just how these wave systems work

Carlos Arturo Torres has designed a modular system that lets kids programme their own prosthetics – and this is only the start of toy-based body partsChildren could soon see their favourite toy grafted on to the end of their arm, thanks to designs for Lego prosthetics that allow everything from mechanical diggers to laser-firing spaceships to be screwed on to the end of a child’s limb.Iko is the work of the Chicago-based Colombian designer, Carlos Arturo Torres, and is a modular system that allows children to customise their own prosthetics with the ease of clicking together plastic bricks. The only limit is their imagination – and what they can find at the bottom of the Lego box. Continue reading...