Generation Next Blog

May 2016

Are Electronic Cigarettes A Gateway To Adolescent Smoking?

By |2020-10-30T12:45:44+11:00May 1st, 2016|Categories: Drugs & Alcohol, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , |

Adolescents are experimenting with electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and there is speculation that this might lead some young people who would not otherwise have smoked cigarettes to progress to smoking (the gateway effect). However, after ten years of experience in other countries where e-cigarettes are widely available, there is no evidence that this is happening. In [...]

Breakthrough Study Found The ‘Happiness Genes’

By |2016-05-01T16:04:36+10:00May 1st, 2016|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , |

https://youtu.be/Nd7ffDXrw5U Everybody reacts to emotions differently. There are so many different ways that influence how one can experience emotions, and a new study suggests that DNA may be one of them. In a new study about human genetics, it was found that the "happiness gene" may affect how people experience happiness. For the very [...]

Psychologists Reveal One Of The Best Ways To Boost Your Mood

By |2016-05-01T22:00:02+10:00May 1st, 2016|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Science & Research|Tags: , , , , , |

Helping others boosts your mood more than helping yourself, new study suggests. Credit: Kelvin Murray/ Getty Images When we’re having a rough day, many of us tend to treat ourselves to some form of retail therapy, a favorite dessert or going out with friends in hopes of feeling better. But a new study published [...]

The War On Drugs Have Failed – Time To Stop Fighting And Start Thinking

By |2020-10-30T12:46:19+11:00May 1st, 2016|Categories: Drugs & Alcohol|Tags: , , , , , |

When the world’s nations committed to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) last year, they probably weren’t thinking about drugs. But they should have been. Without effective drug control strategies, marginalisation, poverty and inequality will persist in societies. Evidence shows that prohibitionist approaches have not worked – from 1998 to 2008 the number of people using [...]

Scientists Just Published A List Of The 50 Most Incorrectly Used Terms In Psychology

By |2016-05-02T10:15:29+10:00May 1st, 2016|Categories: Science & Research|Tags: , , , , , , |

Stock Images Words are hard to get right, particularly in science. Not only do the same words mean entirely different things whether you’re using them in regular conversation or in a  scientific context (hello, "theory"), but the more we use certain words and phrases, the faster they can lose their original meaning, or [...]

April 2016

Should Tourists Climb Uluru?

By |2016-05-08T18:51:00+10:00April 27th, 2016|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , |

Climbers scale Uluru in the Northern Territory. Photo: Bryan Charlton It's 6pm and there's something of a party atmosphere at the Uluru sunset viewing area. It's packed out with tourists from around the world who've staked out their spots to watch the nightly show. A woman wearing khakis and an Akubra is perched [...]

60 Minutes: Tara Brown’s Comments Were Wrong

By |2016-05-01T21:58:16+10:00April 25th, 2016|Categories: Society & Culture, Technology|Tags: , , , , , |

An emotional Tara Brown explains her perspective on 60 Minutes after being released from a Beirut jail following the botched child recovery story. Photo: Channel Nine Tara Brown is wrong. On Sunday night's episode of 60 Minutes, she defended her involvement in the failed "recovery" of Sally Faulkner's two children from Lebanon. Instead of a [...]

‘Flying High’: Australia’s Love Affair With Stimulants

By |2020-10-30T12:47:49+11:00April 21st, 2016|Categories: Drugs & Alcohol|Tags: , , , , , |

According to the 2014 World Drug Report published by the United Nations Office of Drug Control (UNODC), Australia has some of the highest rates of stimulant use in the world. It should be noted that it is problematic to compare one country to another when it comes to illicit drug use as data is collected in different ways and community attitudes and policing methods vary [...]

Too Much Screen Time Worsen Kids’ Ability To Read Emotions

By |2016-04-21T09:02:24+10:00April 20th, 2016|Categories: Cybersafety, Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , |

Getty Images Too much face-to-screen time and not enough face-to-face interaction could degrade kids' ability to read other people's emotions, a new study suggests. A team of researchers from UCLA discovered that a group of sixth graders who didn't use a phone, TV or computer for five days were much better at reading [...]

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