Medley

Esther Pockrandt – Australia

Many of you will already have an established meditation practice.  Yet life does test us sometimes and we lose this temporarily.  It happens to all of us. So, here’s a reminder of that which you already know, and for those of you who are new to meditation, this will help set you up. As they say, ‘Practice makes Perfect’! 

Adults who voluntarily take part in mindfulness courses are less likely to experience symptoms of anxiety and depression for at least six months after completing the programs, compared to adults who do not take part, a new analysis pooling data from 13 studies has confirmed.

University of Cambridge researchers looked at participants of group-based and teacher-led mindfulness courses, conducted in person and offered in community settings.

New research has revealed everyone's brain has a 'pain fingerprint' that varies from person to person.

The University of Essex-led study, in collaboration with the neuroscience of pain group at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, found fast-oscillating brain waves linked to brief pain and touch can differ widely in scans.

 Lake Urmia in Iran was once the world’s second largest salt lake, but since 1998 its area has shriveled by more than 90 percent.

Climate change, human consumption and sedimentation contributing to decline

More than 50 percent of the largest lakes in the world are losing water, according to a groundbreaking new assessment published today in Science . The key culprits are not surprising: warming climate and unsustainable human consumption.

Compiled by Jan Nicolaas Kind - Brazil

[Came across this incredible photo and short write up on Instagram and felt I had to share it with the readers in the category MEDLEY. Although currently Paris is not as described by Harvey Stein, due to the many demonstrations, it is to be hoped it will soon return to its majestic beauty. JNK]

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Harvey Stein is a professional photographer, teacher, lecturer, author, and curator based in New York City. He currently teaches at the International Center of Photography and has taught in several undergraduate and graduate photography programs. 

Social relationships influence physical health, but questions remain about the nature of this connection. New research in Social Psychological and Personality Science suggests that the way you feel about your close relationships may be affecting the way your body functions.

Previous smaller-scale studies have examined the connection between relationship conflict or satisfaction with stress levels and blood pressure. The new research examines the effects of positive and negative relationship experiences on the body, as well as how these experiences and health outcomes change from day to day.

Dara Eklund -- USA 

It may be a small house with few windows and doors. It may be too open, too ready and anxious for a passing footstep or would-be intruder. It may be dull and suspicious or contriving. The house of a thousand secrets is the human heart. That house, which thought by thought and deed by deed we daily build, can expand as large as the great Universe itself, or contract until its dweller lives fearfully and painfully isolated from its surroundings.