You vacuum it, sweep it and wipe it off your furniture. But do you know what it actually is – and how it may affect your health?

Frequent use of words associated with sound is one clue to the later emergence of psychosis, a machine-learning method indicates.

What are the rules that make a man a father?

To sleep or to snooze? You probably know the answer, but you don’t prefer it.

Outdoor air pollution has been widely studied and regulated for decades, but the quality of indoor air and its potential risks were little unrecognized until the early 2000s. Yet in temperate climates we can spend up to 90% of our time in closed environments (houses, schools, offices, transportation, etc.), where we may be exposed to numerous pollutants. The question of indoor air quality has therefore become a major public health concern across the globe.

We know we should eat less junk food, such as crisps, industrially made pizzas and sugar-sweetened drinks, because of their high calorie content. These “ultra-processed” foods, as they are now called by nutritionists, are high in sugar and fat, but is that the only reason they cause weight gain? An important new trial from the US National Institute of Health (NIH) shows there’s a lot more at work here than calories alone.

Vitamin D, if taken for at least three years, could help cancer patients live longer, say researchers.

It seems the world is finally coming to terms with the fact that humans evolved to stand, not to sit – well, health researchers, savvy office workers and many commuters, at least.

On the one hand, cheese is an excellent source of minerals like calcium and magnesium, vitamins A, B2 and B12, not to mention being a complete protein. On the other hand, cheese is also a significant source of saturated fat and sodium in our diets. To lower saturated fat intake, consuming reduced-fat cheese is sometimes recommended to lower cardiovascular disease risk.

Life pits the order and intricacy of biology against the ceaseless chaos of physics. The second law of thermodynamics, or the thermodynamic arrow of time, states that any natural system will always tend towards increasing disorder. Biological ageing is no different, making death inevitable. However, one of the least-addressed questions of ageing is the apparent paradox between the optimizing drive of evolution, and the inevitable deterioration of the body.

Motion sickness can be mild, but in some people it’s debilitating, and takes the fun out of a holiday.

Have you had a less-than-stellar performance review lately? Do you daydream, or are you making bad decisions?

Taking a walk on a wooded path, spending an afternoon in a public park, harvesting your backyard garden and even looking at beautiful pictures of Hawaii can all make us feel good. Certainly, for many of us, it’s beneficial to have time outside in natural environments.

You can live without food for three weeks and without water for up to three days. But you can’t live without air for more than three short minutes. It’s not just the abundance of air that matters – the quality is essential, too. Unfortunately, air can be contaminated with dangerous germs known as airborne pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses.