Uci news

This latest piece of kit is aiming to put an end to the annoyance of flossing. We’ve all managed to get that piece of coloured string stuck in our gums. Alas, no more. Water flossers provide a powerful stream of water, designed to get rid of plaque in those hard-to-reach areas. It’s one of the latest ways to supercharge your oral hygiene, working alongside an electric toothbrush. Thinking of getting your hands on one? We’ve got you covered. Below are our top picks based on in-depth research and analysis of consumer reviews. Binefia Water Flosser Binefia’s budget water flosser comes with five cleaning settings to choose from: soft, gentle, normal, strong and pulse. This ensures the pressure can be personalised to users’ mouths, which can help with sensitive teeth and areas, as well as ensure it’s suitable for children. The Binefia include a 360-degree gravity ball design, created to change the direction of the jet to help clean from any angle, claiming to work well for braces,...

Instant Genius is a bite-sized masterclass in podcast form. And in this episode, we’re discussing how music and sound influences your focus. What music will improve your concentration most? Could the hubbub of a coffee shop increase your attention span? And what’s the deal with white noise? To answer all your questions about how to best use sound to boost your focus, we’re joined by Dr Nick Perham , reader in applied cognitive psychology at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Find  Instant Genius  on your preferred podcast platform here:  instantgenius.podlink.to/Podcast Listen to more episodes of Instant Genius: The electrome, with Sally Adee Big Garden Birdwatch, with Adrian Thomas Emotions, with Dr Dean Burnett Biodiversity, with Dr Andrew Terry How to change your habits, with Dr Gabija Toleikyte The food of the future, with Evan Fraser from BBC Science Focus Magazine https://ift.tt/sbIy6LT

Instant Genius is a bite-sized masterclass in podcast form. And in this episode, we’re discussing ChaptGPT, the AI chatbot that can create essays, poems, full movie scripts and more from a simple worded prompt. In recent days, it’s flooded headlines, with many schools in the US banning the technology. But could ChatGPT actually enhance learning in the UK? Yes, according to Sam Illingworth , an associate professor in the department of Learning Enhancement at Edinburgh Napier University. He outlines why teachers should embrace the online tool. Find  Instant Genius  on your preferred podcast platform here:  instantgenius.podlink.to/Podcast Listen to more episodes of Instant Genius: The electrome, with Sally Adee Big Garden Birdwatch, with Adrian Thomas Emotions, with Dr Dean Burnett Biodiversity, with Dr Andrew Terry How to change your habits, with Dr Gabija Toleikyte The food of the future, with Evan Fraser from BBC Science Focus Magazine https://ift.t...

As flawed beings with fragile egos making our way in a hostile, unpredictable world, psychologists have long recognised that we cope by deploying psychological defences . These often take the form of self-serving cognitive biases. For instance, we’re prone to the ‘better-than-average’ effect, whereby we think we’re better than most others at various skills from driving to maths ; or we’ll tend to attribute other people’s successes to good luck, while seeing our own good results as a sign of innate talent. Getting defensive when we’re criticised, or when we make a mistake, is yet another of these self-protective mechanisms. As the politicians so often say: “mistakes were made, but not by me”. So, when you give someone negative feedback or you criticise them or their beliefs, you are – perhaps unwittingly – threatening their psychological defences. By forcing them to recognise how they’ve erred, you’re likely to trigger extremely uncomfortable social emotions, such as a shame, guilt o...

Time, they say, waits for no man. It also doesn’t hesitate to start chipping away at your adult form. One minute, you’re in your 20s and your body and brain are seemingly impervious to the clock and any debauched lifestyle choices you may be making. The next, you’ve tipped over into your 30s and everything changes. Fat begins to cling on due to you consuming more calories than you’re burning. Your bone density starts declining faster than you can rebuild it. But, says the prosaically titled 2004 paper ‘ Muscle tissue changes with ageing ’ in the journal Current Opinion In Clinical Nutrition And Metabolic Care , “One of the most striking effects of age is the involuntary loss of muscle mass, strength and function, termed sarcopenia. Muscle mass decreases approximately 3 to 8 per cent per decade after the age of 30 and this rate of decline is even higher after the age of 60.” So what should you do? Roll over and accept your inevitable deterioration? Of course not. Here are some easy ...