RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Irritable bowel syndrome [IBS] affects more than one-fifth of the world’s population. It is more widespread in women than men. It appears to be somewhat predominant before age 35 — but, is infrequent after age 40 — in half of the affected individuals. Statistics too suggests that IBS affects an estimated 10.5 per […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR The tropical rain forest is mankind’s lungs. Though the Earth cannot live without the rain forest — nature’s ‘automaton’ that turns carbon dioxide into oxygen — one alarming fact is apparent. About 50,000 hectares of rain forest are destroyed each day by burning to making way for beef farmers and fields for arable […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR It is a matter of routine; also, clockwork. From the time we get up each morning until the time we go to bed each night, we are like a parched mop. We are constantly taking in far too much information than required, thanks to a glut, or never-ending tags of information out there. […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR It all emerged, quite amusingly, from an unlikely pioneer, who, as a kid bearing a fragile, delicate frame, was, otherwise, perky in school with his relentless inquisitiveness. While not much is known of Sigmund Freud’s early life, because he purged his personal writings, twice over, his subsequent papers were strictly embargoed in the […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR We live in an era of paradoxes — of sometimes pleasing, usually passable, and most often ear-splitting music, aside from the typecast ‘stamp,’ or raucous remix[ed] digressions, thanks to hi-tech glitz. This isn’t all. There seems to be a growing penchant for Punjabi-accentuated songs in Hindi films today — rather than perceptible Hindi numbers. […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Hope is, in simple terms, a hovering, oft-soaring element in our culture. It is also a part of received wisdom, not to speak of works of fiction — old and new. Yet, it is only in contemporary life that hope is disclosing its connotation in scientific studies. Most adults plagued by long-lasting illnesses, […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR It is a fact that we are riddled by the overriding premise that microbes, or microorganisms, are our ecological foes and that they are meant only to be destroyed. This is how the origin of the word, ‘bug,’ first came into vogue for bacteria — illustrating a creepy sense of apprehension for all […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR “Blessings on him, who first invented sleep,” eulogised Miguel de Cervantes, the legendary writer. Yet, the irony is there is a distinct, also alarming, lack of awareness about sleep in the community — general and medical. Many physicians, for instance, continue to simply miss, or ignore, the ever-cascading, veritable surplus of sleep-related disorders. […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR There just can’t be a better example of globalised fascination than cartoon strips. You know them all — the great, all-time favourites. However, none comes close to one classical genre that is in a league of its own — the much-loved Asterix. It is a delight that’s going as strong as ever — […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR We sense, we sight, we smell, we touch, we hear, we taste, and so on — and, yet, we don’t always bestow our mind’s eye, or ‘I,’ for such subtleties. This credo holds good for our feelings, or emotions — our fundamental constituent that makes us what we are. The paradox also is […]