Caroline Williams

THE mood swings I could handle. Ditto the night sweats, irregular periods and a libido that swung between randy teenager and old maid. Then the menopause came for my brain and enough was enough. If ageing “naturally” meant giving up the job I love because I could no longer think, I was out. Bring on the hormone replacement therapy.
Within weeks, I found energy reserves that I had forgotten I had. The urge to crawl into bed mid morning disappeared and was replaced with a clear head and renewed...

How our brains interpret signals from within the body has a surprisingly big influence on the mind, an insight that is leading to new ways to tackle conditions like depression, anxiety and eating disorders

You've got to feel sorry for the early anatomists. There they were, diligently cataloguing the organs of the human body, and they managed to miss on of the biggest ones we have.
It's not that they didn't see it, it just didn't look all that important at the time. Fascia, a sticky, slimy, whitish tissue that winds its way through our bodies, was messy and annoying and got in the way of everything else, so they scraped it off and threw it away. And so, for hundreds of years, it was dismissed as nothing more than a natural version of clingfilm...

SCIENTIFIC revelations come from the unlikeliest of places. Like a rat, in a lab, doing a “downward dog” stretch.
According to the people who found a way to get rats to do yoga, these creatures benefit from a good stretch as much as we do. In the process, they are revealing the true significance of a body tissue that has been overlooked by science for centuries.

Time to get up to speed with the cutting-edge science of the mind-body connection and discover how just a little bit of movement could shift your own head to a better place
A New Scientist best book of 2021
Shortlisted for the 'Sports Performance Book of the Year' Award for 2022

It’s early January and like everyone else, I’m shattered. Two cups of tea have barely made a dent in my morning malaise, so I’m forcing down a fizzy ginseng, guarana and green tea drink that promises a “natural boost” to help me make it through the day. Now I feel sick and tired.
The quest for more energy, more zest, more vim and vigour sustains a multimillion-pound wellness industry, which thrives on selling the promise of boundless energy to the worried well. Most of it is anything but evid...

As the coronavirus crisis goes on, an increasing number of us are feeling worn out and unable to cope. Here’s how you can tell if this is burnout, and what you can do to protect yourself

All of us are vulnerable to psychological manipulation, due to quirks in the way our brains create our perception of the world. Understanding how that happens can help strengthen our defences.

According to a growing body of research, our ability to balance – one of humanity’s hardest-won evolutionary skills – is beginning to fade away. Around the world, falls that lead to serious injury or death are on the rise. Here's why that matters for our mental and physical health and what we can do about it.

“JUST do it,” they say. If only it were that easy. It doesn’t seem to matter how much you want to get fit, eat better, spend money more wisely or work towards a promotion, something always comes along to knock you off course. The only thing for it is to game your brain. So here are the most scientific ways to do just that and reach your goals, in spite of yourself.

Fasting diets are getting ever more popular, amid promises of weight loss and better health, but does the science stand up? We put the latest one to the test...

Interview with BBC World Hacks about the effects of exercise on the brain.

I‘m not the kind of girl who jumps into a strange man’s car and hopes for the best. Especially when a quick Google stalk reveals him to be recovering from an addiction to methamphetamine. But having been assured by someone I trust that he was “one of the good guys,” I accepted his offer of a ride to the airport and … hoped for the best.

Fake news travels fast. But why does anyone actually believe it? It has been widely assumed that fake news spreads because we like to believe stories that confirm our world view.
But a study of more than 3000 people suggests otherwise...

The brain’s secret powerhouse that makes us who we are
Once regarded as having only a bit-part role in mental operations, the cerebellum could actually be the crowning achievement of our brain's evolution
By Caroline Williams
TUCKED away beneath the rest of the brain and only a tenth of its size, the cerebellum is typically seen as a trusty neural sidekick. Like Watson trailing behind Sherlock Holmes, it was useful enough, but not nearly as interesting...