Health & Science

Do I have a deal for you! But you need to act today… three other families are VERY interested! We like to believe that we make decisions based solely on accurate information, logic and reason. But human nature (and the human brain) is such that our decisions are also significantly influenced by other factors. These include emotions, personal biases, memories,...

“The association of increased risk of COVID-19 with higher numbers of prior vaccine doses in our study, was unexpected. We still have a lot to learn about protection from COVID-19 vaccination, and in addition to a vaccine’s effectiveness it is important to examine whether multiple vaccine doses given over time may not be having the beneficial effect that is generally...

“Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world” – Dacher Keltner, Ph.D.* Consider the feeling when a piece of music stops you in your tracks. You experience a surge of intense positive emotion that’s difficult to put into words. It washes over you. Maybe you tear up or feel the need...

New Year’s resolutions are the bane of self-improvers everywhere (although gym owners do love all the January sign-up’s). Certainly, it can be helpful to pick a “start date” or “quit date” for a change you want to make. But the “New Year’s Resolution” has many potential drawbacks. For one, this concept carries so much cultural weight—the heavy expectations can...

Happy New Year Crozet! This first week of the new year brings out the optimist in most of us. A new year, a new chance, new resolutions and new determination to do better this year. It is easy to be optimistic for 2023 being a better year than the last few. The three terrible Covid pandemic years seem now to...

In October, the Albemarle County Service Authority included a notice with each water bill it sent to the 71,000 people in the urban system around Charlottesville and the 11,213 clients in Crozet. The insert had a link that opened to a survey, where customers could express their opinions, not only about the quality of the water, but also about...

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is the current formal terminology to describe familiar syndromes such as alcoholism, drug abuse, and addiction.   SUD covers a broad range of substances, including alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, opioids, cocaine and others. Each has distinct properties, with different intoxication syndromes, withdrawal symptoms, and addiction potential.  But they all activate the brain reward systems, leading to reinforcement...