People spending close to a third of waking lives on phones An analysis of trends in mobile phone usage has found that people in mobile-first markets spend close to a third of their waking hours using their phones. The report, from analytics firm App Annie, concluded that across the top ten markets analysed, the average…
A Parent’s Perspective The words “New year, new me” can ring a bit hollow for us and for our families if we know that so many resolutions and plans that we made in other years were quickly forgotten or abandoned. Left to ourselves, we human beings can often find life a struggle or, even if…
Children’s Corner Over the Christmas many people may have given or received bath salts as a gift. The popular substance is dissolved in bathwater to enhance the experience and is said to have medicinal qualities. The use of salts for healing purposes has been happening for thousands of years and can be tracked back to…
New resource helps care home residents and families during pandemic Care home residents and their families have been particularly affected during the pandemic. In response to this, a new online resource led by Queen’s University Belfast has been developed to bridge the gaps of information to enable carers and their families to make informed decisions around end of life…
by Marta Osborne Love Notes The Christmas season can be a very reflective and prayerful time when after all the preparations we finally stop and consider the great mystery, the Word became flesh, God became man. As our hearts are rejoicing at the birth of our saviour this might just be the perfect time to…
Like many other families we went for a walk after Christmas. The rain from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day had turned the streets/paths into a pool of puddles to the delight of my children. It was a fantastic distraction as they would walk five kilometres easily jumping from puddle to puddle. As the children were…
Egyptian pharaoh’s mummy digitally unwrapped for first time The mummified body of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh has been studied for the first time in millennia after being digitally “unwrapped”. The mummy of Amenhotep I, who ruled from 1525 to 1504 BC, was found at a site in Deir el-Bahari 140 years ago. However, archaeologists have…
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental health has been considerable with a marked a rise in loneliness and social isolation over the past 18 months. While studies show that all ages of the population have been affected, it points to a disproportionate impact on younger adults who have felt the brunt of Covid…
Living Laudato Si At COP26 in Glasgow there were many disappointments especially in the failure of our world leaders to act with the urgency that is needed to respond to the ecological crises we face. Many people came away disappointed, frightened and in despair. However, there was another COP26 story which I witnessed and that…
Using mechanical tools improves our language skills Our ability to understand the syntax of complex sentences is one of the most difficult language skills to acquire. In 2019, research had revealed a correlation between being particularly proficient in tool use and having good syntactic ability. A new study, by researchers from Inserm, CNRS, Université Claude…
Maria Byrne
Chai Brady
Dr Kevin McCarroll