16 revealing stories about the human brain. Ever wondered how Scandinavians cope with 24-hour darkness, why we feel pain - or whether smartphones really make children stupid? Have you heard about the US army's research into supercharging minds? You need some Brainology. Written for Wellcome, the health charity, these stories follow doctors as they solve the puzzle of our emotions, nerves and behaviour. Discover fascinating and intriguing stories from the world of science. Contents Ouch! The science of pain - John Walsh Why doctors are reclaiming LSD and ecstasy - Sam Wong Inside the mind of an interpreter - Geoff Watts How should we deal with dark winters? - Linda Geddes Smartphones won't* make your kids dumb (*Probably) - Olivia Solon You can train your mind into 'receiving' medicine - Jo Marchant Charting the phenomenon of deep grief - Andrea Volpe The mirror cure for phantom limb pain - Srinath Perur Can you think yourself into a different person? - Will Storr How to survive a troubled childhood - Lucy Maddox What tail-chasing dogs reveal about humans - Shayla Love A central nervous solution to arthritis - Gaia Vince Could virtual reality headsets relieve pain? - Jo Marchant What it means to be homesick in the 21st Century - John Osborne Lighting up brain tumours with Project Violet - Alex O'Brien The US military plan to supercharge brains - Emma Young EXTRACT Ouch! The science of pain. John Walsh One night in May, my wife sat up in bed and said, 'I've got this awful pain just here.' She prodded her abdomen and made a face. 'It feels like something's really wrong.' Woozily noting that it was 2am, I asked what kind of pain it was. 'Like something's biting into me and won't stop,' she said. 'Hold on,' I said blearily, 'help is at hand.' I brought her a couple of ibuprofen with some water, which she downed, clutching my hand and waiting for the ache to subside. An hour later, she was sitting up in bed again, in real distress. 'It's worse now,' she said, 'really nasty. Can you phone thedoctor?' Miraculously, the family doctor answered the phone at 3am, listened to her recital of symptoms and concluded, 'It might be your appendix. Have you had yours taken out?' No, she hadn't. 'It could be appendicitis,' he surmised, 'but if it was dangerous you'd be in much worse pain than you're in. Go to the hospital in the morning, but for now, take some paracetamol and try to sleep.' Barely half an hour later, the balloon went up. She was awakened for the third time, but now with a pain so savage and uncontainable it made her howl like a tortured witch face down on a bonfire. The time for murmured assurances and spousal procrastination was over. I rang a local minicab, struggled into my clothes, bundled her into a dressing gown, and we sped to St Mary's Paddington at just before 4am. The flurry of action made the pain subside, if only through distraction, and we sat for hours while doctors brought forms to be filled, took her blood pressure and ran tests. A registrar poked a needle into my wife's wrist and said, 'Does that hurt? Does that? How about that?' before concluding: 'Impressive. You have a very high pain threshold.' The pain was from pancreatitis, brought on by rogue gallstones that had escaped from her gall bladder and made their way, like fleeing convicts, to a refuge in her pancreas, causing agony. She was given a course of antibiotics and, a month later, had an operation to remove her gall bladder. 'It's keyhole surgery,' said the surgeon breezily, 'so you'll be back to normal very soon. Some people feel well enough to take the bus home after the operation.' His optimism was misplaced. My lovely wife, she of the admirably high pain threshold, had to stay overnight, and came home the following day filled with painkillers; when they wore off, she writhed with suffering. After three days she rang the specialist, only to be told:'

The workplace is where 156 million working adults in the United States spend many waking hours, and it has a profound influence on health and well-being. Although some occupations and work-related activities are more hazardous than others and face higher rates of injuries, illness, disease, and fatalities, workers in all occupations face some form of work-related safety and health concerns. Understanding those risks to prevent injury, illness, or even fatal incidents is an important function of society. Occupational safety and health (OSH) surveillance provides the data and analyses needed to understand the relationships between work and injuries and illnesses in order to improve worker safety and health and prevent work-related injuries and illnesses. Information about the circumstances in which workers are injured or made ill on the job and how these patterns change over time is essential to develop effective prevention programs and target future research. The nation needs a robust OSH surveillance system to provide this critical information for informing policy development, guiding educational and regulatory activities, developing safer technologies, and enabling research and prevention strategies that serves and protects all workers. A Smarter National Surveillance System for Occupational Safety and Health in the 21st Century provides a comprehensive assessment of the state of OSH surveillance. This report is intended to be useful to federal and state agencies that have an interest in occupational safety and health, but may also be of interest broadly to employers, labor unions and other worker advocacy organizations, the workers' compensation insurance industry, as well as state epidemiologists, academic researchers, and the broader public health community. The recommendations address the strengths and weaknesses of the envisioned system relative to the status quo and both short- and long-term actions and strategies needed to bring about a progressive evolution of the current system. Table of Contents Front Matter Summary 1 Introduction 2 Building a "Smarter" National Surveillance System 3 Overview of Agencies and Stakeholders 4 Current Status of Federal and State Programs and Cross-cutting Issues 5 International Approaches to Occupational Health Surveillance 6 Promising Developments and Technologies 7 Key Actions to Move Forward with an Ideal National Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance System 8 Next Steps for Improving Worker Safety and Health Through a Smarter Occupational Surveillance System Appendix A: Recommendations Appendix B: Committee Biosketches Appendix C: Open Session Meeting Agendas Appendix D: Updates on Recommendations from the 1987 National Research Council Report "Counting Injuries and Illnesses in the Workplace: Proposals for a Better System" Appendix E: OSHA Form 300 and Related Pages

As the United States continues to adapt to a more digital, mobile, and interconnected world, health care and public health professionals have sought to better prepare for and respond to long-standing and emerging threats to the nation's health security. Health security is the collective effort to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the health consequences of natural, man-made, and technological disasters. Although substantial progress has been made in the past 15 years toward improving health care and public health systems and capacities for health security threats, many complex challenges persist, and often the nation's preparedness efforts are not sufficient. On March 8?9, 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Disasters and Emergencies hosted a two-day public workshop to acknowledge these persistent issues; to evaluate past, and perhaps inadequate, approaches to addressing them; and to discuss intentional and innovative new solutions. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop. Table of Contents Front Matter 1 Introduction 2 A Brief Overview of Health Security Threats and Programs 3 Proposed Priorities and Persistent Challenges Related to Health Security 4 Underlying Issues in Health Security 5 Potential Strategies for Strengthening the Nation's Health Security 6 Future Opportunities References Appendix A: Workshop Agenda Appendix B: Statement of Task Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Workshop Speakers and Moderators