Last week there was Ryan Gosling breaking up a New York street fight, and Kate Winslet scooping up Richard Branson 's frail mother during a house fire. Now Brad Pitt can also add Hollywood superhero to his resume.
World War Z, Pitt's latest film, is an apocalyptic yarn set in Scotland. While shooting a scene in Glasgow's George Square earlier this week, the ever-gorgeous lead actor donned his metaphoric cape and rescued an extra that was in danger of being trampled by a crowd of zombies and fearful Scots.
While trying to flee from the "scourge of the face eaters", a woman fell in the stampede. Fortunately Pitt reacted quickly, carrying her to safety with just a badly-grazed knee.
Poor woman, being swept up by Mr Pitt. Must've been truly awful for her.
When we think of addictions, we tend to think in terms of heroin, poker and Twinkies. Not tanning, right?
But researchers at the UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that tanning beds frequently may be "spurred by an addictive neurological reward-and-reinforcement trigger". In other words: the same brain patterns were exhibited by tanners as other addictive behaviours, such as smoking and drinking.
This could explain why some women, particularly, continue to use tanning beds despite the increased risk of developing melanoma -- the most lethal form of skin cancer.
"Using tanning beds has rewarding effects in the brain so people may feel compelled to persist in the behaviour even though it's bad for them," said Dr. Bryon Adinoff, professor of psychiatry and senior author of the study available online and in a future print edition of Addiction Biology.
According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, every year around 120,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed in the U.S. alone. People under 30 who use a tanning bed 10 times a year have eight times' the risk of developing malignant melanoma.
Like smoking, the warnings are there, so why are we still using tanning beds? If you use them, does the 'high' of ultra-violet rays outweigh the inherent risk?
Have a strong silent type at home driving you to drink? Then read on.
New research from the University of Missouri claims the reason males don't want to talk is not because they fear a threat to their masculinity; they simply don't find talking to be a "particularly useful activity." Ever.
Whereas the girls and women studied found that talking through problems made them "feel cared for, understood and less alone", boys thought talking would make them feel “weird” and like they were “wasting time”.
Before you go tearing out your hair in frustration, consider that such gender differences must be innate. After all, four different studies -- involving 2,000 kids and teens -- unanimously agreed that boys learn early on that talking through problems isn't always helpful.
The article, “How Girls and Boys Expect Disclosure About Problems Will Make Them Feel: Implications for Friendships”, to be published in an upcoming edition of the journal Child Development, points out that while boys may need a little coaxing to open up, girls could do with some 'clamming' up.
Too much of a good thing can be bad. Too much talk can in fact cause girls to dwell on their problems, leading to anxiety and depression.
How do you get your man, big or small, to open up and talk to you?
Printer-friendly version