Feature Channels: Winter Holidays

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What’s the best way to give gifts this holiday season? Should you do it anonymously? Does your motivation matter? If these sound like philosophical questions, don’t fear. Larry Temkin, Distinguished Professor in Rutgers University–New Brunswick’s philosophy department in the School of Arts and Sciences and an expert on ethics, draws on many centuries of philosophical thought on gift-giving to suggest nine points worth thinking about this holiday season.

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Families and caregivers of people with cancer may view the holidays as a particularly challenging time, often feeling as though they have to live up to the ideal of merry and bright, when they—and those they’re tending—typically don’t feel that way. Cedars-Sinai experts offer 6 tips for making the most of the holidays while caring for someone with cancer.

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Eating is a cultural part of our holiday traditions but, for more and more Americans, a simple holiday gathering could lead to a medical emergency with a bite of the wrong food.

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For many, the holiday season is a time of overeating, but a Houston Methodist personal trainer says this year you can beat the battle of the bulge by using the classic tune “The 12 Days of Christmas.”

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A quarter of parents of young children who drink alcohol on special occasions do not think about limiting how much they drink or whether they’ll be able to take care of their child the next day, according to a new national poll.

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A monthly roundup of research briefs showcasing recent scientific advances led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center faculty.

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The average primary care doctor needs to work six more hours a day than they already do, in order to make sure their patients get all the preventive and early-detection care they deserve, a new study finds. Fortunately, the new study was written as a parody -- no one is asking doctors to work past midnight every night. At least, not yet.

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With the holiday party season in full swing, deciding what to wear can be the biggest headache. But paying attention to what you eat at such occasions might reveal it’s your diet more in need of a makeover. The good news is experts at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) can help.

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What if, instead of turning up the thermostat, you could warm up with high-tech, flexible patches sewn into your clothes – while significantly reducing your electric bill and carbon footprint? Engineers at Rutgers and Oregon State University have found a cost-effective way to make thin, durable heating patches by using intense pulses of light to fuse tiny silver wires with polyester. Their heating performance is nearly 70 percent higher than similar patches created by other researchers, according to a Rutgers-led study in Scientific Reports.

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Amid the many warnings this holiday season about protecting your identity while shopping online comes advice from Scott Shackelford, associate professor of business law and ethics in the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and one of the nation's leading cybersecurity experts.

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Chilling sub-zero temperatures. Astounding snowfalls. The weather outside is frightful. Yet under the snow and frost, life in soils carries on! Soils Matter, Soil Science Society of America’s science-based blog, provides insights to soils in winter and the organisms that live there.

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Enjoy the holiday season while eliminating the possibilities of hazardous home fires.

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'Tis the season to be merry and bright! But you may be feeling less than joyful during the "most wonderful time of the year." Do you experience stress, anxiety or even depression from November to January? If so, you're not alone.

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The gift of promoting a healthy lifestyle is probably the most valuable thing you could give to someone you care about this holiday season, yet it can also turn into a potential landmine of gift-giving disasters.

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It is easy to remember steps to prevent the body from getting cold, but what can be done to protect the eyes when cold weather hits?

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With temperatures dipping below freezing, consider the toll that frost is taking on your skin. The good news is experts from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) can help keep your skin in tip-top condition as the winter weather takes hold.

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Cutting back considerably on high-calorie foods, even full meals, in the days or weeks before Thanksgiving in anticipation of pigging out on turkey, sweet potato pie and other traditional dishes on the big day is a common pre-holiday diet plan.

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Frank Riga, PhD, emeritus professor of English at Canisius College and Santa expert, shares an excerpt from his research on the subject including the history of St. Nicholas, Santa Claus and the arrival of Anti-Claus, aka The Grinch.

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As we sit down to partake of the annual Thanksgiving feast, it’s worth noting that much of what we eat comes from Florida farmers, say University of Florida researchers. Better still, scientists with the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences try to see if they can breed and grow certain crops in Florida to help growers and consumers.

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Looking for ways to make your Thanksgiving feast more nutritious? Here are some suggestions for preparing dishes:

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Romance is the name of the game on Valentine’s Day, and keeping sneezing, wheezing and watery eyes out of the mix helps put everyone more in the mood for love. Here are five tips from ACAAI to help make your Valentine’s Day special.

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When the temperature dips below freezing, it’s critical to protect your skin from cold-weather health risks. Frostbite occurs when the skin – and sometimes the tissue beneath the skin – freezes due to prolonged exposure to cold temperatures. Depending on how long and how frozen the tissue, frostbite can result in severe, sometimes permanent, damage. To stay warm and prevent frostbite, follow these tips from the American Academy of Dermatology.

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CU Boulder researchers have developed a new, non-invasive method for assessing mitochondrial function and a 'metabolic rehab' program to improve it

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A global-scale analysis of human birth rate cycles co-led by Indiana University reveals that online interest in sex rises at Christmas and certain other holidays, with more babies born nine months later.

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BRANDY is the UK’s favourite Christmas spirit, according to research into our festive online searches from the University of Warwick

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In Shortsville, New York, about 30 miles east of Rochester, reindeer brothers Moose and Little Buddy call a little farm home. Their owner, Mike Schaertl, was looking forward to Little Buddy’s first holiday season, but last month the 5-month-old reindeer got very sick.

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New research suggests that a slightly underactive thyroid may affect a women’s ability to become pregnant—even when the gland is functioning at the low end of the normal range, according to a study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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The scientists hope understanding how immune cells adapt as they enter different tissues will spur the design of better, more specific, medicines.

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A new video by the University of Warwick highlights a bitter side to our sugar consumption at Christmas. The short film highlights how excessive consumption of sugar can affect our health – and how the sugar trade in the past and today has caused inequality and bloodshed.Today Britons eat too much sugar, on average 10 per cent of our daily calories come from sugar which is equivalent to 60 g per day; however WHO guidelines state that adults should eat no more than of 30g of sugar a day which is just five per cent of our daily calorific intake.

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Parents may underestimate the importance of preparing new sitters for common scenarios like injuries or more serious emergencies.

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how to cope with stress over the holiday month.