Resolutions: Two Sides to Every Story Science always seems to be able to prove just about anything! First butter is good for us, then it's bad; coffee is bad for the heart, then it's good for the memory, cancer and menopausal women. Have you made any resolutions for this year? Do you still have them, or have they already been packed away for another year along with the Christmas decorations? Here are some of the latest surprising scientific findings on a few 'baddies' to help you keep from getting too fanatical. Remember, there are two sides to every story. Happy New Year! A Little of What You Fancy Does You Good A daily tipple can boost memory, according to new research from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Rats that consumed the equivalent of one or two beers a day showed marked improvement in remembering emotional stimuli. The modest alcohol consumption strengthened communication between memory neurons. (A heavy alcohol diet, however, made it difficult for the rats to recognise specific objects…I shall refrain from making some funny comment – or several -  here!). Quitting to Win If at first you don’t succeed, then quit! Psychologists at the University of British Columbia in Canada asked 90 adolescent girls about the tendency to hold on to unattainable goals. Over the next year, the found that the girls who said they never gave up had more quickly increasing levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) as compared with the girls who were moderately good at letting go. High levels of CRP often precede the development of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Researchers are not sure yet how the rising levels of CRP translate into future health problems, but they are exploring this further. It seems the art is in knowing when to give up on a goal. Smoking Away Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is famous for its symptoms of hallucinations and delusions, but sufferers also face debilitating impairments in memory, attention and thought organisation. Standard treatments with antipsychotic medications do little to compensate for intellectual loss. In an attempt to improve mental clarity many patients turn to cigarettes. The fact that about 85% of schizophrenics smoke led researchers to investigate the therapeutic effects of nicotine in the diseased brain.  According to patients who smoke, cigarettes alleviate some of the symptoms; research shows that the effects are short-lived and don’t help in the long run. The receptors to which nicotine binds in the brain become quickly desensitised, making smoking ineffective. And while the positive effects are disappearing, addiction is setting in. As an alternative, researchers are looking at new chemical compounds that bind weakly to the brain’s nicotine receptors. Although the mechanisms underlying nicotine’s cognitive effects remain unclear, scientists think it might improve focus by enhancing the brain’s ability to filter out unwanted external stimuli. Schizophrenia alters the chemical communication signals used by neurons, making it difficult for the brain to isolate a single process and devote conscious attention to it. Nicotine modifies these signalling processes and may help dampen extra excess neuron activity.