You would think after all this time as editor of this magazine, I would cease to be surprised at the mighty achievements of Irish-Americans. We have showcased the measure of that success down through the years, and yet the honorees profiled in this issue give me pause. The incredible work that they do – inRead more..
Saoirse, the only daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill and Paul Hill, tragically died on Thursday, August 1, 2019 of an accidental overdose of anti-depressants and alcohol while staying at her family’s compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. She was a junior at Boston College. In this essay, published in February 2016 for the Deerfield Academy student newspaper, sheRead more..
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have shown for the first time that two genes involved in many neurological diseases act together to regulate specific aspects of protein production in nerve cells and allow the development of a simple form of memory called habituation. These findings have implications for our understanding of memory formation in general,Read more..
An 18-month-long international study of a potential Alzheimer’s drug has begun, and Ireland is playing a big role. The project, coordinated by Brian Lawlor, Connolly Norman Professor of Old Age Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin, is set to be one of the most intensive and significant studies in over a decade of Alzheimer’s treatment research.Read more..
A new study conducted by scientists at University College Cork (UCC) shows that mice lacking bacteria in their gut displayed autistic behaviors such as repetitive grooming and disinterest in social interactions with other mice. Ted Dinan, psychiatry professor and a principal investigator in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Center at UCC has been studying gut bacteria andRead more..
Patrick Kennedy, former Rhode Island congressman and son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, delivered the keynote address at “Healthy Brain: Healthy Europe,” a conference devoted to brain health and research, held in Dublin at the end of May. Since publicly acknowledging his struggles with addiction, depression and bipolar disorder in 2006, Kennedy has becomeRead more..
Molly McCloskey, the author of Circles Around the Sun, shares how one profound reading experience led her to better understand her older brother who suffers from schizophrenia. I can still recall, in the way one recalls the most powerful reading experiences of one’s life, lying on the bed in my studio apartment in Portland, Oregon,Read more..
Schizophrenia and other diseases associated with starvation. The outward physical consequences of famine and severe malnutrition have been long known. They are the same everywhere. In his recent history of the Irish Famine, The Graves Are Walking, John Kelly describes them this way: “In the later stages of starvation, the eyelids inflame, the angular linesRead more..
Suicide in Ireland, particularly among male teens, is on the rise. Sharon Ní Chonchúir reports. Few teenagers make a mark on Irish society in the way 16-year-old Tralee native Donal Walsh did. Having battled cancer on three separate occasions, Donal finally succumbed to the disease in May. But before he died, he spread a seriousRead more..
If you suspect something, do something. April Drew writes from personal experience. It was a little after 8 p.m. on a cold and dark Sunday evening. It was the first Sunday of 2009. Christmas was just over and the January blues were setting in all around the world. I was sipping tea at my deskRead more..