Gair Rhydd

Treating the Common Cold: What's the alternative?

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Suffering with a cold may not necessarily mean the usual medication fix. Priya Raj investigates

It’s that time of year again….the coughing, sneezing and sore throat season has officially begun. With students living in some of the most inhabitable, cramped housing; they are often primary victims of the aerosol transmitted common cold.

The common cold, also known as a viral upper respiratory tract infection, is a self-limited contagious illness that can be caused by a number of different types of viruses, specifically picornaviruses (including rhinoviruses) or coronaviruses. It is thought that more than 200 different types of virus are responsible for causing the common cold.

Strange but true: how the sun can make you sneeze

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Have you ever squinted into a sudden burst of sunlight and started sneezing uncontrollably? Up to a third of the population has been found to answer this question with a ‘yes’. The process of sneezing as the result of being exposed to a bright light—known as the photic sneeze reflex—is a genetic quirk that is still unexplained by science, even though it has intrigued some of history’s greatest minds.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle mused about why people sneeze. He concluded that the heat of the sun radiating on to the nose was probably responsible.