I have already blogged about the developmental origins of disease: why you are what you eat, what your parents ate and how it’s never too late to change your genes. This blog in an ongoing project to collect great video clips related to this phenomenon because it is important to learn about how to get our message across as researchers. Let me know if you have any more for me to add along the way. Here goes. Click on the images to play the video clips.
“Social media Revolution” by Evan Kutsko
This clip is from a marketing company but you get the message – engage with people through social media. Some of the facts contained within this clip are stunning. Here is a slightly different version on YouTube
“The Mother ‘Hood” from Similac
The message is that parenthood in general is much more important than how you raise your children.
“What happens in the womb can last a lifetime” by Beginbeforebirth.org
Narrated by non other than Sir Robert Winston and focusing on maternal stress and supporting bot parents during pregnancy. The You Tube version can be found here.
“Charlie’s Story” from Beginbeforbirth.org
An example of a possible effect of early life stress on problem behavior (on the same page as the “what happens in the womb” clip).
“Brain Hero” from The Alberta family Wellness initiative
Great animation that shows how family, community and policy makers can change the course of a child’s development.
“How brains are built – the core story of brain development” from the Alberta family Wellness initiative
Another great animation on the same theme as above.
“Tipping the scale towards positive outcomes” by the Royal Children’s Hospital and The Frameworks Institute
Visualising how genetic and modifiable environmental factors can interact to influence the “see-saw” of risk for chronic disease.
“Epigenome: the symphony in your cells” from the journal ‘Nature’, Feb 2015
The genes are the instruments and epigenetics is how they are played.
“Too young to drink” by Fabrica
A powerful message against drinking alcohol in pregnancy.
Launched on September 9th 2014, on the occasion of the International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Day, #TooYoungToDrink is a new communication campaign to raise awareness of the risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy conceived by #Fabrica for the European FASD Alliance.
FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders) is a range of problems caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol which can include birth defects, learning disorders, behavioral problems, and mental illness.
For further information: tooyoungtodrink.org
“Gene’s Eye View” from Baba Brinkman
Great rap about genetic mutations, disease and evolution from the album The Rap Guide to Medicine. Ingenious.
The Sugar of Death (S.O.P) from Dunk The Junk
Another way that hip-hop is being used to target messages to our youth about the harmful effects of junk food.
“The story of Gravida” by Gravida New Zealand
“From the mouth of babes” How New Zealand is aiming to understand and reverse the early origins of noncommunicable disease
“The Ghost of Earth Day” by Master Shift
More about saving the planet than Early Life Origins but a great concept that the traditional owners of the land are ashamed of our current lifestyles. Maybe for DOHaD, the Native American could be replaced by “The Ghost of Children Future”? This wold say that we will be haunted by our future children if we don’t look after own health.
“Health research: making the right decision for me” by the Nuffield Foundation
Great clip explaining to children about what it means to participate in ethically-driven research. See also here for more details
‘Little Things Matter – the impact of toxins on the developing brain’ by the Canadian Environmental Health Atlas
This clip explains how ‘small’ amounts of heavy metals and other toxins can have a significant effect on population health, with a focus on exposure of young children.
More to come…
Other resources
The Raising Children network: award-winning web site supporting all aspects of child health
Gravida: a New Zealand government-funded Centre of Research Excellence that brings together leading biomedical, clinical and animal scientists from across New Zealand and around the world.
