NEW research published this week announced that getting angry could cause stress on your heart, and potentially lead to a heart attack.

I think it’s fair to say that this research was as vital to our understanding of the human body, as the other, well-funded but less-publicised research that shows that going for a run makes you sweaty, and fire might burn you.

Clearly I’m not a doctor, but I understand that if you get mad – really mad – you go red in the face, your blood pressure increases, and more strain is put on your heart. This, in turn, can potentially lead to outcomes more serious than looking like a beetroot and being ultimately embarrassed when you realise there really is an unexpected item in the bagging area.

I’m not saying the research is not worthwhile. Of course I understand that the research is the first scientific correlation between the two, rather than anecdotal evidence, but is it really telling us anything we don’t already know?

Have a look back at other research announcements which made international news and you’ll see a wealth of answers to questions that nobody ever asked, or that could have been resolved with a little common sense.

For example: 

• A research team in London said children who eat peanuts at an early age may be less prone to a peanut allergy in later life. The key word here is “may”. There’s no guarantee, and parents absolutely should not try this at home.

• Scientists at Yale University discovered that when they gave mice cannabis, they developed an insatiable urge to eat. Probably didn’t get much else done that day either.

• The American Academy of Pediatrics said allowing children to have some sugary or fatty treats is alright, so long as it’s in moderation.

• BMC Medicine reported tobacco is a factor in the deaths of two out of three smokers.

Again, it’s not my place to comment on the worth of these individual studies, but surely there’s an argument that these aren’t the most pressing causes for the planet’s leading minds to be working on?

We still live in a world without a definitive cure for many forms of cancer, AIDS and HIV, and where hysterical parents think they know better than scientific evidence when it comes to vaccinating their children. Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are endemic and as the population lives longer, the numbers of those suffering are increasing.

Sadly, while great work is being done in all these fields, there’s nothing on the horizon to suggest this will change in the future.

Quite rightly, we’re throwing money at treating and supporting those who live with the conditions. However the NHS is struggling to cope and financially stretched to breaking point, and massive pharmaceutical companies have their shareholders to think of.

This means there’s not nearly enough funding to ensure a good life for everyone, regardless of the will of those in charge of hospitals, and the great work of the NHS in general quickly becomes overshadowed by stories about people who get cosmetic surgery at the taxpayers’ expense, or who have been denied life-changing drugs because their local health budget won’t allow it.

I know it sounds idealistic and naive, but surely with a combined effort of the biggest brains in science, some kind of breakthrough could be made?

Back in the 1950s, American researcher Jonas Salk and his team developed the polio vaccine which – while it cannot cure the disease – made it far less of a threat than it had been up until that point.

When he was asked who owned the patent to the vaccine, he famously replied: “There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?” His reasons have been speculated on ever since - some say it was considered before being deemed impossible, others say it was a firm moral choice - but it’s an attitude we seem to have lost.

I realise this all comes across as kind of an obvious argument, and fully acknowledge there is great work being done around the globe, as well as right here in North Yorkshire - see for example the York speaker specialist whose publicly-funded project to develop specialist headphones meant a 14-year-old boy with only one working ear can hear stereo sound for the first time.

With innovative thinking – something that every major public and private company loves to crow about these days – and a little teamwork, it should be possible for the biggest problems in the world to be solved.

Instead, we’re spending millions on research and marketing to figure out the best way to convince people that buying a tiny bottle of live yoghurt will make them thinner.