Is hugging healthy?

Call to arms

Is hugging important to health? A study by Carnegie Mellon University and published in the journal Psychological Science in 2015 claimed so. Psychologists interviewed 404 adults about their social lives, including how often they got into personal conflicts and how often they shared hugs with people they knew and trusted. The volunteers were then exposed to the common cold virus and quarantined to see whether or not they fell ill. The scientists concluded that social contact had a protective effect against the virus — and that hugging accounted for a third of that effect.

Job prospects

In which sector are you most likely to land a new job over the next three months? Net balance between the percentage of employers looking to expand their staff and those looking to shrink it:

Healthcare 54

ICT 37

Admin/support services 32