Monthly Archives: September 2007
- September 30, 2007
- Is depression more common in women?
Most investigators report that depression is twice as common in women when compared to men. This holds true in the United States and in many societies around the world. For major depression, this ratio approaches almost 3:1. It is estimated that nearly 340 million people worldwide and 18 million people in the United States suffer [...]
- September 29, 2007
- Does hair grow back thicker after shaving?
No. And if this were true, wouldn’t women who’ve shaved for years have legs like gorillas and armpits like Chia Pets?
One of the reasons for this common misperception may be that new grown stubble seems thicker than uncut hair. But the truth is, all hair growth takes place below the skin, down in the hair [...]
- September 29, 2007
- Why does your skin get so dry in the winter?
Winter is rough enough with the snow and the sleet and the hacking away at ice-encrusted windshields in the dark, frigid mornings. But that dry, chapped, cracked skin just adds insult to injury…or is it injury to insult?
Because the relative humidity – moisture in the air – gets so low in the cold season, winter [...]
- September 29, 2007
- What is a fennec fox?
Fennec foxes are mammals found in Africa and Asia.
The fennec fox is the smallest species of fox. It grows to 24-41 centimeters (9.5-16 inches) long. This fox has very large ears, which help heat escape from its body. Its furred soles are adapted for walking on hot sand.
The fennec is mainly nocturnal. It has a [...]
- September 29, 2007
- What is a fat-tailed scorpion?
Fat-tailed scorpions are arachnids found in many desert areas in Africa and Asia. They live in stony soils and on the steep slopes of sand dunes. They hide under rocks and in crevices during the day. At night, they come out to hunt. These scorpions can grow up to 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) long.
The fat-tailed [...]
- September 29, 2007
- What is a caracal?
Caracals are mammals found in Africa and Asia.
The caracal is also called the desert lynx. It has tawny, reddish fur. It has long tufts of black hair on top of its large ears. Caracals are 60-91 centimeters (24-36 inches) long with 23-31 centimeter (9-12 inches) tails.
The main foods of the caracal are rodents, hares, and [...]
- September 29, 2007
- What is an Arabian camel?
Arabian camels are mammals found in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Arabian camels, also called dromedaries, are camels with one hump. They are well adapted to life in the desert. They have long eyelashes. These keep sand out of their eyes. They can also close their nostrils to keep out sand.
Australia is the only place where Arabian [...]
- September 29, 2007
- What is a yellow-bellied sea snake?
Yellow-bellied sea snakes are reptiles found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Yellow-bellied sea snakes eat meat. During the day they feed on small fish. The yellow-bellied sea snake’s bite is poisonous. At night, the sea snake dives to the bottom of the ocean. It can stay underwater for up to 3 hours.
The tail of a [...]
- September 28, 2007
- Can garlic prevent heart disease or cancer?
Many common medications that doctors use come from natural sources. Warfarin (Coumadin), a common blood thinner, was discovered from bleeding cows that had eaten yellow sweet clover. Digitalis, a heart medication, is derived from the plant foxglove, and penicillin comes from the penicillium mold. Recent studies point to the antioxidant properties of red wine, pomegranate [...]
- September 24, 2007
- What are those little half moons in your nails?
The pale half-moon shape at the base of each nail is called the lunule. It shows where the hardening process is not yet complete.
The American Academy of Dermatology provided these nail facts:Nails grow about 0.1 mm (or about 0.004 inch) per day.
Fingernails tend to grow a little faster than toenails.
Toenails are approximately twice as thick [...]
- September 24, 2007
- Is red wine really good for your health?
Historically there has been a belief that wine has medicinal properties. Hippocrates and Thomas Jefferson both considered wine an important part of their health regimens. Louis Pasteur, the famous French biologist, said, “Wine is the most healthful and hygienic of beverages.”
There now is an enormous amount of research about what has been called “the French [...]
- September 24, 2007
- Why do you snore so loud when you are drunk?
There is a common serenade in any emergency room. The coarse snore of the regular alcoholic fills the air. Normally, we just ignore it. But sometimes, too much alcohol actually impedes the breathing process. We fix this easily with a short small rubber tube in the nose, an aptly named nasal trumpet. Alcohol increases snoring [...]
- September 24, 2007
- Why do you throw up when you drink too much?
Vomiting from excessive drinking is simply your body’s way of getting rid of the toxins in alcohol quickly. Vomiting is not a bad thing in this case, but repeated hurling can lead to potentially life-threatening dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. There is also the danger of choking on vomit, like the guy from Led Zeppelin.
The urge [...]
- September 21, 2007
- Can a woman ejaculate?
There have been many claims about female ejaculation, but this was always dismissed as urination during intercourse. More recent evidence has found that higher levels of a compound, prostatic acid phosphatase, has been found in patients who claim to have female ejaculation. This compound is also found in high levels in male ejaculate and originates [...]
- September 21, 2007
- Can a man ever run out of sperm?
What a nightmare. The well is running dry. Could it be possible?
The answer is no, but there is some bad news.
A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have, but a man’s supply of sperm is renewed throughout his life. This sounds great, but researchers have found that men over thirty-five have [...]
- September 21, 2007
- Do men need sex more often than women?
Men are often told that they have sex on the brain, and it appears as though this may be true.
In one recent study in Nature Neuroscience, a team of researchers had twenty-eight men and women look at erotic photographs while an MRI took scans of their brain. The subjects looked at arousing photographs of heterosexual [...]
- September 21, 2007
- Is it true that you can break your penis?
It pains us to say, but this is true. There is no bone in your “bone”, but you can rupture the penis, which is called a penile fracture. Sudden trauma or bending of the penis in an erect state can break the thick fibrous coat surrounding the corpora cavernosum tissue that produces an erection.
This happens [...]
- September 21, 2007
- Can people in wheelchairs still have sex?
If an aroused male is unfortunately the victim of a spinal cord injury, the ability to have sexual intercourse depends on the level of injury. In men there are normally two types of erections. Psychogenic erections, which result from sexual thoughts, and reflex erections, which result from direct physical contact.
Psychogenic erections develop from the nerves [...]
- September 21, 2007
- How do infrared faucets work?
You step up to the sink. The water starts to flow. You don’t have to touch a thing!
What makes some faucets turn on and off on their own? If you look closely, you might find the sensor on the bottom of the faucet. This area sends out infrared light. You can’t see infrared light. But [...]
- September 20, 2007
- What is a VAT number?
VAT stands for Value Added Tax. A VAT number is alphanumeric and consists of up to 15 characters. The first two letters indicate the respective member state, for example GB for United Kingdom. All vendors who are entitled to deduct input VAT can receive a VAT registration number from their local tax authority.
- September 19, 2007
- How do automatic doors work?
Automatic doors pop wide open as you come near. They shut behind you after you walk through. What makes the doors move all by themselves?
Automatic doors may seem simple, but they are not. They are complex machines. They have many parts that work together to open and close the doors safely. Some use a sensor [...]
- September 19, 2007
- How does milk stay fresh day after day?
You pour milk on your cereal at breakfast. You drink it again for dinner. How does milk stay fresh day after day?
Milk needs to be kept cold or else it will “go bad”. Why does that happen? Milk sours because of a chemical change.
A chemical change happens when one substance changes into another substance. Food [...]
- September 19, 2007
- Does eating fresh parsley cure bad breath?
Parsley was used in the past in medicinal recipes for curealls, general tonics, poison antidotes, and kidney and bladder stone relief. Parsley is rich in vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamins A and C. It is also said to be rich in antioxidants. Parsley also can relieve bad breath, although there are no medical studies linking [...]
- September 19, 2007
- How many times can you be shot and still survive?
At the end of Scarface, Tony Montana gets shot many times but doesn’t lose his ability to spew obscenities. In the hospital we believe that an innocent person will get killed by a single gunshot but the meanest, guiltiest thug can survive multiple gunshots and simply get up, curse at the doctors, and walk out.
The [...]
- September 16, 2007
- Why do your teeth chatter when you are cold?
The body usually maintains a constant temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature the cells of the body work best. If there is any significant change in temperature, it is sensed by an area of the brain called the hypothalamus. When the body gets too cold, this center alerts the rest of the body [...]
- September 16, 2007
- Can I drink my own urine?
Thanks to our wonderful democratic society, you can do whatever you want. The better question is, why would you want o drink your own piss?
Drinking small amounts of your own urine is probably safe. It is made up of 95 percent water, 2.5 percent urea, and 2.5 percent salt, other minerals, hormones, and enzymes. Actually, [...]
- September 14, 2007
- Does warm milk really help you sleep?
There doesn’t appear to be a great deal of research on the role of milk as a sleep aid. Milk is certainly a simpler alternative to prescription sleeping pills or drinking so much you just pass out, and there are several theories as to why it might work. Milk contains tryptophan, the same ingredient that [...]
- September 14, 2007
- Does wet or cold weather cause a cold?
A friend once called to ask if she could have caught a cold from touching a goat at a petting zoo. This is not a common question, but many people do ask if any of the following things can cause a cold:
sleeping in front of an open window
getting a chill
sleeping in front of a fan
getting [...]
- September 13, 2007
- How does a vacuum cleaner work?
The vacuum cleaner is an amazing machine. You plug it in. You turn it on. Dirt and dust are sucked away!
How does this noisy thing work? It’s all about airflow. There is a fan inside the vacuum cleaner. The fan moves air into and out of the vacuum cleaner.
The air that goes in the machine [...]
- September 13, 2007
- Is there such a thing as a death erection?
Some people think that when you die you are bathed in a radiant light, you go to heaven or to hell, or you take up residence in the bodies of other creatures like lemurs or llamas. Others think that when you die, the following occurs:
Your blood will pool due to gravity (hypostasis).
You will gradually stiffen [...]
- September 13, 2007
- Why does my butt itch so much?
If you are a sufferer of pruritus ani (itchy anus), you will relate to this question. Nobody likes to talk about it, but many of us know about the overwhelming, irresistible urge to scratch. It often happens at night and after a scratch and sniff, you are faced with one of the age-old dilemmas. Do [...]
- September 13, 2007
- What causes a split stream when you pee?
The international Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) is the official system of assigning codes to diagnoses associated with hospitals in the United States. In case you wanted to know, the code for splitting of the urinary stream is 788.61.
The split stream is a real condition, but this code doesn’t apply to you [...]
- September 12, 2007
- How do remote controls work?
You don’t even have to move off the couch. Just aim the remote and push the button.
Remote controls let us turn on machines like TVs and VCRs from far away. How do they work? It has to do with the science of light.
The remote control sends out a special beam of light, called infrared light. [...]
- September 12, 2007
- Why your voice sounds louder in the bathroom?
When you sing in the shower your voice sounds louder and richer. Did you ever wonder why?
Your voice sounds loud in the bathroom because the room is small. Sound is a form of wave energy that can travel through air. But sound waves lose strength as they move through the air. That means that is [...]
- September 11, 2007
- Can taking vitamin C help you live longer?
Dr. Linus Pauling, a two-time Nobel Prize winner, took high doses of vitamin C for almost forty years and died at he ripe old age of ninety-three. He believed that his life was prolonged for twenty years because of his high vitamin C intake. Sounds great, and Pauling certainly makes a valid argument but unfortunately [...]
- September 11, 2007
- What is a white-spotted puffer fish?
White-spotted puffer fish are fish found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.
The White-spotted puffer fish has a brown and yellow body covered with white dots.
White-spotted puffer fish are meat eaters. They eat corals, sponges, sea urchins, and small crustaceans. They crush and grind their prey with their heavy teeth.Puffer fish can puff up to [...]
