Monthly Archives: June 2008
- June 27, 2008
- Does laughter have healing powers?
You might be surprised to know that there is significant evidence that humor can do a body good. Perhaps you have read “Modulation of Neuroimmune Parameters During the Eustress of Humor-associated Mirthful Laughter” in the March 2001 issue of Alternative Therapies in Health & Medicine. This study tested blood samples of over fifty men, before [...]
- June 23, 2008
- How can we still not cure the common cold?
We can map the human genome, clone a sheep, send a man t the moon, and even infuse bottled water with 100 percent of the daily recommended allowance of vitamins and minerals… So how is it that we still can’t cure the common cold?
It’s not as though scientists haven’t tried. It’s just that the odds [...]
- June 22, 2008
- Why don’t people who take nitroglycerin for their heart ever blow up?
If you are a fan of the old Roadrunner cartoons, you probably remember the coyote blowing himself up time and time again trying to handle explosive nitroglycerin. If the coyote had so many troubles, why can heart patients carry around their nitroglycerin pills without any danger?
This question is made even more intriguing by the fact [...]
- June 20, 2008
- Why do dog and cat farts smell so bad?
A carnivore’s protein-rich diet produces relatively small amounts of intensely stinky gas because proteins contain lots of sulfur. A dog’s or cat’s farts are rarely audible, but the odor is overwhelming. I have asked biologists why dogs and cats generally fart silently, and their theories include:
the amount of gas produced is small, but [...]
- June 18, 2008
- Is Propecia or Rogaine helpful for hair loss?
There are many options for people who are suffering from hair loss. Options include: shaving it all off like Kojak or Michael Jordan, growing the remaining hair as long as possible and attempting a “comb-over”, or enrolling in the Hair Club for Men and taking the toupee route. If none of these choices work for [...]
- June 16, 2008
- Do magnets work to cure pain?
Thanks to a variety of questionable claims, the medical magnet business is booming. Annual sales are about $300 million in the United States alone and over $1 billion worldwide. Magnets have been said to increase circulation, reduce inflammation, speed recovery from injuries, relieve low back pain, and even increase longevity and aid in cancer treatment. [...]
- June 15, 2008
- At what time of day is a gentleman most likely to fart?
A gentleman is mostly likely to fart first thing in the morning, while in the bathroom. This is known as “morning thunder,” and if the gentleman gets good resonance, it can be heard throughout the household.
- June 10, 2008
- What is Maggot Therapy and Leech Therapy?
Maggot Therapy and Leech Therapy
It is not uncommon for us to see a homeless patient come in with a leg infection that is covered in maggots. After we brush away the “bugs” (maggots are actually flies at a larval stage), the wounds are surprisingly clean.
Yes, maggots eat away dead tissue and leave only the healthy [...]
- June 10, 2008
- Is it true that some people never fart?
No, not if they’re alive. People even fart shortly after death.
- June 8, 2008
- Why do they call it your funny bone if it hurts so bad?
Now, this is some serous medical humor. The “funny bone” refers to the superficial site where the ulnar nerve crosses the elbow. The name funny bone apparently came from a pun in the 1800s. It’s a play on the word humorous and the upper arm bone, the humerus.
Try and contain your laughter.
The pain that you [...]
- June 8, 2008
- Do even movie stars fart?
Yes, of course. So do grandmothers, priests, kings, presidents, opera singers, beauty queens, and nuns. Even Yoda farts.
- June 6, 2008
- Does arthritis flair up in bad weather?
We know what’s going to happen when we say that there is no relationship between weather changes and arthritis. It will happen on some obscure radio program in Scottsdale, Arizona. The host will take calls, and some angry senior will call in, get all indignant, and berate us about the misinformation that we are irresponsibly [...]
- June 5, 2008
- How does aspirin find the pain?
Aspirin is really a magical little pill and probably one of the most important medications available. Aspirin has a very powerful preventive effect associated with strokes and heart disease. But most of us know it for curing pain, and it’s common for people to wonder just how aspirin knows how to find that aching area.
The [...]
- June 5, 2008
- How long does it take fart gas to travel to someone else’s nose?
Fart travel time depends on atmospheric conditions such as humidity and wind speed, as well as the distance between the fart transmitter and the fart receiver. Farts also disperse (spread out) as they leave the source, and their potency diminishes with dilution. Generally, if the fart is not detected within a few seconds, it will [...]
- June 3, 2008
- Why do feet smell?
The fancy term for smelly feet is bromohydrosis. Hyperhidrosis refers to sweaty feet. In our family we call it “swamp foot”.
Foot odor is caused primarily from sweat, and the feet contain an estimated quarter of a million sweat glands. Just as in the armpits, foot sweat is odor-free when it comes out, but the bacteria [...]
- June 3, 2008
- Why does it feel so hot outside when it is 90 degrees if our body temperature is 98.6?
This is a great question that we have been asked many times. There is a relatively simple explanation.
It’s all about the thermoregulation. Doesn’t sound very simple, does it? That’s why we’re here. Our bodies are constantly producing heat from our metabolism. This heat needs to go somewhere. Thermoregulation is the mechanism by which our body [...]
- June 1, 2008
- Why does sucking on helium make your voice sound funny?
Helium is a colorless, odorless noble gas. The noble moniker doesn’t make sense when you imagine a grown man at child’s party taking a balloon, inhaling, and then giggling like a five-year-old when he hears his own squeaky cartoonlike voice.
Helium causes this voice change by altering the environment where sound is formed. In normal conditions, [...]
