Playing Dead Is Rarely the Answer, Despite What Nature Tells Us
Snakes do it. Possums do it. Even educated fleas do it. Let’s do it, let’s all play dead! Properly called “tonic immobility,” feigning death when approached by a predator is a fairly common tactic...
View ArticleCan This Smell Relieve Nausea?
Uh-oh. You’re on a boat, plane, or rollercoaster. Or in your living room the morning after a party that was a bit too much fun. And the worst is happening. That creeping sense of dread, uneasiness in...
View ArticleChristmas Queries: How Do I Keep My Live Christmas Tree Fresh, and Will My...
Why Christmas Trees Lose Needles and How to Make Them Stop Last Christmas, I gave you my heart. Actually, it was two years ago, and it was this article: “Artificial Trees, Secular Greetings, and...
View ArticleIs There a Safer Time to Fly?
Flying in an airplane is incredibly safe despite what our anxieties and fears might tell us. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), aviation has become the first ultra-safe...
View ArticleOld Wives’ Tales and Truths 2.0
An old wives’ tale is, by definition, not true. But that doesn’t leave much space for adages traditionally considered old wives’ tales with a kernel, or more, of truth in them. Many pieces of advice...
View ArticleThe Fact and Fiction of Physiological Phenomena: Volume I
Whether from friends, family, doctors, books, the internet, or any other source, we are constantly inundated with medical facts and advice. Unfortunately, much of the information we’re given, even if...
View ArticleThe Facts and Fiction of Physiological Phenomena: Volume II
It turns out, and as you probably already knew, that there are myriad medical myths, inaccuracies, and curiosities embedded in our cultural consciousness. So I’m back with another edition of Facts and...
View ArticleFacts and Fiction of Physiological Phenomena. Kid’s Edition.
It seems there is an almost limitless number of medical myths, inaccuracies, and curiosities embedded in our cultural consciousness. So I’m back with a third installment of Facts and Fiction of...
View ArticleFacts and Fiction of Physiological Phenomena: Food for Thought
Turkey Makes You Sleepy: Fiction You may have heard the post-Thanksgiving sleepies explained by the fact that turkey contains tryptophan, an essential amino acid that’s a biochemical precursor for...
View ArticleAre all snowflakes really unique? Is nutmeg a hallucinogen? Why do fruitcakes...
Are All Snowflakes Unique? It’s really true; every snowflake is unique. It’s because of the long journey these falling ice crystals take between forming and falling onto us. Snow crystals begin forming...
View ArticleI’ve been wearing sunscreen wrong
Fresh off the beach in Tenerife—laying on my stomach in bed, unable to turn over due to the red sunburn covering my back, and unable to sleep from the pain—I got to wondering about sunscreen and such....
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