- Bad things happen in threes
According to some people good things happen in threes, too, but there is nothing magic about the number three. Things do sometimes come in clusters but it isn’t fate or a higher power taking control, it’s just the counter-intuitive nature of randomness. When explaining randomness a fruitcake is usually wheeled...
Posted Tue 19 Oct 2010.
- Knuckle cracking causes arthritis
If you’re like me and rate the sound of cracked knuckles as an irritation second only to nails on a blackboard then this common warning seems like poetic justice. Yet, in a further sign of the unfairness of nature, arthritic hands do not come about because of cracked knuckles. Arthritis...
Posted Thu 07 Oct 2010.
- Grape seeds cause appendicitis
I’m sure I’m not the only one to have wasted the odd youthful hour worrying about the consequences after swallowing a fruit seed. While my concerns centred on unrealistic (though alarming) scenarios such as finding a sapling inching its way up my throat, Linda Caradus has queried a more reasonable...
Posted Sat 25 Sep 2010.
- Head lice like clean hair
I remember overhearing this when I was knee-high to a grasshopper and thinking that, at last, I had the excuse I needed to banish bathing once and for all. Parental authority had other ideas, for which I am thankful — not just because the advantages of clean habits dawn on...
Posted Mon 20 Sep 2010.
- The sun is yellow
Every four year old knows that the sun is yellow. Ask one to draw a house and there, smiling down on the four windows, door and smoking chimney is the sun, rendered in golden hues with a chipper expression on his face. It’s a good thing we don’t trust four...
Posted Wed 15 Sep 2010.
- It is easier to smile than frown
First, a correction. I was certainly frowning when several readers pointed out that I wantonly ignored air resistance when claiming that a falling coin could kill three weeks ago. With aerodynamics complicating matters, the matter becomes much murkier. I still think our our hefty currency could be lethal but we’d...
Posted Wed 08 Sep 2010.
- Food affects mood
I’m not sure what brought about Chelsea Turner’s thoughtful frame of mind when she came up with this idea, but it could have been something she ate because what you eat can affect how you think and feel. I’ve written before about how carbohydrates make you sleepy by increasing serotonin...
Posted Fri 27 Aug 2010.
- You shouldn’t eat snow
Natalie Henderson wonders if a friend can be right when she says that eating snow is bad for you (Natalie has actually been wondering for quite a while now, alas I got snowed under). It may seem strange but Natalie’s friend is correct. The odd mouthful is fine — if...
Posted Wed 25 Aug 2010.
- A coin dropped from a height is lethal
Connor Haley (in a third mention here, showing that fame can be just a matter of asking the right questions) wonders if a coin dropped from the the Eiffel Tower could kill someone on the ground. It would certainly ruin their day. It is energy that determines how much destruction...
Posted Mon 16 Aug 2010.
- Coffee keeps you awake
The idea that coffee keeps you awake is deeply entrenched, but Angela Harding wonders whether coffee really stops you falling asleep. I take it this is a topic suggestion and not a subtle hint to liven up my prose. If you do find yourself drifting off then coffee would be...
Posted Fri 06 Aug 2010.
