Tidbits #59-63 - June 14, 2011

Medical Oddities

• A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 68 years straight.
• The human eye blinks about 4.2 million times a year. A blink lasts roughly 300-400 milliseconds.
• When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate; they do the same when you're looking at someone you hate.
• The average life span of a taste bud is 10 days.
• During a kiss, as many as 278 bacteria colonies are exchanged.

Tidbit #15 - April 10, 2011

Lots of you have probably heard of David Feldman's puzzling series of books called "Imponderables," all with different titles. As a reminder, I have not utilized any of his imponderables.. Until now. I'm using one of his most famous questions, and summarizing it in my own words:

Question: How does Aspirin find a headache?


Answer: I looked it up, and I found someone on uh.edu who found his book and typed up Mr. Feldman's answer:

Try that aspirin question: I always thought aspirin just entered the blood and reduced pain wherever the blood went. Aspirin does enter the blood, but then it acts selectively on pain and inflammation. Not 'til the 1970s did pharmacologists figure out how it did that. Aspirin attacks a certain fatty acid that serves as an early warning system by increasing the sensitivity of pain receptors. Aspirin turns those painful warning bells off.

And, as always, my condensed summary:

When you take Aspirin, the pill dissolves into the blood and attacks a fatty acid that causes pain receptors to tell the body something's wrong, shutting it down.