Random Facts 7

Green Hornet's Family
The Green Hornet is the grand nephew of the Lone Ranger.
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into Great Lives, P. 246

Spanish "Avian" Flu of 1918
The deadly Spanish flu of 1918 is brought back to life in the laboratory, revealing its leathal mechanisms. Evidence shows the killer of as many as 95 million people was an avian flu that jumped directly to human beings.
Discover, December 2005, Vol. 26, No. 12, Pg. 9.

Quicksand
Quicksand is less deadly than its depiction in the movies suggests, says Nature. It's highly unlikely, new research indicates, that a person could be completely swallowed up by quicksand. On a recent trip to Iran, researcher Daniel Bonn of the University of Amsterdam got stuck in a patch of quicksand. He wriggled his way out, but not before collecting a sample for lab tests. The recipe for quicksand, Bonn found, is a mixture of sand, salt water, and clay that usually occurs near river estuaries. The clay and water form a sort of gel that reduces friction between the grains of sand; when an object falls into the quicksand, the sand becomes destabilized and flows downward, in a motion Bonn compares to that of a toppling pyramid of oranges. Quicksand is too dense, however, to suck a person completely under. "The Hollywood version is just incorrect," says soil expert Thomas Zimmie. A person who falls into quicksand can sink only about halfway, at which point the body stays afloat in the liquidy sand. Still, the force needed to pull someone from a quicksand pool is about the same as that required to lift a car. The real danger, says Bonn, "is that you can get stuck in it when the high tides come up," and drown in river water.
The Week, October 21, 2005, Vol 5, Iss 230, pp 27.

Body Cures
1. Throat Tickle: If your throat tickles, scratch your ear. Stimulated nerves in the ear creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm and relieves the tickle. Says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey.
2. Clear a Stuffed Nose: Alternately thrust your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then press between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you'll feel your sinuses start to drain.
3. Less of a Burn Blister: When you accidentally singe your finger on the stove, clean the skin and apply light pressure with the finger pads of your unmarred hand. Ice will relieve your pain more quickly, Dr. DeStefano says, but since the natual method brings the burned skin back to a normal temperature, the skin is less likely to blister.
4. If you're like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right foot hits the ground. This puts downward pressure on your liver (which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men. The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.
5. Control Heart Rate: Blow on your thumb. The vagus nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing, says Ben Abo, an emergency medical- services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. It'll get your heart rate back to normal (for those nervous times).
6. Fight brainfreeze headaches: press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much as you can. "Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing, too," says Abo. "In compensating, it overheats, causing an ice-cream headache." The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your headache will subside.
7. Poor distance vision is rarely caused by genetics, says Anne Barber, O.D., an optometrist in Tacoma, Washington. "It's usually caused by near-point stress." In other words, staring at your computer screen for too long. So flex your way to 20/20 vision. Every few hours during the day, close your eyes, tense your body, take a deep breath, and, after a few seconds, release your breath and muscles at the same time. Tightening and releasing muscles such as the biceps and glutes can trick involuntary muscles -- like the eyes -- into relaxing as well.
Taken from Men's Health