Life is full of everyday mysteries. Like why do you get a headache when you quickly eat something cold? Popularly called “brain freeze”, this condition is found in the International Classifications of Headache Disorders as an official type of headache. The key is introduction of any cold substance (think ice cream) behind the nose and
A quick way to start an argument is to ask what were the most important innovations in human history. Lots of opinions have been published. I recently found an interesting take on this in the June 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine. In a short article entitled “Big Advances”, U.S. librarian of Congress Carla Hayden
As a senior citizen, I’m always concerned about my long-term future. How much longer will I be able to live by myself in a large house? (It had better be a very long time because you won’t believe the stuff I’ve accumulated over the years.) This is why I was intrigued by a TV news
We’ve been hearing a lot about sustainability and recycling as a way to conserve resources. How far could we take this if we put our minds to it? Pretty far. One of the more novel ideas I’ve heard regarding recycling the byproducts of food production comes from designer Sacha Laurin. Her career began as a
It’s hard to be an optimist when you keep uncovering horror stories about the human race. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by a species that once believed in witchcraft, but it still can be shocking. Recently while catching up on reading, I found an article entitled “The Perils of Pale” in the June 2017
I grew up on a farm in western Ohio, and every summer I can remember watching lightening bugs from my bedroom window. But like everything else in this world, it’s complicated. First, most people call them fireflies. According to an entry in the July 7, 2017 Smithsonian magazine’s VIP newsletter by Jason Bittel, they are
Some people prefer the offbeat when they travel. (I’m trying something different this year; you’ll get a full report if I can pull it off.) I’ve just found something that appeals to those who also want to help the environment. It’s called SANCCOB — South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (https://sanccob.co.za/ ).
Here’s a word for today — sologamy. It’s defined by Google as “marriage by a person to oneself. It is known as a commitment that values self-love, and self-compassion. … It can also refer to a self-uniting marriage, that is a marriage without an officiant.” I first learned about this from a recent newspaper article,
Scientists estimate we blink about 20,000 and 30,000 times a day. If each blink is two-tenths of a second, that means we spend around 10 percent of our waking hours with our eyes closed. But why do we blink in the first place? A lot of people assume it’s to keep the eye moist with
You probably don’t realize it, but this is a pretty peaceful time in human history. In earlier eras, an estimated 15 percent of human deaths were caused by violence; today that number is about one percent. For most of history, great empires could be amassed for relatively little cost. In the Mexican War, for example,