Mark Leyner - Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini

the sun

The answer to this question is that you probably will not go blind, but staring at an eclipse can indeed cause harm.

The eclipse of the sun on August 11, 1999, put many people at risk of solar retinopathy. Solar retinopathy is the fancy name for damage to the back of the eye caused when radiation from the sun is concentrated by the lens onto the retina. This radiation causes a burn. Solar retinopathy has been studied in medical literature, and surprisingly the damage it causes is not as severe as previously thought. A group of researchers in the United Kingdom studied forty people who experienced eye problems after the August 11, 1999, solar eclipse. It was found that only half suffered from eye discomfort. Only 20 percent of the group of forty reported some damage seven months after the eclipse. These were people who looked directly at the eclipse. It is unclear if these same patients were also staring at cleavage, moles, or amorous couples.

Or is it feed a fever and starve a cold? Or should you just curl up on the couch, whine like a baby, and call your mommy?

Either way, the answer is no, but there may be some science behind this old wives’ tale.

In a study in Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, cell biologists in the Netherlands found that starving and feeding affect the immune system in different ways. Scientists looked at healthy volunteers and measured certain chemical messengers in their blood. After a meal, the average level of the chemical that stimulates the body’s defense against infections increased by 450 percent. So you should feed a cold and a fever, right?

Not so fast.

Other volunteers, after starving, had high concentrations of another chemical, one that is also associated with the production of antibodies. So the answer is confusing, because it seems as though both starving and feeding a cold or fever can help the immune system.

Like many areas of science, there is no absolutely clear answer here. Our recommendation is that whether you have a cold or a fever, your body needs fluid, rest, and nourishment. If you’ve lost your appetite, try to drink plenty of fluids and eat whatever healthy food appeals to you and, if in doubt, whine like a baby and call your mommy.

A friend once called to ask if she could have caught a cold from touching a goat at a petting zoo. This is not a common question, but many people do ask if any of the following things can cause a cold:

sleeping in front of an open window

getting a chill

sleeping in front of a fan

getting caught in the rain

sleeping with a wet goat in front of a fan in the rain

The answer is no. Cold or wet weather does not cause a cold, but nobody seems to want to accept this.

The common cold is caused by a virus. These viruses are everywhere and it is difficult to avoid them. When you are exposed to someone who has a cold, you are more likely to get ill yourself, so be careful about close contact and definitely wash your hands. Not getting enough sleep or eating poorly can also reduce your resistance to infection. Remember that antibiotics won’t fight your everyday cold. Antibiotics work only against bacteria.

To take care of a cold, rest, eat well, and a little chicken soup couldn’t hurt….

From penicillin to Post-its, accidental discoveries have led to many of our most important products. That is how we’ve come to have Pop Rocks.

Pop Rocks were accidentally invented in 1975 by William Mitchell, a scientist at General Foods. Mitchell was trying to design an instant soft drink when he mixed sugar flavoring and carbon dioxide in his mouth. His startling discovery may or may not have led to the demise of Mikey, the boy from the Life cereal commercials, who as the urban legend goes, liked mixing Coke and Pop Rocks. Supposedly, this deadly mix caused his stomach to rupture.

In 1983, Pop Rocks were taken off the market but recently have come back into fashion like Razzles, Sugar Babies, Charleston Chews, and other retro candy. You should have no problem finding Pop Rocks for your home science experiments. You will surely find that there is no danger in the delicious combination of soda and Pop Rocks.

As for Mikey, he is alive and well and living in post — child star obscurity. As for other child stars, we offer these dramatic gastrointestinally induced death rumors:

1. Gary Coleman ( Diff’rent Strokes ) from snorting Lik-M-Aid and drinking fizzies.

2. Danny Bonaduce ( The Partridge Family ) from ingesting the marshmallows from thirty boxes of Lucky Charms.

3. Erin Moran ( Happy Days ) from choking on Razzles while intoxicated from drinking excessive amounts of Clamato.

When you search the Internet these days, you realize that some people have far too much time on their hands. Conspiracy theorists seem to have it out for many commercial products. Websites claim that lip balm manufacturers lace their products with addictive substances, and lip balm companies use the Internet to refute these claims.

Lip balms may be habit forming, but they certainly aren’t addictive. Carmex, which has been accused of containing acid and ground-up fiberglass, contains salicylic acid, which is closely related to aspirin. The salicylic acid works as a pain reliever and as a drying agent but is not addictive. Chap Stick contains white petrolatum (petroleum jelly), lanolin (a wool grease), and padimate O (sunscreen). Nothing addictive there either.

First we must state that we are right-handed. Second, Billy’s wife is left-handed. Mark’s wife is ambidexterous and must use both hands to keep him in line.

Medical literature is filled with studies on the effect of right- or left-handedness on oral hygiene, depression, immune function, schizophrenia, enuresis (bed-wetting), longevity, language, asthma, allergies, and injury.

The list continues but none of the evidence is very clear.

In general, the right side of our brain receives input from and controls the left side of our body, and vice versa. Therefore, right-handed people are usually said to be left-brain dominant and left-handers, right-brain dominant. Each brain hemisphere is known to have specialized abilities. The right brain is responsible for visual and spatial skills while the left controls language and speech. Again this does not always hold true. Neuropsychologists have tried to test for intelligence differences between lefties and righties but have found no significant results.

Males are about one and a half to two times more likely to be left-handed than are females. There is no scientific

evidence about why this occurs but Mark postulates an evolutionary explanation. Males have developed their left hands to accommodate ambidextrous masturbation.

Unless you are sleeping beneath an industrial fan that causes your head to wiggle like a bobblehead doll, there should be no problem. This old wives’ tale has no scientific basis.

This morning I microwaved the milk for my coffee, and a few hours later I heated up some lasagna for lunch. If what you read on the Internet is true, I should have about twelve more hours to live.