Page 14 - Science Facts

People with a certain type of dwarfism are protected against diabetes and cancer

A medical mystery is occurring in Ecuador. 100 unique individuals reside in a small mountainside village in the southern part of the country, and all have something in common – a rare genetic disorder called Laron Syndrome, a type of dwarfism where the height of the person averages out to 1.2 meters (or just about 4 feet).

These 100 people make up 1/3 of the entire population in the village. It’s a mystery as to why so many in one particular village are all affected with the disorder, but that’s not the only thing peculiar about them.

Virtually none of the people with Laron Syndrome have diabetes or cancer. It appears that the same genetic mutation that causes the unusually small stature also provides immunity from two extremely common diseases that continue to plague mankind.

Since 1988 there haven’t been any cases of diabetes and only one case of non-lethal cancer on record. Scientists are studying whether this link can somehow be used to produce drugs that slow the growth rate of cancer.

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The stall closest to the door in public restrooms generally has the least amount of germs!

After analyzing 51 public restrooms, experts found that the stall closest to the restroom door consistently had the lowest bacteria levels and the most toilet paper. The first stall probably sees less traffic because it's near the door and people want privacy.

So, they ignore the first stall and move on to stalls near the end. In any case, when you're finished, stand before you flush. When toilets are flushed, a fine mist of water containing contagious bacteria sprays up. You can catch intestinal bugs and hepatitis from it.

Toilet paper obviously is then found in the first stall, since no one uses it. The opposite goes for urinals because it's closest to the door. Men are usually in a hurry and use the first one they can get to; the closest one. The one furthest away is the cleanest because they want to get in and get out as quickly as possible.

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Scientific evidence confirms Australian Aboriginals' oral history myths from nearly 10,000 years ago!

With modern technology, we don't put a lot of stock in ancient myths or the musings of aboriginals. However, in the case of certain Australian Aboriginals, their myths turned out to be surprisingly accurate.

Australian linguist R. M. W. Dixon was recording aboriginal myths in their native language when he started noticing something. There were similarities between the landscape details in the myths and scientific discoveries being made about the landscape today.

For example, the myths tell of the formation of three lakes in the area. Research dated the formation of these lakes to 10,000 years ago.

Dixon went on to record many other instances of aboriginal myths accurately describing ancient landscapes that date back to the Pleistocene era.

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Blue-eyed people tend to have a higher alcohol tolerance and are therefore more likely to be drunks!

A study that used data from two archival samples to tested the hypothesis that light-eyed people are more likely to abuse alcohol. The first sample had 10,860 Caucasian male prison inmates and sample two consisted of 1,862 Caucasian women.

Both samples proved to show that people with light eyes, or blue eyes more specifically, had consumed a considerable more amount of alcohol than those with dark eyes. Previous studies have shown that dark-eyed people show more physiological arousal and more sensitive to medications than light-eyed people.

The point here, is that dark-eyed people may shy away from drinking heavily, because they are easily made drunk and this keeps them from developing a physiological dependence. Therefore, blue-eyed people may engage in drinking much more, because they aren’t so physiologically dependent on substances causing them to overdo it and become dependent on alcohol. So, if you’re blue eyed, be careful, because you might become an alcoholic.

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Rubbing alcohol does NOT make your open wounds burn by itself!

This might seem counterintuitive if you've ever poured alcohol on an open wound and it burnt like hell. Well, you might be surprised that what burns you is not the alcohol itself, but rather the effects it has on your nervous systems.

Studies have shown that ethanol, which is a kind of alcohol, causes skin cells to put out the same neurochemical signals they put out when heat is around. The result is that it doesn’t take as much actual heat for the VR1 nerve cells to turn on.

Researchers have found that alcohol lowers the amount of heat needed to turn on VR1 receptors by almost ten degrees. It isn’t known for sure yet, but researchers think that ethanol may lower the threshold so much around inflamed tissue that your own body temperature kicks off the VR1 nerve cell receptors. Not only does the cut hurt, but it now feels like it's on fire, as well. That’s why it doesn’t burn or hurt when water or other liquids are poured over cuts.

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