Page 11 - Best of the Week

A town in Michigan disappeared because they helped rebuild Chicago after the fire!

No good deed goes unpunished, they say. It might have been the case for the town of Singapore, Michigan. After the devastating fire that destroyed Chicago, Holland and Peshtigo in 1871, Singapore became a valuable source of lumber for the reconstruction.

The town became completely deforested after supplying lumber for helping with the reconstruction. This was their big mistake. Without the trees to cover them from the great Lake Michigan winds, the town became completely eroded. Sand started covering streets and houses.

By 1875, the town was completely vacated and it was consumed by sand. The town of Singapore now only lives in the name of the Singapore Yacht Club, located at one end of the town.

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Lysol was once advertised as a feminine hygiene product and birth control.

To be clear, unlike products such as Viagra and Kleenex, which were made for one purpose and were discovered to be highly useful for another, Lysol was always a disinfectant.

Never was it specifically made as birth control, yet from the 1920’s until the 1960’s, it was largely marketed for reasons other than cleaning doorknobs or tables like we use it for today.

Advertising suggested that Lysol should be used for feminine hygiene, and that it was a highly effective birth control product due it's supposed ability to kill sperm. Of course, this wasn’t quite an era where one could say anything false for forty years without someone finding out, so Lysol invented European doctors to give credibility to their claims.

What’s shocking is that products like Lysol were the leading contraceptives until 1960, when oral contraceptives were introduced. So did Lysol work? Nope. A study showed that 250 out of 507 women using the disinfectant got pregnant, which was about the same as those using no birth control at all.

What’s worse, Lysol usage as contraceptive could cause severe inflammation, burning, and even death, in several cases.

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'Sonic Hedgehog' is a protein that helps mammals develop. Its inhibitor is called Robotnikinin!

Sonic Hedgehog is one of three proteins in the mammalian signaling pathway family called hedgehog. This particular pathway is shaped like the animal, and that's where it got it's name.

All three proteins were discovered in 1995, and while the other two were named after actual species of hedgehogs, scientists decided to name this particular protein after the Sega character.

Sonic Hedgehog has critical roles in the development of mammalian brains. However, a potential inhibitor has been found, and dubbed Robotnikinin, a play on the name of Dr. Robotnik, Sonic's nemesis.

Some people criticize the naming as being frivolous and a little inappropriate when people have to be told that their child has a serious illness because they have a mutated sonic hedgehog. What do you think?

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Morning wood is actually a healthy exercise for your man parts!

Men, when you wake up to that surprise in your lower region, you no longer need to feel embarrassed. In fact, 'morning wood' is a way of your body telling you that everything is in order, and working fine and dandy.

The reason for 'morning wood' or rather the nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) as it is known among medical professionals, doesn't have to do with any dirty dreams you may have been having that night. In fact, infant boys inside of the womb also experience NPT. The reason for NPT is the release of a chemical called Nitric Oxide in the nerves of your Johnson during REM sleep - the deep sleep that allows you to dream.

The chemical Nitric Oxide is only released subconsciously by the body during REM sleep in order to make sure everything is in order. However, if you are sleep deprived and not experiencing this process and your body isn't checking to see if your man clock is still ticking. Thus, sleep deprivation actually lead to erectile dysfunction.

Men, get your sleep. For more information on morning wood - read the source!

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Astronauts in space lose their sense of smell and crave Tabasco sause!

When an astronaut spends enough time in a zero-gravity environment, they get what NASA calls the 'Charlie Brown' phase. Their head begins to swell, because liquids that are usually dragged down by gravity stay in their head.

As a result of this, astronauts begin to lose the sense of smell. They feel like they have a cold, stuffy nose, etc. And they can't really taste things very well. The head of NASA's food science program thinks that losing the ability to taste leads to astronauts craving hot things like Tabasco because that way they can at least feel something different in their taste buds.

(Source)