Do hairpieces reduce vitamin D?
THE feature in 51¶ŻÂț on glorious middle age (10 March, p 48) prompted reader Roger Brook to speculate that baldness in middle-aged men might be an evolved characteristic to increase vitamin D production, since the vitamin forms in skin exposed to sunlight.
The idea might seem far-fetched, but a little searching throws up a of a paper in the Medical Journal of Australia entitled âDoes degree of baldness influence vitamin D status?â ().
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The paper concludes: âThe degree of baldness does not appear to influence serum 24-OHD [vitamin D] levelsâ â but not before the authors have admitted their data may have been skewed: âWe cannot exclude the possibility of bias attributable to undisclosed use of hairpieces or âcomb overâ techniques that might reduce scalp exposure to sunlight.â
âTravelling through âwonderfulâ west Canada, Jenny Narraway was disconcerted to read, on the bottom of a âflowers of Canadaâ tea mug, the words: âDiscover Canada, made in Taiwanâ
Nanoparticles: a pain in the foot
READER Ian Portman was searching online for some background information on iridium nanoparticles, having been sent some for his electron microscopy work. He came across a page headed âNatural Antibiotics Pure Colloidal Silverâ.
Among all the guff there about monatomic particles and such, he noticed this: âNanoparticles are huge and get stuck in cellsâ membranes and cannot be excreted out. Because they are metallic particles, they sink to the bottom of the feet and can cause foot pain.â
Ian observes: âIâm handling many of these compounds and do indeed have foot pain. Iâd previously thought it was caused by a broken bone some years ago, Iâm wondering if I should take to sleeping on my head to allow the particles to even out a bit.â
Lottery promotes gamblersâ fallacy
THE includes on its opening page this statement: âTo improve your chances of winning the Irish lottery we have compiled a STATS section based on previous draws.â
Terry Devlin wants to know if they have discovered some previously unknown aspect of the laws of probability.
Measuring in five minute walks
RESPONDING to Feedbackâs interest in unusual units, Wendy Sheils tells us about a book she bought as a present for her brother, who she says is âa connoisseur of irrelevant triviaâ. The book is (Puzzlewright, 2010) and one of the many inconsequential assertions in it is that a marathon (42.195 kilometres) is equal to 85 FMWs.
An FMW, it turns out, is a 5-minute walk, so 85 of these would be about 7 hours. We think this is a splendid unit of measurement, but Wendy points out that there are problems with it â notably, whose 5-minute walk? A marathon runner going for a stroll, she suggests, would cover a different distance in 5 minutes than Wendy herself would when sheâs being âled by two desperate puppiesâ.
She is also at a loss to know how the book arrived at its opinion that the Straits of Dover are 68 FMWs wide. Inflatable shoes, perhaps?
AN ADVERTISEMENT in a shop in London told Stewart Morris that he could âEnjoy hydrogen rich water right from your own tapâ and, whatâs more, that the filtered water in question has âsmaller water clusters to better cell absorptionâ.
Stewart has no idea what they are talking about, and neither does his wife, who has a chemistry degree, and neither do we.
HURRY is not required here. Daniel Smith ordered an Xbox Live prepaid code from an online retailer, to give him access to interactive games on the eponymous device. He received an email informing him that âYou have 10000 days to accept this code before it will be offered to another customer.â
He worked out this gave him until 26 September 2038 before the code is offered to someone else â who, he suspects, âwill have no idea what an Xbox is, or why it needs a codeâ.
A GRATE for wood fires called the WoodMiser supposedly saves on fuel âby burning 33 per cent less firewoodâ.
Graham Ranson was intrigued and went to to find out more, only to end up feeling thoroughly irritated. The cause was ânot so much what it says, itâs what it doesnât sayâ, Graham explains. In particular, the section headed âThe scienceâ says that âThe science behind the way the WoodMiser is made is highly complexâ â but it tells you nothing about what the science actually is.âIs that code for âyouâre too stupid to understandâ?â Graham asks. âOr is it âweâve no idea how it works but other people seem to think it does, so thereâ.â
FINALLY, how is this for an explanation that mystifies? Norm Cleland tells us that on Friday 23 March, speaking on Channel 10 TV in Australia, Jane Lindsay of the Australian Homeopathic Association explained that âHomeopathy is to do with the quantum energy fieldâ.
