At the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, Public Health Prize winner Dr. Elena Bodnar demonstrates her invention – a brassiere that, in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a pair of protective face masks, one for the brassiere wearer and one to be given to some needy bystander. She is assisted by Nobel laureates […]
Tag: public health
Kissing and the Common Cold?
Valentine’s Day always brings the question “Can you catch a cold by kissing?” A 1984 experiment gave this answer: “Casual social encounters or kisses between infected and susceptible individuals are probably unlikely to result in the transmission of rhinoviruses.” Here’s kissing data from the experiment. The citation and further quotations appear below it.
Discouraged from eating saliva noodles
“Chinese locals discouraged from eating saliva noodles” says the CRI.cn headline (thanks to Barfblog for spotting it). The report, about the town of Changxing, says: “The Chinese Business View reported on Thursday that the township government has launched a 500 yuan award for the first six families that do not treat their guests to ‘xian […]
When chefs demand medical tools
Barfblog writes (thanks to Penny Larsson for the pointer): The New York Times reports in almost 1,000 breathless words this morning that the most recent cross-disciplinary tool in a chef’s batterie de cuisine comes from the operating room: medical tweezers. In some of the country’s most ambitious restaurants, a pair of them allows a chef […]