“With patience and spit” is the headline in the German magazine Monopol, about the application of Ig Nobel Prize-winning knowledge to the cleaning of a historic painting. Marcus Boxler reports, in Monopol: A highlight of the Mannheim art gallery collection is currently being cleaned up: The oil painting “The execution of the Emperor Maximilian of […]
Tag: spit
Masked and Un-Masked Spittle Produced When One Says “Stay Healthy”
The biomedical race to understand and tame the COVID-19 virus proceeds rapidly, drop by drop. This new spittle study is the very latest addition to the literature: “Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering,” Philip Anfinrud, Valentyn Stadnytskyi, Christina E. Bax, and Adriaan Bax, New England Journal of Medicine, April 15, 2020. (Thanks […]
The Value of Spit, in the Art World
A proper appreciation of spit might have prevented an art tragedy. The tragedy is reported by VN Express International: HCMC museum takes a national treasure to the cleaners A precious lacquer painting suffered 30 percent damage during cleaning process due to cleaner’s lack of knowledge in art. The painting, Vuon Xuan Trung Nam Bac (Spring Garden […]
DNA Spit jewellery (a most personal gift for your Valentine?)
Now that Valentine’s day is rapidly approaching, have you considered presenting a romantic partner with some jewellery made from your spit? A research project at Aalto University, Finland suggests that you could. Oron Catts and Marika Hellman of the university’s Biofilia Lab explain: “First, some water is held in the mouth for a moment and […]
“Better chance… if an Inuit or a Mayan spits on it?”
A Canadian study, long overlooked, asks “Does a parasite have a better chance of survival if an Inuit or a Mayan spits on it?” Author Ed Shields sent us a copy accompanied by a note saying “Years ago, I chose its provocative title as an attempt to awaken folks to the potential immunochemical importance of salivary […]
Powerpoint-Induced Salivation in Class
Powerpoint enthusiasts who have not yet developed their own techniques for inducing salivation in classrooms now have a published study that can show them the basics: “Using Powerpoint to Demonstrate Human Classical Salivary Conditioning in a Classroom Situation,” Charles Abramson [pictured here], Erika Brown, Dillon Langley, Psychological Reports, Volume 108, Issue 1, February 2011, pp. […]
Kickboxing spit content irrelevancy
Big news, in the form of a published study, for anyone who is fascinated by kickboxing and spit: “Effect of a kickboxing match on salivary cortisol and immunoglobulin A“, Alexandre Moreira, Franco Arsati, Ynara Bosco De Oliveira Lima-Arsati, Emerson Franchini and Vera Cavalcanti De Araújo, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2010 Aug;111(1):158-66. The authors, at the […]
Headline of the Day: Blood, Spit & Burnout
Today’s Headline of the Day comes from a University of Montreal press release: Simple spit and blood tests might detect burnout before it happens The press release goes on to say: Your blood and the level of a hormone in your spit could reveal if you’re on the point of burnout, according to research undertaken […]
Indiscriminate expectoration
Indiscriminate expectoration — newly recognized as a prime, yet preventable means of spreading tuberculosis — gets the once-over in the essay “Indiscriminate Expectoration,” British Medical Journal, vol. 2, no. 2120, August 17, 1901, pp. 422-3. Two excerpts: “In America, where expectoration seems, if report be true, to be a kind of mental solace, laws have […]