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What is paraesthesia?
Asked by: Anonymous This is the medical name for pins and needles. Paraesthesia can have all kinds of causes. A relatively benign form is when you warm your hands up quickly after coming in from the...
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Why do you see stars if you bump your head?
Asked by: Anonymous Familiar from cartoon strips, this bizarre phenomenon is caused by the generation of so-called phosphenes – illusory flashes of light caused by pressure on the light-receiving...
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Why do you get hungry when you’re drunk?
Asked by: Anonymous A 2009 study at the University of Sussex showed that alcohol directly affects the appetite centre of the brain so that energy dense foods like chips and curry seem more attractive...
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Why do we have lips?
Lips allow us to chew and swallow with our mouth closed; to hold onto things like nails and clothes pegs, and to suckle at the breast. But even more importantly, our lips are used in communication....
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Why is eating liver good for you?
Asked by: Anonymous It’s not, especially. The claimed nutritional qualities of liver, along with those of bread crusts and apple peel have more to do with keeping the shopping bill down than putting...
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What happens when you’re winded?
Asked by: Anonymous You feel a severe pain in the chest and can hardly breathe, which can be very frightening. This is usually caused by a hard blow to the solar plexus. This is a complex network of...
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Why don’t people have naturally blue or green hair?
The colour of human hair is determined by two varieties of melanin, the pigment which also dictates our skin colour. And the bad news for those wanting naturally blue hair is that both varieties come...
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Can you get sunburnt underwater?
UV-B, the frequency range of ultra-violet light that causes sunburn, is absorbed by water but you need a few metres of it to provide adequate protection. Half a metre of water will still let 40 per...
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Why is sugar bad for you?
Asked by: Anonymous Sugar packs a lot of calories into a small space; this causes obesity. It is also absorbed very quickly, which causes spikes in your blood sugar. The pancreas responds with the...
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Why does scratching help itches?
Asked by: Anonymous Itching usually results from weak or variable stimulation to the skin, such as an insect crawling up your arm. When you scratch the itchy spot, this acts to prevent the spinal cord...
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Can adding mixers to drinks get you drunk faster?
Asked by: Anonymous It certainly can if you’re gulping down liquid with a higher average alcohol content. But mixing strong drinks with carbonated mixers can also accelerate the speed of intoxication....
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Is sexuality learned or genetic?
Asked by: Anonymous Studies with identical twins have shown some evidence for an inherited component to homosexuality. But that’s not quite the same thing as a ‘gay gene’. For example, a 1997 study at...
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Why hasn’t evolution made it pleasant to give birth?
Asked by: Anonymous Other mammals don’t have the same problems that we do for two reasons: their heads aren’t so large, relative to their body size, and they don’t walk upright. Evolving a fully...
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Why are yawns infectious?
Asked by: Anonymous Only humans, chimpanzees and dogs have been seen to yawn contagiously. That is, they yawn when someone else yawns first. This contagion is not imitation or copying, but an...
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Why do we fidget?
Asked by: Anonymous Fidgeting is a response to anxiety or boredom. Anxious fidgeting occurs because the body has elevated levels of stress hormones, which are prepping your muscles for sudden...
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Could you run out of sweat?
Asked by: Derrick Rhodes, Ramsgate Sweat doesn’t sit in a separate reservoir or fuel tank that can be temporarily drained dry. The eccrine glands in your skin take fluid directly from the plasma in...
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How long does meat sit in your gut?
Asked by: Anonymous Nothing ‘sits’ in your gut. Your digestive system is not a recycling centre that carefully separates your food into meat, vegetables, grains and so on and then processes them...
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Why do baked beans give you wind?
Asked by: Anonymous The next time you let off an eggy one after overdoing it on the beans, blame it on the bugs. The smell is not your own gas but that given off by bacteria in your gut. Beans contain...
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How long does it take for a body to decompose at sea?
Asked by: Anonymous It depends on the temperature of the water. In cold water, the bacterial action that causes a body to bloat with gas may be so slowed that the body stays on the seabed. The skin...
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Where do phobias come from?
Asked by: Anonymous Some are exaggerated forms of evolved fears that all of us share. For example, humans – like some other apes – are naturally wary of snakes, spiders and rats, which makes good...
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