You Dirty Dog!
You just think Fido helps you feel better. Some therapy programs help hospital patients relax by having dogs come visit. But the dogs may pick up human germs from all the snuggling and kissing. Of course, the dogs don’t get sick. They just pass those germs along to the next patient, according to the Journal of Hospital Infection. Still think dogs are man’s best friend (cough)? Fetch the Purell.
Forgettable Fast Food
A McDonald’s meal usually isn’t too memorable. But research on mice suggests that fast food could be linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Mice engineered with a gene also linked to the disease were fed a diet nutritionally similar to fast food for nine months. The chemicals in their brains were found to be similar to people with Alzheimer’s, according to Sweden’s Karolinska Institute. So there is one thing that might be good to forget: the drive-thru.
Zombie Attack? We’re Doomed
Hope you like brains. Math researchers have concluded that if the world were attacked by zombies, the kind from movies and popular culture, the world would be doomed. The study by Canada’s Uni-versity of Ottawa and Carleton University was published in the journal Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress. Based on mathematical models, while zombies move slowly, they could infect and “zombie-ize” more people than victims could fend off with pitchforks, flaming torches or shot-guns. The next threat? Martians.
Sugar and Spice and Not So Nice
There’s more than one way that sweets can make you lose your teeth. Research suggests that children who ate candy every day grew up to become adults more prone to violence. Who knew sugar could pack such a punch? In research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, the study, begun in 1970, of nearly 17,500 participants, found 10-year-olds with a daily sweet tooth were more likely to have been convicted of a violent crime by age 34. The study sought to examine what effect childhood diets could have when they became adults. So those who fondly remember eating a daily Jawbreaker or Atomic Fireball may want to listen to the nice policeman telling you to “Put the candy bar down slowly….”