Category Archives: Factoids

If it’s the Jew­ish hol­i­day Purim and you plan on com­pet­ing in the Olympics, you may want to think twice before gorg­ing on poppy seed haman­taschen.  Eat­ing enough poppy seeds can cause your urine to test pos­i­tive for opiates.

From peni­cillin to Post-its, acci­den­tal dis­cov­er­ies have led to many of our most impor­tant prod­ucts.  That is how we’ve come to have Pop Rocks.

Action heroes like Arnold Schwarzeneg­ger often find them­selves faced with an inter­roga­tor who uses a truth serum to get the hero to reveal his secrets.  In the movies, our heroes are able to resist these potions and hid the truth.  … Con­tinue read­ing →

Maybe.  A study in JAMA, or the Jour­nal of the Amer­i­can Med­ical Asso­ci­a­tion for all not in the know, demon­strated a sig­nif­i­cant reduc­tion in the rate of uri­nary tract infec­tions in older peo­ple who drank cran­berry juice daily.  We don’t … Con­tinue read­ing →

I didn’t have the answer to this ques­tion until I deliv­ered my first baby.  I always believed that you had an “innie” if the doc­tor tied a good knot, and if he didn’t, you were cursed with that funny-looking “outie”.  … Con­tinue read­ing →