WITHOUT a shadow of a doubt, Arm and Hammer toothpaste will put a complete stop to all decay processes and eradicate odour â if its advertising is an accurate description. Ashley Mason reported a television ad, but Feedbackâs TV had broken so we did a quick search and turned up the self-explanatory web address
The melting point of calcium is around 839 °C. We await expectantly adverts for high-tech ceramic toothbrushes specially designed for applying this liquid calcium miracle. As Ashley points out: âIt would certainly remove any stains from your teeth, plus your teeth and your mouth lining, your tongueâŚâ And itâs lustrous, too.
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Even if they only meant calcium that was liquid once upon a time, metallic calcium has an unfortunate tendency to produce explosive concentrations of hydrogen on contact with water. All in all, youâre probably better off cleaning your teeth with sodium â so long as you remember to react it with sufficient chlorine first.
ON the subject of ads, TV promotions in the US for the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin point out, correctly, that your cholesterol levels may be determined both by what you eat â for example alfredo, a rich pasta sauce â and by your forebears, such as grandpa Alfred. The ads elaborate by also identifying as possible cholesterol sources a barbecue and oneâs aunt Barbara.
ââPhotography is not allowed in the museum,â reports Ian Benton from the Fox Talbot Museum at Lacock in southern England, UK, which profiles the Victorian photographerâ
âWhoa!â exclaims Hans Kornberg, who watched the ads for us. âHas lateral gene transfer from my uncleâs wife, or just my motherâs sister, been discovered by the makers of Vytorin?â Where is the evidence? Feedback, meanwhile, is wondering about introducing our single aunts to low-cholesterol bachelorsâŚ
AND on the subject of drugs⌠a readerâs son was recently diagnosed with allergic rhinitis â hay fever to most of us. The family GP prescribed a modern antihistamine, desloratadine, in the form of a bright orange, bubblegum-flavoured syrup.
Dad, a chemist, was interested to read the list of ingredients. These include the colorant E110, also known as Sunset Yellow FCF or Orange Yellow S. According to the European Union website, E110 is (by virtue of its âEâ) a regulated food colouring agent. Its list of rare but known effects includes hives, rhinitis (runny nose), nasal congestion, allergies, hyperactivity, kidney tumoursâŚ
Obviously, dose is all when it comes to toxicity, but surely the manufacturers could find a colourant that doesnât cause the same symptoms as the problem the medicine is supposed to treat. Dad insists his 10-year-old would take his medicine whether it was bright orange or not. As it is, if his symptoms persist, how will the GP know what to blame?
THIS weekâs award for the most groan-making introduction to a press release goes to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, for its promotion of the Cornell Lab of Ornithologyâs two-CD release Voices of North American Owls. The CDs, the release tells us, are âa veritable âWhoâs Hoooâ of North American owl soundsâ.
PENGUIN Books reminds us that âRichard Feynman died in 1988 after a long illness,â at â and as the keen eyes of Elizabeth Chow note, the reader is invited to ask: âPlease alert me via email when the author releases another book.â Even summing over all possible histories, as Feynman taught physicists to do, we may be waiting a while. Unfortunately, they donât seem to have anything in print from Werner Heisenberg, who wouldnât have been so certain.
The adverts for Dettox Anti-Bacterial Cleanser proclaim that it âwipes away doubtâ. But our test panel reports that sheâs still not sure whether it works or not.
PHOTOBOX makes a charge of ÂŁ8.50212765957447 for 250 megabytes of online storage space, according to . We suspect that this may be the first appearance in this magazine of a price accurate to the nearest picopenny â before value added tax. If VAT is included, the price is ÂŁ9.99. No doubt your accountant will be pleased to know this.
THE unusual paper title that follows is not for the squeamish. The paper appeared in the journal Injury Extra (vol 36, p 508), was authored by M. Bemelman and E. R. Hammacher, and was titled âRectal impalement by pirate ship: A case reportâ.
AND FINALLY, to help you get over that, here is another title (for which we need apologise only to literate hedgehogs). It is from the Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine and is entitled âWobbly Hedgehog Syndrome in African Pygmy Hedgehogsâ.