Male Gel
This week in 1931, Alka Seltzer debuted in the U.S. Its origins date to three years earlier when Hub Beardsley, president of Miles Laboratories, was visiting newspaper offices in Elkhart, Indiana, during a severe flu epidemic.
The staff seemed resistant to the flu, and the editor told Beardsley that ailing employees took a remedy combining aspirin and baking soda. Beardsley asked his chemists to develop an effervescent tablet with aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) and sodium bicarbonate as the main ingredients. It debuted to much fanfare, though Beardsley himself died in 1929.
Perishable Publications
Many, if not most, published research papers have titles that defy comprehension. They use specialized jargon, complex words and opaque phrases like "nonlinear dynamics." Sometimes they don't, and yet they're still hard to figure out. Here's an actual title of actual published research study: "The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of 'Writer's Block.'"
Published by Dennis Upper in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis in 1974, the case study consisted of a single largely blank page.
Self-Exam
Q: What causes morning bad breath?
A: Medically known as halitosis, it's the almost inevitable combination of three factors: your mouth, oral bacteria and lack of saliva. The average mouth is a warm, wet and welcoming refuge for bacteria, an estimated 500 to 650 species totaling in the billions that busily feed on the amino acids, proteins and other chemicals left behind by our meals.
These processes produce odiferous compounds such as hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan that foul our breath. Saliva helps wash away bacteria before their work gets smelly.
When we sleep, bacteria don't. But saliva production decreases, resulting in a stronger chance of offending morning breath. It helps to brush before bed to reduce bacterial numbers and reduce their food supply, and drinking water before bed can temporarily compensate for loss of saliva. But really, the only solution is to brush and drink a glass of water first thing in the morning. Until that happens, keep your mouth closed around others.
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