Tag Archives: medical

FACT: only white paint contained poisonous lead

By Ryan | Published: September 15, 2009

I’m sure you’ve heard of the dangers of lead paint, and that you shouldn’t lick old furniture. I was surprised to hear that it was only white paint that contained lead, which was in fact the pigment used to make the paint white. Through a chemical reaction, the dull gray lead would “grow” a covering [...]

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FACT: your appendix is back in business

By Ryan | Published: August 28, 2009

It has long been believed that the appendix, a small cul-de-sac thingy that hangs off your intestine, served no purpose. The theory was that it was merely a dried up evolutionary leftover of something that used to serve a purpose. Well not anymore! The appendix is finally getting the credit it has deserved (for the [...]

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FACT: to create antivenom, sheep are injected with poison until immune

By Ryan | Published: July 24, 2009

If you get poisoned by a snake, scorpion, spider, or other ill-tempered thing, you want to find yourself some antivenom as quick as possible. It will find the toxic poison and neutralize it, preventing further damage. This scientific yin to nature’s yang was not created in a pharmaceutical lab, but rather cooked up naturally inside [...]

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