Environmental

Lifestyle and personal habits are believed to be the primary factor for enabling individuals to live long, fulfilling lives in many cases, with one of the primary factors being that women traditionally have a much lower iron content in their blood than men thanks to regular menstruation and different dietary habits. Iron has been shown to be a primary factor in causing individuals to develop long-term health conditions and significantly increase the risk of both heart attack and stroke, something that women traditionally put off the risk of developing an average of 10 years long than men in nearly all cases. This is generally believed to be because of both the relative lack of blood loss faced by men in many cases as well as the fact that men, on average, consume more red meats and other foods high in iron than women do.

Additionally men are more prone to exposing themselves to social hazard such as smoking and other reckless behavior in their lives than women, damaging their cellular structures at an early age and preventing them from outliving their female counterparts.

Genetic

Many scientists also feel that genes play an important role in determining our age, with the fact that women possess dual X chromosomes while men carry both an X and a Y being a primary factor. As our cells age our DNA strands become damaged in various ways, causing specific chromosome strands to be damaged unequally. In the case of women they have a “backup” chromosome that allows for cellular differentiation to continue on properly even if one strand were to become damaged while men would simply lose specific sets of chromosomes, thus stunting their body’s ability to repair itself and function long into the later years of life.

One factor previously thought to bolster age that has now been debunked, it should be noted, is that women’s estrogen levels assist them in living longer lives. This has now been proven to not be the case, and many researchers actually feel that providing post-menopausal women with estrogen supplements may actually stunt their longevity due to an artificial supplement being kept within their body’s system long after many cellular systems have prepared to eliminate the need for it.

Given that most the majority of individuals throughout the world are right-handed (and hundreds of years ago left-hand dominance was even shunned in many areas) the majority of all individuals carried their sword on their left hip, allowing for them to more easily draw it and use it in combat as needed with their right hand. In order to maximize this effectiveness on a carriage the driver would subsequently sit on the right-hand side, allowing them to make the best use of their sword arm in combat should they be attacked by roadside bandits.

Unfortunately this meant that driving on the right side of the road proved somewhat difficult on a number of levels, namely it exposed them as the driver the greatest amount of danger (having no open road near them to see oncoming danger) and also prevented them from seeing how close their carriage was coming to an oncoming carriage. To avoid these complications drivers decided to drive on the left, allowing them to see all oncoming traffic and a passenger to aid them in defending their carriage more aptly.

This tradition remained prevalent until both France and the United States began seating their drivers on the left side of a final horse in a chain, better enabling them to use a whip and other devices to control a group of horses or oxen. Drivers, unfortunately, still faced the same problems as seen when sitting on the right, therefore carriages and other traffic were forced to move to the right side of the road in order to better allow drivers to both better see oncoming traffic and obstacles as well as protect them from roadside dangers.

The practicality of the right sided approach gained popularity in many areas, and through a combination of both rebellions and many people seeking to eliminate all ties to earlier British colonial rule driving on the right dominated in popularity in most areas throughout the world. Today only a few countries still drive on the left (most notably the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, India, parts of southern Africa and Indonesia) while the remainder of the world drives on the right (including mainland China and all of Europe where left-handed driving could still be seen a few decades ago).

Since human sweat is generally a relatively odorless substance containing primarily water and sodium (among many other trace elements) its natural odor is actually relatively low. Specific bacteria living upon the surface of the skin, on the other hand (something that everyone has) consume the sweat as sustenance and excrete relatively poor smelling byproducts after the consumption – generating the smell that affects feet. This is compounded on our feet in particular as the combination of both socks and air-restricting shoes tend to limit the ability of our feet to clear away excess sweat and bacterial debris, meaning the bacterial excrement builds up in a restricted area and causes excess smell to develop.

This is particularly an issue with feet as well as there are roughly 250,000 sweat glands present on the average person’s foot – roughly the same number that are present on our hands as well, however our hands typically do not develop the same odor problem given that we can wash them regularly and allow them to breathe more fully when walking around during our daily lives. Additionally each person releases a different level of sweat based upon their own biochemistry and living conditions, meaning that some people will simply produce more consumable material for the bacteria than others and thus create different developmental environments for the odorous material to collect in (as higher levels of consumable food means that higher amounts of excrement is produced and, subsequently, the worse smelling the feet become).

If you are concerned about the smell of your own feet consider looking for anti-bacterial sprays or inserts for your shoes that can help reduce the presence of the bacteria on a regular basis, or at the same time you may also consider changing shoes in order to allow for greater air flow and reduced heat collection in order to reduce scent as much as possible by not enabling the bacterial excrement to collect and develop.

Based on a number of studies conducted worldwide on language usage a number of researchers have determined that swear words actually pose a function in language many times akin to commonplace interjections used to show excitement or emotion. Beginning a sentence with “Hey!” or “Oi!”, for instance, can convey a number of emotional meanings to listeners that they may not be able to convey as quickly and easily through conventional speech. Further, as most communication is done by approximately 70% of the overall tone of voice and projection of speech these play an important role in conveying an overall meaning to the listener as well.

Swear words, rather than being used specifically at the beginning of a sentence, can aid in conveying any number of emotional messages (though traditionally they are ones of anger or frustration over a particular development). This allows the listener to automatically connect with the speaker on a basic level without needing a lengthy explanation detailing the speaker’s specific feelings at any particular time.

Further, swear words also act in societies as effective ways or venting personal frustration or anger and other people or objects without resorting to physical violence. This is why many people can be seen getting into yelling matches with each other frequently in social environments, however resorting to physical violence is considerably less frequent given the overall natural desire for self preservation all people carry (with virtually everyone in the world deciding that minor verbal confrontation is far superior to physical violence and possible death resulting from their activities).

Of course, don’t think swearing is always a bad thing as well. Many times swearing is actually an effective way for many people to bond socially as it can effectively be used in many jokes or other coarse humor that indicates a level of familiarity between the speaker and the listener and allow for greater bonding to take place than might happen otherwise. In fact, to indicate just how important swearing is, most people on average use swear words in 0.3% to 0.7% of their speech while personal pronouns (such as “we” or “I”) make up an average of 1% of speech, marking just how important swear words are as a communication device.

The popularity of the sideways gun hold can actually be tracked back to Hollywood, with the 1993 movie Menace II Society showing this grip in the opening scene and poularizing it with viewers at that time. Before then it appeared in a number of other movies as well, including the Clint Eastwood western “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” – most likely to allow camera operators to get the best view of both the gun and the character’s face in the same frame without obstructing any views.

In terms of actual functionality the sideways grip both reduces overall accuracy and makes the weapon more dangerous to both innocent bystanders and the actual operator him or herself. With accuracy in mind the sideways angle makes the weapon extremely difficult to aim, causing the standard “iron sights” at the top of the gun normally used for aligning the aim to become effectively useless. This position, in turn, makes the gun a danger to all individuals who may be in front of it at the time (which isn’t necessary for most shooters in gun fights as studies show that roughly 60% of all modern-day gunfighters never aim while shooting). Interestingly enough, however, this hold IS used by law enforcement officers holding shields as the sideways aim actually allows them to have greater accuracy while behind a shield, bringing the sights into their line of sight better than if held regularly.

Additionally when this position is used with most semi-automatic pistols today the ejection chamber is located on the right side of the gun. If used by a right-handed wielder and rotated counter-clockwise the ejection chamber rotates upwards, ejecting hot bullet casings out of the weapon and many times directly at the face of the wielder – making it extremely dangerous for individuals to hold the gun like this for even the shooter unless they feel like dodging hit metal every time they take a shot.

Through years of study into human laughter scenarios scientists have concluded that the causal effect of laughter is not necessarily from a funny situation and instead stems from our root desire to communicate with others in a way that allows them to interpret humor, pleasure or an otherwise positive response to a statement. This stems back to approximately 3.5 to 4 months of age when most people first develop the ability to laugh in addition to cry as one of the primary forms of communication with their parents and the world around them – well before conscious language development takes place.

The development of laughter to effectively communicate in a non-verbal manner with others should not be mistaken purely as a way of expressing humor alone, however. In fact, laughter has been seen instead to act as a form of social bonding rather than purely for individual expression. Analysis of when people laugh the most, for instance, has shown that individuals are more likely to talk to themselves while alone than laugh while alone and join in with other laughter should they be in a social situation where the majority of individuals are laughing (and as such the term “infectious laughter” has come about).

Researchers have further noted that laughter is also both used in positive and negative social bonding experiences, with people “laughing with” and “laughing at” someone or something in order to both develop a group bond as well as either force another individual into group conformity or to exclude them from the primary group – a survival instinct where large numbers matter most. This is particularly common in relaxed social atmospheres and becomes less common as people mature and “play” less, with children approximately 5 and 6 years old laughing the most with each other and adults laughing the least.

The purpose of the tapetum ludicum is to reflect light waves that filter entirely through the eye back out of the eye in order to allow for a second chance at detection by visual receptors. This process increases the overall effectiveness of eyes in low-light settings and thus enables animals to remain more functional in nocturnal environments.

Unlike these animals, however, human beings do not possess a tapetum ludicum within their eyes, thus no light is generated when a standard light bounces into a human’s eyes in a low-light environment. A high-intensity camera flash, on the other hand, is a different matter. Generating a powerful-enough burst of energy and capturing the resulting light waves in an aperture immediately after the light is generated creates a reflection to be generated off of the standard pupil of the eye. The resulting reflection is what is captured in a photograph, with the red color coming from the reflection of blood vessels within the eye.

Because the “red eye” of humans is generated by a reflection of blood vessels within  the pupil necessary for eye function the red-eye reduction capabilities of modern portable cameras works to reduce this by taking pictures with a double-burst of light. The first flash generates a strong enough light source to cause a contraction of the pupil and thus significantly reduce the overall possibility of reflection from occurring, while the second burst is used to provide luminescence for taking the photo itself. Alternatively flashes can be bounced off of nearby walls or light generated from an alternative angle as well in order to cause the reflection to move away from the camera rather than be returned directly into the camera’s lens, thus removing the glare from human eyes (though unfortunately not that of many animals possessing a highly reflective tapetum ludicum as this will return light from virtually any angle in a dark setting).

The stomach is one of the key parts of the human digestive tract, or essentially one large channel beginning at the mouth and ending at the anus that is used to digest and process nutrients throughout our days in order to provide fuel for the rest of our body to function. When hearing (and often feeling) a “rumble” this is the result of an action taking place within the stomach and generally the first part of the small intestine as well.

Beginning a few hours after the stomach has emptied itself of food a signal is sent to the brain to prepare the body for additional food intake and initiate a “hungry” sensation. To do this a series of muscles throughout the digestive tract activate in order to clear out any residual food that may be remaining within the stomach and intestine to prepare for new food to be processed. This forces any air, liquid or other solid matter deeper into the digestive tract for processing though a series of quick muscle movements generating the “rumbling” sensation felt when a growl occurs and generating sound from the propulsion of the matter through the digestive system.

The muscle contractions have a secondary effect on the body as well aside from simply preparing the body for additional food intake. By rapidly contracting the muscles around the stomach the body activates another base signal to generate hunger and the desire to consume additional food. For this reason the strong desire to eat something – even just a small snack – will always come on strong right after growl is heard or felt.

Sometimes, however, these vibrations are not the result of hunger alone but a byproduct of the body’s processing of gasses trapped within the stomach. As the gas bubbles pass from one chamber to the next the regularly contracting muscles of the stomach cause a sound to be generated and additional muscle spasms to occur. For this reason preventing hunger alone may not be the only way to prevent these sounds from creeping up on you at any time and avoiding particularly gassy foods (such as carbonated beverages) may be a good idea desirable as well.

The primary reason for this adjustment in direction is due to the fact that the ball’s spin, as it flies through the air, creates a pocket of air with an adjusted density in one particular direction. A ball with a high backwards spin, for instance, creates a pocket of lower density sir above it that allows it to appear to even hover at times as the velocity allows for the air above it to be displaced and create an upward lift. Even at relatively low velocities this can occur, and can be seen even when tossing a small fruit in their air with a slight spin on it.

In many ways this is the same way that modern airplanes function, with wings specially designed to increase the speed of airflow over them while maintaining a set natural speed below in order to create a lifting force that allows for flight. By applying enough force to a ball and generating enough rotation speed in the process this effect can be quite pronounced even over short distances.

By the same function this effect can be used for more than just lift, however. By adjusting the rotation of the ball to either side the pocket of lower density air created by the high speed rotation can be forced to shift in any particular function, thus forcing the ball to travel in any number of desired ways.

Baseball pitchers are particularly accustomed to this phenomenon and actively apply it to many of their throwing styles in order to create varying degrees of curves in each of their throws and thus confuse a batter. Much in the same way do tennis players adjust the spin on the ball they hit in order to add a level of control to the court and confuse their opponent as well as prevent many successful returns from being completed due to the increased difficulty presented through the spin of the ball.

After returning to a provincial university and presenting my results to much acclaim amongst my peers, I spent a prolonged period in the United States. I travelled extensively through all 36 states that use the lethal injection as a method of execution, studying all prior execution cases and autopsy reports. An extensive work was presented to the Royal Society at the end of my American sojourn. Our ground-breaking study concluded that not a single executed inmate showed any signs of fresh infection from hepatitis B, hepatitis C, tetanus or human immunodeficiency virus, and so using clean needles for future executions might not be necessary and could potentially save the conscientious, tax-paying men and women of the United States several dollars annually.

Riding the tide of achievement, I then focused my attention on some of the great historical conundrums, particularly why Kamikaze pilots wore helmets. There can be no greater deterrent to a young Kamikaze pilot than frostbite to the tips of the ears. Hurtling in to 20 000 tons of 8-inch armoured plated steel at 400+ mph with frost-bitten ears was a prospect few, if any, of Japan’s finest airmen could countenance. Mindful of this problem, and anxious to pamper the nation’s finest, the Japanese Naval Air Fleet commissioned Italian fashion house Innuendi to design a series of haute-couture, fur-lined helmets for kamikaze pilots. The tailors of Milan were grateful for the work and hastily delivered the luxury headgear much to the delight of young kamikazes and their naval commanders.

Twistleton-Moncrieff and Hoffman (1993) suggest the reason was pecuniary rather than related to pilot comfort. They studied documents recently released by famed insurers Lloyds of London. Lloyds underwrote the Japanese Air Force throughout World War II. Small print of the documents signed by Chuichi Nagumo of the Japanese Naval Air Fleet show a health and safety rider added by Lloyds stating individual claims can be nullified if the pilot is not “wearing a helmet that comports with recognized standards”.

The TMH findings coincide with later Innuendi order dockets which show headgear shipped after January 1945 were strengthened to comply with Japanese Air Fleet standards. A third suggestion was that towards the end of the Pacific conflict, having seen many of their colleagues needlessly puree’d and scraped off of the upper decks of US destroyers, pilots were getting a little jittery about confronting the same fate. Small ear-pieces were then discreetly fitted in to later revisions of the Innuendi helmets. Through these ear-pieces, Naval Fleet commanders ensured pilots did not fall short of their targets.

The real reason? Well, we’ve yet to conclude our full survey on the matter, but a conclusive paper should be put forward for peer review by the end of the summer.