/oss/taxonomy/term/406/all en /oss/article/did-you-know/drink-hot-drinks-hot-weather-cool-down-faster <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in</em> <a href="https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/old-wives-tales-and-truths-2-0/"><em>The Skeptical Inquirer.</em></a></p> <hr /> <p>Nothing pairs better with hot summer weather than an ice-cold drink, right? Well, as the old saying goes, a hot drink on a hot day will cool you down faster.</p> Fri, 07 Jul 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Ada McVean M.Sc. 9563 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition/sweating-out-hype-over-finnish-sauna <p>What are children introduced to, on average, at the age of four and a half months? Your answer will vary depending on where you are from. In Finland, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb51764.x" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the answer</a> is the sauna.</p> Sat, 04 Dec 2021 09:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8942 at /oss /oss/article/health/sweating-pig <p>A graduate student at the University of California was having a little dispute with his girlfriend. It seems she had started massage school and came home with some newly acquired information from a classmate. She was told that she should stop eating pork because pigs have no sweat glands and thus don’t sweat out toxins. Presumably then pork is unsafe to eat because of the toxins it harbours. There is some truth here. Pigs really don’t sweat. Not much anyway. As far as the rest goes, pure bunk. Sweating does not remove toxins, its purpose is to cool the body through evaporation. Perspiration</p> Tue, 18 Sep 2018 16:07:15 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7361 at /oss /oss/article/health/heat-wave-fury <p><span>Like all warm-blooded mammals, we humans need to get rid of the heat we generate with every chemical reaction in our bodies. Most animals, like dogs, get rid of heat by panting. Panting is actually a fairly bad way to get rid of heat because you cannot run and pant at the same time. So a dog can only run around for a short period of time before it overheats and has to stop to pant. Dogs make for bad endurance athletes.</span></p> Mon, 16 Jul 2018 19:48:33 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 7169 at /oss /oss/article/news-quackery-weight-loss/short-solution-shedding-pounds <p><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?p=4058" rel="attachment wp-att-4092"><img alt="Wrestlers" height="187" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2013/02/wrestling5-300x187.jpg" width="300" /></a>I had friends in University that wrestled. And I never really got it.  The jousting, the hold-‘em-down-till-they’re-finished-mentality. And the outfits. I won’t even get started on that one. But what really got to me was the way these wrestlers went about their training and what they felt they had to endure to prepare for their time in the ring. I heard stories of riding stationary bikes. In saunas. Wearing full sweat suits, hoods and all. The point? Sweat off the pounds. Shed enough water that when being weighed, you make it to the lower weight category so your opponent would be on the smaller side. This, I felt, was just plain dangerous. <a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2013/02/06/a-short-solution-to-shedding-the-pounds/">Read more</a></p> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:45:13 +0000 Emily Shore, OSS Communications 1868 at /oss /oss/article/science-science-everywhere/stinky-boyfriend-blame-your-nose <p>Some girls find their boyfriend’s natural odor sexy, some find it repugnant. And a new study conducted by molecular genetics and microbiology professor Hiroaki Matsunami and his team at Duke University showed that the boyfriend’s sweat is not to blame; rather, the smell is in the nose of the beholder.</p> Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:39:06 +0000 Melody Ko MD 1607 at /oss