If you’re a Chinese astronaut and you have bad breath, you can say good-bye to your dream of going into space. They also don’t want you if you have body odor or a runny nose. The administrators say that this would make life too uncomfortable for the other astronauts in the cabin.
Other astronaut hopefuls were eliminated if they had scars. The experts said that the scar tissue could burst open in extreme conditions of space. I wonder if that’s true and if astronauts from other countries have the same restriction. And what kind of scar? I know very few people …read more

With swine H1N1 flu constantly making front page news, travellers have got germs on the brain. According to a recent TripAdvisor site poll of nearly 5,000 travellers, a third of them are being more ‘germ aware’ and are washing and disinfecting their hands much more often.
In keeping with this theme, TripAdvisor has ‘coughed up’ a list what they think might be the world’s top ‘germiest’ attractions…
1. The Blarney Stone in Ireland where ‘up to 400,000 mouths from all over the world touch the stone each year‘.
2. Seattle’s Wall of Gum where, since the 1990s people have been deposit their masticated …read more

I’m off to California tomorrow for three weeks of sun, travel, wine, good food, and great company.
But I didn’t want to leave all you Healthbolt reader’s high and dry, so I’ve been doing some pre-posting to keep you informed and entertained while I’m away.
 
 
And to start it of, here’s a safety video from Air New Zealand with whom I‘ll be flying with tomorrow.
Can you spot what’s different from the usual safety videos?
.
.
Yep, you got it. They are not wearing any clothes.
It’s all body paint.
Thankfully, it’s just a video and all the real flight personnel on my flight will be wearing …read more

Dream of writing the great American novel or become an acclaimed artist?
Then maybe you need to think about living abroad. 
According to a new research by the American Psychological Association, living abroad expands the mind.
This conclusion is based on 5 studies involving students at Sorbonne University, INSEAD and the Kellogg School of Management in the US. 
Of course, despite these findings, moving abroad does not guarantee a budding writer or artist will create the perfect masterpiece or manuscript.
But as an expat, it’s interesting to know that living overseas is possibly increasing my creativity.
One more reason to stay where I am!
(source and image source)
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1065698

Looking for somewhere different to eat?
Check out this restaurant in the Netherlands called Restaurant of the Future.
It looks like a restaurant. It acts like a restaurant. But it’s actually a living laboratory where scientists can monitor and study what and how people eat.
The scientists, thankfully, are not standing at the tables, clipboard in hand, watching the customers eat. Instead customer’s eating habits are monitored by cameras that are discretely in the ceiling.
In fact, the only way that customers even know that they are participating in an ongoing research project is because they are given a questionnaire and research waiver to …read more

Last month Dr Manny from Fox News enlisted the help of Chris Kilham (aka the Medicine Hunter) and went on a culinary quest to find some really strange health foods.
His first port of call was an ice cream factory in New York City’s Chinatown to sample dorian ice cream. Dorian, a fruit that’s has been cultivated in southeast Asia since prehistoric times, is loved by many Asian communities. It’s odd appearance (think football with spikes) and abhorent rotten garbage smell, though, has prevented the fruit from become popular in the western world. One look at Dr Manny’s face when he was trying …read more

Think that beauty is only skin deep? Then you really need to check out this amazing talk by leading medical illustrator David Bolinsky and watch his stunning animations that show the bustling life inside a cell.

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If you’re heading out into the wilderness for some nature-like fun (not my bag, but hey, to each his own), you may come across a bear at some point. You are in their habitat, after all. And while this is scarier than the release of Gigli, there are certain steps you can take to protect yourself and your family, since most black bears are not interested in people and can usually be scared away. Take a look:
1. Stand up as tall as you can
2. Hold out your arms to appear bigger (if you’re wearing a jacket …read more

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to ‘dance like no one is watching’.
Turns out it’s not such a bad idea. Dancing, it seems, has many health benefits. Besides the obvious – it is exercise and therefore should help you keep fit – dancing is also good for lowering the risk of dementia, helping those with depression, and improving balance for those with Parkinsons.
So I’m going to make good my resolution and ‘dance like no one is watching’. And for inspiration, I’ll follow the lead of Matt Harding, better known for his video ‘Where the Hell is Matt?’. …read more

What would you do if you felt your  life was falling apart? Most people would somehow pick up the pieces and carry on. But there’s this guy in Australia who has decided he doesn’t want to pick up the pieces. Instead, he wants to ’sell the pieces of his life’ and start a whole new life.
Sounds extreme. But is it really ? People have been starting over forever. Think Pilgrims. Think immigrants.
But Ian Usher’s way of starting over involves selling his life on e-bay…
From Sunday, June 22 for one week, Usher’s life is up for sale on eBay with the …read more