Everything and I mean everything seems to be virtual and wireless these days - including, thanks to this iPhone application,  even cemeteries.

I’m not too sure what to make of it really. The Pocket Cemetery lets you create virtual memories using cusomizable tombstones and cemetery plots with pictures, bios, and favorite memories.

And it doesn’t have to be just for your family. You can memorialize anyone, including celebrities and pets. You can even put virtual flowers and personalized messages can be placed on graves.

Given that family members are often spread around the world and can‘t always get home, this might not be such a bad idea.

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According to creator Wayne Perry, fans of Michael Jackson also think it’s a good idea. He’s received numerous requests for pre-release versions of the Pocket Cemetery from the King of Pop’s fans who want to create their own memorials to Michael.

Perry added his own Michael Jackson memorial to his YouTube channel last week and since then has gotten over 1,000 requests for the Pocket Cemetery.

Macabre or brilliant - you decide.

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Did you know that where you are from and  where you have been can be traced through a single strand of your hair?

According to this study  recently published in the Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry journal, a team of  Spanish and British scientists  have found a way to trace your travels by testing your hair by using a laser-ablation technique. This technique is able to detect variations in the sulphur isotopes of a single hair strand over time.

During the study, researchers collected hair samples from three volunteers, two of whom were permanent United Kingdom residents while the third had spent the previous 6 months travelling through Croatia, Austria, and Australia.  Results of testing  showed that the traveller’s hair strand had considerable variations in the sulfur isotopes while hair strands from the two home-bound U.K. residents had minimal to no changes.

Interesting results that could have huge relevance for governmental agencies who are interested in tracing the lifestyles of international criminals and terror suspects.

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A couple of months ago I wrote about a study that found drinking coffee or other caffeinated drinks an hour before exercise will reduce muscle pain.

But here’s a study that goes one better and suggests that drinking beer after exercise  improves your hydration better than drinking water would.

The study from Spain is a couple of years old and I haven’t seen any follow-up studies which makes it difficult to judge it’s accuracy.

So have a read and see what you think.

The study done by researchers at Granada University in Spain tested 25 students over several months, asking them to run on a treadmill at 104F temperatures until they were close to exhaustion. At that point, their level of hydration, concentration, and motor skills were measurd.

Then half of the students were given 2 half pints of Spanish lager to drink and the remaining students were given just water.

The study found that those who drank the beer had a slightly better rehydration effection than those who drink only water. 

The researchers believe this is because the contents of the beer - sugars and salts - quickens the absorption of fluids.  Further more, they think that the bubbles, caused by carbon dioxide, quenches thirst and carbohydrates in the beer replace calories lost in exercise.

Based on these results, the Spanish researchers went on to recommend moderate consumption of beer as a part of athletes’ diets. Their definition of  moderate consumption being 500 mls per day for men and 250 mls per day for women.

So what do you think?

Should we being having a pre-exercise coffee and a post-exercise beer?

Don’t know about you but it all sounds too much for me!

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Wired Science has a fascinating post featuring 10 Gory Surgical Triumphs on YouTube.

Full of blood and gore, it’s definitely not for anyone who has a weak stomach. But if you ever dreamed of being a surgeon, love all the reality medical shows, then this might just be the list for you.

The list covers everything from open-heart surgery to amputations, sex-change operations to autopsies. They even remove a fish hook from an eye. Nothing, it seems, is safe from the internet.

Brain surgery anyone?

Most people head to Sydney, Australia for the sun, the food, and the opera house. Now you can also take in a visit to the Museum of Human Diseases, a Pandora’s box of plague, pestilence and disease in graphic detail.

Used for years as a  resource for medical students, this museum at the University of New South Wales has more than 2,000 cadaver parts on display.

It’s not for the weak of stomach. There’s a blackened smoker’s lung on one side and a  nectrotic ulcer the size of a cricket ball n the other. The two disembodied white thumbs, macabrely sit in a ’thumbs up’ gesture against a dark background (possibly a little med school humor). There’s a gangrenous foot, a nodular goitre, and an egg-shaped breast cancer.

It might sound pretty grisly but sights like this can be a powerful educational tool, giving people a first hand look at how lifestyle choices can affect the body.

The museum is located on the ground floor of the Samuels Building in the Upper Sydney Campus area

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Image from flickr

Ads about smoking have changed dramatically over the years. Once upon a time, when none knew any better, cigarettes were advertised as something that would make you feel good, strong, happy, even healthy.

But as more and more evidence pointed to the dangers of smoking on your health, the ads changed. They were no longer put out by tobacco companies trying to entice people to buy their product. Instead, they were produced by government departments and non-profit health organizations trying to encourage people to quit (or not to start).

And along the way, they’ve become increasing gruesome and graphic. For example, cigarette cartons with pictures of blackened lungs and rotting gums.

But many of the television ads, such as this one recently released by the New York City Department of Health, aim straight for the heartstrings and elicit strong emotions.

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Some people say these public service ads are going too far.

Personally, I don’t think they are going far enough.

What do you think?

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 this and it’s pretty obvious that the ice cream doesn’t kill the smell.

As for it’s health benefits, apparently it is thought to act as an aphrodisiac!!!

The next stop in Dr Manny’s culinary quest took him to a Japanese restaurant Morimoto to sample blowfish sperm (health benefits - a source of zinc and DHA which is good for the brain)

Personally I’d have stopped there but Dr Manny and the Medicine Hunter went on to try sea urchins (health benefit - rich in antioxident compounds, protein, and Vit B) and smelly Natto (health benefits - good for digestion, has compounds that inhibit tumors, and a source of Vit B).

It’s really worth checking out the videos of Dr Manny’s culinary quest just to watch the expressions on his face while tasting these strange health foods

In this case, a  picture paints a thousand words.

(image from flickr / soma-samui.com)

The Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) is Britain’s national statistical data warehouse. Overall, with lots of coding and numbers indicating who was treated where for what, around all the NHS hospitals around England; it’s pretty dry and boring. But, as The Independent discovered, if you do a little digging around the numbers, you’ll find out that people do the strangest things.

Take for example the gentleman suffering from constipation, who when advised by someone (not a health professional) to take a boiled egg, literally took the boiled egg but not by mouth. Needless to say, when he awkwardly walked into the Emergency Room and told his tale, the health professionals remained professional and refrained from cracking a smile (at least in front of the patient).

Of course, constipation is not a laughing matter. According to the HES, it accounted for three quarters (75 per cent) of emergency hospital admissions in 2006-07.

The HES coding for constipation is K59.0, but the gentleman and his boiled egg ended up with a subheading of W44 - “foreign body entering through eye or other natural orifice”. This, it turns out, is a fairly commonly used code, with 5,048 children and 5,334 adults suffered this fate (not the boiled egg, just the foreign body) in 2007-08.

I’ll never look at statistics the same again.

Also during this same period 1,243 people needed hospital treatment after falling out a tree. While most of them were boys under the age of 15, there is also quite a few over the age of 75. Guess you’re never too old to climb a tree or to fall out of it.

Although, according to the HES, it can be just as dangerous as going to bed. Seems that more than a 1,000 people between the ages of 15 and 60 fall out of bed with such a force that they needed hospital treatment.

But wait, there’s more…

(image from sxc.hu)

I warn you now. This slideshow by Scientific American is not for the faint hearted, weak of stomach, or for that matter, anyone who would rather stay happily ignorant about ‘the charming, slinky creatures that turn your innards into their home sweet home’ for about half the world’s population (over 3 billion people) who are infected with at least one of the three worms - roundworm, hookworm and whipworm.

Human nature as it is, despite my warnings, you’ll probably click here just to find out how bad it is.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Today’s Sunday Sidebar focuses on three different cases that intrigue and mystify me.

First up, the 60 year old woman from Western Canadian who recently gave birth to twins. Seems she had her heart set on having children and when it didn’t happen naturally, resorted to IVF treatment in India (Canada apparently has a cutoff age of 50). I’m sorry but having twins at 60 sounds more like a nightmare than a blessing. Keeping up with one infant would be hard enough but two? Even a thirty year old might have problems doing that.

Second up, the baby faced 13 year old father in England. These kids (the mother is just 15) might have the energy to raise a child but as we all know, it takes so much more than just energy. It takes money. It takes maturity.

And third, there is Octo Mom who, even though she already has six children under age of 7, went to a fertility clinic, an action that resulted in her recently having octuplets. I’m still trying to get my head around this one. Why would anyone do this? Actually, why would any doctor allow this to happen? This woman believes that she can raise all 14 children but also go back to college in the fall and complete a master’s degree in counseling. Seriously, she plans on studying! When! How! The house will be full of children.

Any thoughts?