What Does the Moon Smell Like?: 151 Astounding Science Quizzes (14 page)

most chocolate on a daily basis lived the longest. The researchers think that the chocolate advantage comes ON

from antioxidants called polyphenols. It’s thought that CHOCOLA

they contribute to good health, and maybe even

longevity, by protecting the body against cell damage.

TE

Cacao beans are rich in polyphenols. How rich?

Forty grams (1.4 oz) of dark chocolate packs about the same polyphenol punch as . . .

a) 1 glass of red wine

b) 2 servings of berries

c) 5 servings of fruits and vegetables

d) 10 servings of fruits and vegetables

179

Chocoholics Live Longer

Forty grams (1.4 oz) of dark chocolate packs about the A

same polyphenol punch as . . .

a) 1 glass of red wine

b) 2 servings of berries

YOUR

c) 5 servings of fruits and vegetables

BRAIN

d) 10 servings of fruits and vegetables

ON

CHOCOLA

CORRECT ANSWER:

d) 10 servings of fruits and vegetables

TE

Cacao beans, the main ingredient in chocolate, rule when it comes to packing the most polyphenols. A 40-gram (1.4 oz) piece of milk chocolate contains as much as a glass of red wine, or five servings of fruit and veg. The same amount of dark chocolate has

twice the cacao, and twice the polyphenols — the amount you’d find in 10 servings of fruit and veg, or two glasses of red wine. But before you turn chocolate into a food group, consider that chocolate contributes mostly calories and fat to your diet. If you wanted to burn off the calories from 40 grams (1.4 oz) of chocolate, you’d have to bicycle, or walk, for about half an hour. The right dose of chocolate might cheer you up, and the polyphenols might even contribute to your health somewhat, but it’s still not what you’d call a health food.

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SURVIVAL 101:

PUBLIC RESTROOMS

The Horror

You have to go — badly — and the only option is a Q

public restroom. The horror! You start to wonder how many people have used the facilities before you, and what smelly things they might have left behind.

Maybe you’re worried about the vicious viruses and bacteria lurking in and around the toilets, ready to glom onto your unsuspecting flesh and infect you with something horrible. But, fortunately, you can choose from among four public restrooms, all within the same short walking distance.

Where is the cleanest public restroom?

a) airport

b) bus station

c) fast food restaurant

d) hospital emergency room

181

The Horror

Where is the cleanest public restroom?

A

a) airport

b) bus station

c) fast food restaurant

SUR

d) hospital emergency room

VIV

AL

101:

CORRECT ANSWER:

PUBLIC

d) hospital emergency room

RESTROOMS

According to The Germinator, a.k.a. Dr. Chuck

Gerba, who’s tested more toilets than you’ll ever want to imagine, the cleanest restrooms are in hospital emergency rooms, followed by fast food restaurants.

That’s good news, considering that you’ll almost always be within walking distance of a fast food place, if not an ER. Airport, bus station, and gas station restrooms are the worst. Testing them is a dirty job that sometimes attracts the kind of attention The Germinator could do without. Once, when he was on his knees in front of a public toilet, he heard a tap-ping on the stall. It was a policeman. “Are you the only one in there?” he asked. The Germinator

answered, “I’m a scientist. I’m doing research.” “Yeah, right,” the cop retorted, “I arrested one of you last week.”

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The Cleanest Stall of All . . . Shhh!

So now you’re standing in the public restroom trying Q

to decide which stall to choose. Unfortunately, The Germinator isn’t there testing them, so he can’t tell you which one to pick. You can do a visual inspection SUR

to find the cleanest one, but that means touching VIV

doors unnecessarily, not to mention it could be scary, AL

tedious, and time-consuming, and you really, really 101:

have to go. Did you know that there’s a shortcut for PUBLIC

locating the cleanest toilet? It’s not a secret, but it might as well be, because most people don’t know RESTROOMS

about it — and I think we should keep it that way.

Which stall is likely to be the cleanest?

a) the first stall on the left

b) the middle stalls

c) the second stall on the right

d) the stall with lots of toilet paper on the floor 183

The Cleanest Stall of All . . . Shhh!

Which stall is likely to be the cleanest?

A

a) the first stall on the left

b) the middle stalls

c) the second stall on the right

SUR

d) the stall with lots of toilet paper on the floor VIV

AL

101:

CORRECT ANSWER:

PUBLIC

a) the first stall on the left

RESTROOMS

The more stalls there are the better, but some still get used more than others. To find out which ones were used the most, and the least, Dr. Gerba numbered the squares of toilet paper in all the stalls in a public restroom. He discovered that the ones in the middle had the highest volume of traffic, and the first stall had the lowest. If the toilets are laid out in a way that lets you choose between the first toilet on the left, or the first on the right, take the first on the left. More people go right. But don’t tell anyone. The more people who know, the less chance it’ll still be the cleanest when you or I need to use it next.

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To Wash or Not to Wash

Mission accomplished, you step out of the cubicle.

Q

Now you’re in front of the sinks wondering whether you’d be better off washing your hands or not. Would washing lead to more germs on your hands or less?

SUR

VIV

What should you do?

AL

a) Don’t wash your hands! Just get out as fast as you 101:

can.

PUBLIC

b) Rinse hands with cold water, then dry them on your hair.

RESTROOMS

c) Scrub with soap, rinse well, use a paper towel to turn off the taps and open the door.

d) Use hand sanitizer.

185

To Wash or Not to Wash

What should you do?

A

a) Don’t wash your hands! Just get out as fast as you can.

b) Rinse hands with cold water, then dry them on your SUR

hair.

VIV

c) Scrub with soap, rinse well, use a paper towel to turn AL

101:

off the taps and open the door.

d) Use hand sanitizer.

PUBLIC

RESTROOMS

CORRECT ANSWERS:

c) Scrub with soap, rinse well, use a paper towel to turn off the taps and open the door, and d) Use hand sanitizer.

Up until I spoke with The Germinator the only correct answer would have been choice c). That’s how microbiologists wash their hands. It’s a tried and true method that avoids some of the worst hot spots, or at least we thought it did. But recently, Dr. Gerba was more than a bit surprised to find poopy germs in the liquid soap in public restrooms. Wait a minute . . .

isn’t soap supposed to kill bacteria, or at least get them
off
your hands? How bacteria can thrive in soap dispensers is a mystery. Until the mystery is solved and a solution found, The Germinator has switched to hand sanitizer. If it’s good enough for The

Germinator, it’s good enough to be a correct answer.

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The 10 Most Contaminated Things

in Public Restrooms

Do you have a ritual for avoiding germs in public rest-Q

rooms? Maybe you put toilet paper all over the seat first. Or perhaps you suspend yourself above the toilet, so that no part of you touches it. Maybe you SUR

flush it with your foot. You can’t see the germs, but VIV

you know for sure that they’re everywhere. Your first AL

line of defence against germs is knowing where the 101:

worst ones live, and avoiding them. Some areas in PUBLIC

public restrooms have lots of nasty bacteria, while other areas have relatively few.

RESTROOMS

Where would you find the most nasty bacteria in public restrooms?

a) floor of the stall

b) restroom door handle

c) tap handles

d) toilet seat

187

The 10 Most Contaminated Things

in Public Restrooms

Where would you find the most nasty bacteria in A

public restrooms?

a) floor of the stall

b) restroom door handle

SUR

c) tap handles

VIV

d) toilet seat

AL

101:

PUBLIC

CORRECT ANSWER:

c) tap handles

RESTROOMS

Dr. Gerba found the nastiest of the nasty bacteria only on the tap handles and sinks. Salmonella and shigella are pathogens, meaning they can make you really sick. They can be quite dangerous for the very young, the very old, and those who aren’t healthy.

Some people refuse to touch the exit door handle, but that’s one area where you’ll find the fewest germs. Another relatively germ-free zone is the top of the toilet seat in women’s restrooms. The Germinator thinks it might be because more women than men

wipe the seat before sitting down.

The Top 10 Most Contaminated Things

in Public Restrooms

1. tap handles

2. sink

3. underside of the toilet seat

4. floor around the toilet

5. around the sanitary napkin disposal

6. inside the urinal

7. floor in front of the urinal

8. diaper changing table

9. toilet handle

10. liquid soap dispenser

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MAD SCIENTISTS

$=es2

($=EinsteinSzilárd2)

I don’t have to tell you who Albert Einstein was, but Q

you might not be as familiar with his one-time inventing partner, Leó Szilárd. He was one of Einstein’s former students, and a brilliant physicist himself. Just like a starving artist obsessed with art, Szilárd was a starving physicist obsessed with science, and he needed money to support himself and his research.

Einstein came to his rescue and joined him on a project. The two geniuses set out to invent something that they hoped would generate income for Szilárd to finance his future work.

What did Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd invent together?

a) a microwave oven

b) a refrigerator with no moving parts

c) a solar-powered water heater/boiler system

d) an atomic clock

189

$=es2

($=EinsteinSzilárd2)

What did Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd invent A

together?

a) a microwave oven

b) a refrigerator with no moving parts

MAD

c) a solar-powered water heater/boiler system

SCIENTISTS

d) an atomic clock

CORRECT ANSWER:

b) a refrigerator with no moving parts

Einstein and Szilárd invented three different cooling technologies unlike anything we have today. None of them had moving parts, and all of them were energy efficient and very unusual. One was powered by the heat of a gas pilot light, another had an electromag-netic pump, and the third relied on evaporation and the pressure of tap water to keep things cool. During their seven-year collaboration, Einstein, a former patent clerk, registered dozens of patents, some of which were licenced by big companies. Even though none of their refrigerators were made commercially, Szilárd made enough money from the licencing royal-ties to finance his most significant research — the nuclear chain reaction that led to the world’s first atom bomb.

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Bombing the Earth’s Magnetic Field

What would you say if I told you that three 1.7-mega-Q

ton nuclear bombs were about to be exploded above the atmosphere, in our planet’s magnetic field? Are you outraged? Relax. It’s already happened. It wasn’t MAD

a random act of kookiness either, but a top-secret SCIENTISTS

American military project called Argus. The goal of the 1958 experiment was to create artificial radiation belts in an area of the Earth’s magnetic field called the Van Allen Belts, which the military could then use to disrupt enemy communications satellites, or incoming missiles.

Who headed up Project Argus?

a) Air Force mechanic

b) amateur astronomer

c) elevator engineer

d) Lieutenant General’s nephew

191

Bombing the Earth’s Magnetic Field

Who headed up Project Argus?

A

a) Air Force mechanic

b) amateur astronomer

c) elevator engineer

MAD

d) Lieutenant General’s nephew

SCIENTISTS

CORRECT ANSWER:

c) elevator engineer

Nicholas Christofilos worked as an elevator engineer, but physics was his passion, and he taught himself everything there was to know about the motion of ions and electrons in magnetic fields. Project Argus was his idea, and the military put him in charge of it.

The artificial radiation belts created by the blasts broke up after a few weeks. So, in 1962, Starfish Prime, a hydrogen bomb 1,000 times as powerful as the Argus bombs, was exploded in the Van Allen

Belts. That blast created a radiation belt that lasted for years, and fried or damaged a handful of satellites, including the world’s first commercial communications satellite, Telstar. More than a dozen nuclear bombs were detonated at high altitudes by the U.S.