FREAKY FACTS... Loo IQ

By VIRGINIA WINDER
WOMEN have a trivial secret that makes them brighter with the cycle of the moon.
Especially those under the influence of Libra.
This has nothing to do with astrology and everything to do with, well, sanitary pads.
Some advertising boffin decided that if men can peruse the paper and magazines in the loo, us women can read the adhesive strips from our monthly protectors to improve our minds.
There are hundreds more where these come from, and they are purely the domain of us dames.
Here are Five Freaky Facts females may find familiar:
1) The koala is one of the few land animals that does not require water to survive.
2) The brain is 74% water.
3) When glass breaks, the cracks move faster than 5000km/h.
4) To survive, most birds must eat at last half their own weight in food each day.
5) On a clear, dark night a human can see a candle burning 50km away.

Brains even brainier

By VIRGINIA WINDER
REMEMBER that old threat thrown at people with a liking for liquor: “You’ll kill your brain cells and they won’t grow back.”
Here’s a slight reassurance – only the killing part is right.
Research from Auckland University’s brain research team has shown that we do grow new brain cells.
Professor Richard Faull and his team discovered that amazing fact back in 2003.
This year, they have made another major breakthrough.
“We have found the pathway which the new brain cells follow in the human brain,” Prof Faull says.
This finding offers new hope for people suffering from Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, plus stroke victims.
“It’s not a cure; it’s another means whereby we can help people with brain disease in the future,” he says.
“By knowing how stem cells move around, we can now look at new ways to regenerate cells and repair damage to the areas of the brain affected by these conditions.”
Prof Faull, originally from Tikorangi in Taranaki, has the more brains than anyone else – literally.
He is responsible for amassing the world’s largest human brain bank, which has provided the neurological material for his team to study.