Andrew Thompson - Why Does Bright Light Make You Sneeze?: Over 150 Curious Questions and Intriguing Answers

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To Lucy, Hugo, and Felix

Contents

Table of Contents

Weve all seen him many times, with the scowling face, the shaking head, the aggressive tonethe grumpy old man. What is he grumpy about? Anything and everything: the government, the economy, the state of the sidewalk, teenagers, the chirping birds. But why? Were Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau acting in Grumpy Old Men, or is that just how they are?

Also known as grumpy old man complex or irritable male syndrome, the crankiness of many older gentlemen can be attributed to a number of factors.

Psychology plays a major role. By the age of 60 or 70, many men have retired from work or are approaching retirement. A feeling of worthlessness can result, like that of being thrown on the scrap heap, with daunting thoughts of a future sitting around the home with no aspirations left to attain. As friends and loved ones die, men can become aware of their own mortality and health problems, resulting in depression and anxiety. Men tend to suppress these concerns, leaving them prone to anger and outbursts directed toward other people or situations, for whatever trivial reason.

In addition to emotional changes, changes in an old mans brain are the main root of the condition. As men age, testosterone levels fall, usually significantly by age 60. By 70, they tend to be at half the level of a young man, indicating a kind of male menopause. A decrease in testosterone typically leads to fatigue, depression, and a reduction in libido and powers of concentration. This often leads to irritability and an inability to deal with the nuances of everyday life. The result? A grumpy old man.

But its not just men. Irritable male syndrome has been noticed in the animal kingdom with red deer, reindeer, sheep, and Indian elephants. During breeding, when testosterone levels are high, these males are confident and competent. However, as the mating season ends and their testosterone drops, they become nervous and agitated, often striking out irrationally.

In addition to a drop in testosterone in older men, another key change takes place. They lose brain tissue in the frontal lobe region at almost three times the rate of women. The frontal lobes are involved in motor function, memory, problem solving, concentration, reasoning, and impulse control.

So, the next time an old man goes berserk at you for stepping foot on his lawn, remember that hes not pretending to be Clint Eastwood out of Gran Torino. Theres a physiological reason for his behavior, and its not all his fault. Try to wave, smile, and blame biology.

Known as the red-eye effect, it is very common for peoples pupils to appear bright red in photographs, particularly when those photos were taken at night or in low light. But what causes us to look like possessed nocturnal creatures?

When a camera uses a flash that is very close to the lens (like in most compact cameras), the light from the flash can sometimes travel into a persons eye, through the cornea and pupil, and to the retina (a layer of light-detecting cells) at the back of the eye. The retina then reflects the light back through the pupil, and the camera records it.

One of the functions of the pupil is to control the amount of light that enters the eye, but the reason the flash travels into the eye is because it occurs too quickly for the pupil to close in time. The pupil doesnt have time to constrict, so the light enters the eye and reflects out as red. But why red? Thats because of the rich blood supply of the choroid, a layer of tissue at the back of the eye that nourishes the retina. The blood-red color of the retina absorbs some of the light, reflecting the rest back in red.

So, who gets affected the most?

The amount of red light that reflects back through the pupil depends on the level of melanin in the layers behind the retina. Melanin absorbs some of the light, so fair-skinned people with blue eyes, who have less melanin, will generally exhibit a greater red-eye effect than people with brown eyes. Children also usually have a more pronounced red-eye effect because their pupils enlarge more in low light. This allows more light to enter and escape, accentuating the red-eye effect.

To reduce the red-eye effect, you can try a number of techniques. Dont look directly at the camera so the light from the flash wont enter your eyes as easily; brighten the room so that your eyes are less dilated; move the flash and the lens farther apart, which will only work with cameras that have an external flash that can be disconnected; and, wait for itdont get drunk. The slow reaction times of people who are drunk also affects their eyes. Alcohol tends to dilate the pupils, which then dont constrict as quickly as in sober people. This means that more light from the flash is able to enter the eye and reflect back out.

While other primates dont generally show a preference for right- or left-handedness, around 90 percent of humans are right-handed. This is one of the traits that separates us from our animal cousins.

A number of hypotheses explain this predominance, but most arent backed by any significant evidence. Some say left-handedness results from prenatal exposure to certain hormones (one being a synthetic estrogen-based fertility drug) or the ultrasounds some mothers receive during pregnancy that could allegedly alter the brains of unborn children. It is commonly believed that most people are right-handed because of social and cultural influences, such as mothers and teachers forcing children to use their right hand for writing, or children using their right hands to conform.

However, the reason most of us prefer our right hand is because we actually evolved that way.

Scientists have examined the jawbone and teeth fossils of one of our earliest ancestors, Homo habilis (literally, the handy man), who lived in Tanzania, Africa, around 1.8 million years ago. The markings and wear on these teeth fossils show striations slanting to the right. This indicates that material was held in the mouth with the left hand, while the right hand held a stone tool to strike the material, or to bring food to the mouth, occasionally hitting the teeth and leaving marks. Marks left in this fashion are widespread among the fossil records and are believed to be a strong indicator of right-handedness.