A brief overview of how hearing works — As an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor in New York City, I see a lot of patients who think they have hearing loss. They can’t hear conversations at business dinners or have to ask people to repeat themselves at parties. These aren’t necessarily older patients, by the way. Most of…

And Other Interesting Facts about Your Sense of Smell — Did you know you can smell fear? Beyond the stench of smelly armpits, terrified sweat contains pheromones that trigger the parts of our brains that sense fear. We can smell other emotions too: disgust, happiness, and even sexual arousal. All in, we can sense over one trillion different odors, even…

How do we decide what we like to eat? — As far back as I can remember, I’ve experienced the world primarily through my mouth. When I was young, I used to scramble up to the kitchen counter to consume slice after slice of warm, homemade bread slathered in salty butter. My first bite into a gingersnap was a revelation…

Lick your wounds and other ways to use your saliva — Spit, spittle, dribble, drool, slaver, slobber, sputum. That may sound like a spell from Harry Potter, but it’s just a list of names used to describe saliva. From translation of the Latin word for spittle, saliva has roots in the Proto-Italic “sal-iwo, ” which means “dirty yellow” and “sal-” which…

Strange and wonderful truths about tears — A tearful goodbye. The tears of a clown. Breaking down in tears. The drops of liquid that fall from our eyes are ripe for metaphor, evoking emotion as much as they express it. Perhaps that’s what differentiates them from what comes out of our other face holes. They don’t merely…

The average person produces about 34 ounces of snot a day — Ever wonder why nasal mucus is called snot? It may sound rude, but it comes from the Old English word, gesnot, which dates back to the late 14th century and literally means nasal mucus. Snot has the same etymology as snout and snite, which means to “blow or wipe the…

Ear wax is one of those body fluids that evokes a polarizing reaction in most people–one of fascination or utter disgust. Hidden inside our body’s sole cul de sac, it is rarely discussed in polite society. We take it for granted, except when we are being naughty and dig in…

It’s Not as Simple as Telling Women to “Just Breastfeed” In February, Abbott Laboratories, makers of Similac, closed its plant in Michigan after four babies became ill from bacterial infections after drinking their formula. Despite claims that there was no link between its formula and the infections, Abbott initiated a…

Tips and treatments you can do on your own — Allergy season is getting worse every year. Climate change, increased carbon dioxide emissions, and urban planning are major culprits. While it will take time (and policy change) to impact these causes, you can do more than just sit back and suffer. …