Do Elephants Jump?

by David Feldman

  Eventually, sawdust proved not to be an option even for bars that wanted to use it. Regulators honed in on food and drink establishments. Fire departments didn’t like its flammability, especially when smoking was legal virtually everywhere. Health departments were testy about the notion that bacteria and insects were trapped in the sawdust along with booze and whatever spare bodily fluids that inebriated customers provided.

  Today, where it is legal, a few bars provide sawdust floors for “atmosphere,” and some mechanics’ garages use synthetic sawdust to soak up grease and oil spills. Alas, bars contend with puke and spit with low-tech mops.

  Submitted by Alicia Brooks of La Cañada, California.

  Why Do Toads Have Warts?

  Frogs are killing toads in the court of public opinion. Toads are plump; frogs are lean and streamlined. Toads hop about, but frogs leap. Toads spend most of their time confined to land, while frogs cruise around in water and resurface at their leisure. But worst of all, frogs have relatively smooth skin, while toads have bumpy “warts.” Even worse, the myth persists that toads are poisonous and can give humans warts.

  Toads don’t even have warts (what we commonly call warts on toads are nothing but benign growths caused by viruses), so they can’t pass them on to us. What we perceive as warts on toads are just places where the skin is thickened and cornified (covered by a cap of keratin, the type of hard tissue found in our fingernails).

  But another type of “wart” is a thickened portion of epidermis surrounding the opening of the granular gland. These glands do contain poison — not enough to harm humans, although sufficient to sting the eyes or mouth. Rebecca A. Pyles, Ph.D., of the Herpetologists’ League, says that in general, the more terrestrial the frog or toad, the more numerous are these tiny, individual poison glands. Toads also possess these glands in the big bumps located just behind each eye, above each ear. The purpose of these glands is clear, as Pyles explains:

  All amphibians have some poison glands in their skin, although the types and numbers of these glands differ among species…. Over 300 different kinds of toxins have been isolated from amphibian skin! One of the most poisonous vertebrates is a tree frog, which goes by the scientific name Phyllobates terribilis. One individual of this species, approximately one inch long, has enough toxin to kill about 20,000 white mice (20 gram in weight); in other words, one frog could kill a couple of humans.

  Actually, all amphibians contain some amount of poisonous glands in their skins, and some toads have a relatively high concentration of them. If a predator scoops up a toad in its mouth, the poison burns the mucous membranes in its mouth — most attackers will drop the toad, and tend not to try to kill other toads in the future.

  It’s easy to understand how the “poison glands” can help a toad to survive, but what about those other “warts” that seem to exist only to make toads look ugly? We’ve seen three theories advanced to explain:

  1. These bumps help break up the outline of the toad’s body, thus allowing it to blend into the background environment, much like the patterns in camouflage fatigues are designed to blend in with particular terrains more effectively than a single color or shape.

  2. Toads need water to keep their skin moist. When they are on dry land, they can easily become dehydrated. These bumps aid in the hydration of toads, as Pyles explains:

  Moist skin means that the cells won’t die, and also means that respiration (oxygen–carbon dioxide exchange) can occur across the skin — a particularly unique aspect of amphibians. The bumps themselves increase the amount of surface area for absorption of water, and more important, the channels between the bumps act as pathways that “pull” (by capillary action) water from the substrate over the flanks of the animal.

  3. Do you think all toads look alike? Well, so do toads. In some species, males have a different number of bumps than females, so herpetologists figure that “warts” might help toads figure out who’s who. Male toads aren’t among the most discriminating lovers — they’ll attempt to mate with virtually anything that moves. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But if they want tadpoles in their lives, it behooves them to find members of the opposite sex.

  Submitted by Brandy Wright of Hanover, Pennsylvania.

  Why Does Patting on the Back Induce Burping in Babies?

  When babies get hungry, they want milk and they want it yesterday. Inevitably, overeager babies, especially those fed on the bottle, ingest air along with milk, and they experience the same gassy feeling as adults who ingest too much soda or beer at once.

  There are only two ways for the baby to get rid of the air bubbles. Air can escape with the food from the stomach into the small intestine, but the passageway is closed right after a meal, nature’s way of making sure we digest our food sufficiently before it rides through the gut. The second alternative is for the air to come back up, through the esophagus, back to the mouth. A valve at the entrance of the stomach tries to block food from coming back up (or else we’d be regurgitating more than frat boys on spring break), but if there is sufficient gas, the valve bursts open and baby emits a burp or what we hoity-toity people call an eructation.

  Most adults have figured out methods to force a burp, but babies need a little help. Littleton, Colorado, pediatrician Don Schiff told Imponderables that gentle pats are usually sufficient to dislodge air bubbles that are trapped along the esophagus or in the stomach of the baby (and adults, too). Once the bubbles have been jolted free, the air rises and we are treated to that sound which is cute when babies do it but we get yelled at for emitting. (Some drakes even use burps as mating calls, not unlike their male human counterparts, albeit with much more luck.)

  Back patting isn’t just useful for humans, either. While researching this Imponderable, we stumbled upon a Web site that instructed how to burp a bottle-fed raccoon (“You must assist with burping by laying the baby across your lap and patting the upper back gently”). That begs the question of whether raccoon parents are giving their progeny such attention, although come to think of it, they are probably not giving their offspring bottled milk.

  Submitted by Suzanne and Eric Thorson of Calgary, Alberta.

  Thanks also to Steven Sadoway of Belmont, Massachusetts.

  Why Are Thin-Cut Green Beans Called “French Style”?

  “French-style” green beans are about as Gallic as Andy Griffith. The French don’t eat American-style fat green beans, but favor haricots verts, a small-podded bean that is less than one-quarter inch in diameter and grows to approximately five or six inches in length.

  Haricots verts are delicate, which means they must be picked by hand. The end result is a more elegant product, with a firmer, crunchier texture, and a nutty, more complex taste that only needs minimal cooking. (“You don’t have to boil them into submission,” notes Eddie Fizdale, owner of Peak Produce in Washington, D.C.)

  Processed food suppliers wanted to cash in on the élan of haricots verts, so some enterprising marketing type created the idea of “French-style” green beans, and put them in cans and frozen food packages. Most “French-style” beans are merely ordinary American string beans halved in length and then sliced length-wise to resemble haricots verts. The result is often a tangle of stringy strands that aren’t as bulbous as conventional green beans but can be messy-looking.

  We spoke to Jim Kunkel, of C&W Frozen Foods in San Bruno, California, who says that his company solved this appearance problem by choosing smaller, less mature green beans for their French-cut beans. C&W starts with shorter beans and simply cuts them in half.

  “French-style” usually cost the same as “regular” green beans, a rare case in which something marketed as French is neither more expensive nor more prurient than its American counterpart. But haricots verts are much more expensive, so American farmers have taken notice. Haricots verts are now being grown in the United States and prices at the supermarket have inched downward as a result.

  Submitted by Douglas Watkins, Jr. of Hayward, Californi
a.

  Why Do Older People Tend to Snore More Than Younger People?

  You know the drill. Right after the big family meal, the patriarch of the family hits the reclining chair and even before the television illuminates the den, the assembled throng hears the unmistakable sounds of “zzzzzzz, snnnnnnnort, zzzzzzzz, snnnnnnnort

  ….”

  What causes snoring? The sound that we, the unluckily awake, hear is the vibration of air hitting the soft palate and uvula. Snoring is almost always caused by some blockage of airflow during breathing (since there is less room for the air to move because of the obstructions, the airflow is faster). Some of the most common obstructions include deviated septums, enlarged soft palates, uvulas, tonsils or tongues, and excessive tissue in the throat.

  Of course, all of these obstructions are present when we are awake, too, but most people snore only when asleep because of the recumbent position and because the muscles supporting the organs in our throat are relaxed during slumber. ENT specialist Keith Holmes of Dubois, Wyoming, told Imponderables that as we age, the muscles in the mouth and throat “tend to become lax and flaccid,” allowing the organs and tissues they support to protrude, blocking airflow. Elderly people also have higher incidences of deviated septums than younger folks, and also suffer more from obesity, as Steven C. Marks, M.D., professor of otolaryngology at Wayne State University, explains:

  Obesity leads to increased fat in the tissues around the throat, which causes the muscle tone to be decreased and the size of the airway to be decreased as well.

  But Marks observes that snoring is found commonly in children, too. Maybe we don’t notice it because no child has ever succeeded in wresting the Barcalounger from Grandpa.

  Submitted by Chi Le of El Canon, California.

  Why Do Many Whiplash Victims Feel OK the Day of the Accident and Much Worse Days Later?

  Some folks experience little or no pain after being rear-ended, but then suffer greatly a day or two after. Maybe we’re cynical, but we’ve always ascribed the delay to a quick consultation with a personal-injury lawyer. Orthopedists tell us otherwise. Depending upon the study, approximately 15 to 30 percent of patients examined experience neck pain soon after the accident, but that number balloons to 60 percent when evaluated later.

  In the classic whiplash pattern, a stationary car is hit from the back by a fast-moving vehicle. Even if the victim is wearing a seatbelt, the body is thrust forward, and the head lags behind for a fraction of a second. Usually, the neck is bent backward, as if the victim were looking up at the roof of the car. The strain is exacerbated by the victim’s state of relaxation (if the body could be braced for the crash, neck injuries would be minimized). The head then recoils, lurching forward into a hyperextension before swinging back to a neutral position.

  Although most necks can withstand a forward thrust of fifty times the force of gravity, the rebound is often what causes the whiplash injury. If disks or vertebrae are ruptured, pain will likely occur right away, but with soft-tissue damage, pain is more likely to start from twelve to seventy-two hours later, usually centered in the neck, but often radiating to the shoulders and upper arms. When there is severe nerve or blood vessel damage, symptoms such as headaches and dizziness might occur, sometimes immediately, sometimes as long as months afterward.

  Why the delay? Often, the victim exacerbates the injury unknowingly because there is no significant pain at first — a muscle strain caused by the jolt of the accident can turn into a spasm if the neck muscles are used too often or too harshly following the mishap. According to Berkeley, California, osteopath Richard O’Brien, if there is repeated use of the vertebra and ligaments around the neck after a whiplash accident, swelling will increase — it is the swelling that causes pain.

  The accident often creates blood hemorrhages in the muscles and ligaments of the neck area. Although all of the mechanisms are not known, research indicates that inflammation usually increases in whiplash victims. Thomas A. Dorman, of the American Association of Orthopaedic Medicine, wrote in response to this question:

  It is characteristic of injured ligaments that the pain arrives some time after the injury. It is thought that this is due to the relatively sparse blood supply that increases only gradually after the trigger of the injury.

  Type “whiplash lawsuits” into Google’s search engine and you can see the controversy about the legitimacy of soft-tissue lawsuits. Whiplash is the perfect malady for the malingerer or downright fraudulent litigant, as many of the conditions that generate the symptoms are unverifiable by X rays or other “hard” diagnostic tools. Visit the Web sites of personal-injury lawyers, and you’ll be apprised of the fact that there are scores of studies that conclude that whiplash victims who won legal judgments or settlements do not have a higher recovery rate from whiplash pain years after their accidents than those who have not sued. You’ll find reports that indicate that juries are deeply suspicious of all soft-tissue accident claims, and that frivolous lawsuits are routinely thrown out of the courtroom. Go to a Web site representing the insurance industry, and you’ll find studies indicating that frivolous whiplash suits are a financial drain on insurance companies (and ultimately, all consumers’ premiums) and a waste of court time.

  Believe us, we’d love nothing better than to make fun of personal-injury lawyers. It may be “convenient” for the symptoms of whiplash sufferers to lag hours or days after the accident, but we haven’t found any convincing evidence that the delay isn’t a legitimate medical phenomenon.

  Submitted by Julie Hagaman of Ovideo, Florida.

  Why Do White Styrofoam Picnic Coolers Have Blue Specks in Them?

  We don’t want to take a reader to task, especially one who poses an Imponderable we’ve wondered about ourselves, but we must amend one element of this question. Styrofoam is a registered brand of Dow Chemical, and Dow is evidently too lofty to deign to manufacture picnic coolers. So let’s substitute the less elegant but more accurate “expanded polystyrene” (or EPS) for the trade name.

  We spoke to Tom Conley, sales manager at Lifoam Leisure Products, the largest manufacturer of picnic coolers in the United States, who told us that when Lifoam gets raw polystyrene, it looks like salt granules — tiny, white particles. The polystyrene is then steamed, which makes the plastic expand into much larger “beads.”

  The EPS beads are white. So why the blue specks? Conley is proud to announce that their sole purpose is to look cool and to entice you to buy the cooler with the azure accents. Lifoam itself dyes the beads blue and mixes them with the unadulterated white beads to form the coolers you see at the local 7-Eleven or Wal-Mart. Not all picnic coolers have the blue specks, not even all of Lifoam’s, but if you see one, chances are it’s Lifoam’s.

  Submitted by Scott Walshon of Skokie, Illinois.

  Do Fish Really Bite More When It Is Raining?

  Some things we know are true: Where there is water, there are fish; where there are fish, there are fishermen; where there are fishermen, there are fishing stories; where there are fishing stories, there is disagreement.

  We expected disagreement. What we did not expect was more theories than there are Commandments. We’ll try to boil down and consolidate all the opinions we received, but we now realize one more thing: Where there are fishing theories, there are rarely short fishing theories.

  On a few points, fishermen seem to agree. When fish are biting, it means that they are trying to find food for themselves. There are discernible patterns to when fish are most active in pursuit of food, related not just to hunger but climatic conditions in the water. And almost everyone agrees that rain seems to affect freshwater fishing, especially in shallow water, more than ocean fishing.

  We posted this Imponderable on several online fishing forums, and received plenty of anecdotal evidence that fish bite more in rainy weather. “Jimbo’s” response was typical:

  The fishing has always been good just before and during a rain, and that’s the reason why so many of us are tempt
ed at times to cast our better judgment aside and risk staying out sometimes a little longer than we should with the approach of a storm.

  In roughly descending order of popularity, here are the main beliefs about why fish bite more when it rains.

  1. Dinner Is Served!!

  Many fishermen echoed the sentiments of “Bazztex,” an avid bass-fishing Texan:

  The primary reason rain makes fish feed is the food sources it exposes. Insects and small crustaceans, even small animals, get washed into the water. This sets up a food chain reaction with baitfish feeding on the bugs and bigger fish feeding on the bait fish attracted to the bugs.

  Heavy rains that cause a rise in lake or stream levels flood new cover. This exposes new food sources and attracts the fish that exploit the easy meals that await. The newly flooded landscape also gives the fish new cover to hide from predators. It’s a win-win situation: Nature provides and fishermen enjoy the benefits.

  Mark Bain, a fish biologist at Cornell University, confirms that the rain can even dig up new food opportunities for bottom-feeders, such as catfish:

  Catfish have many sensory organs on their bodies and they live in tough conditions along the bottom, where other fish would not be able to survive. Rain tends to stir up the water and disrupt the bottom. This helps the catfish when cruising for food, as they are able to sense new food sources opening up for them. Fishermen can take advantage of this by fishing for catfish in the rain, when the fish may be more aggressive.