Plastics in Microwave?

We all use microwaves for all kinds of uses, from heating a cup of coffee to seeing if an egg in a microwave can really blow up. But we often forgot (or forgo) to reading the safety manual. Well, at least heed this warning: do not microwave plastic things with your food! And that include syrofoam for your cup noodle, too. Why? Well, plastic is prone to heat, and during the microwaving the plastic (or part of it) may be heated enough to leach into the food, causing health hazard.

Well to be honest, there are 7 types of plastics being used in food utilities right now, but even the best of them (type 1) is only "May be safe if marked microwave safe". I don't know about you, but I'd keep them away from the microwave anyway.

So what can we use for microwaving those frozen waffles? Glass is a good option, virtually all of them are safe for microwave. Ceramics are also safe, but be cautious, sometimes there are metal mixed in the ceramics, causing electric arcs in the microwave, and shortening your microwave's life.

So remember, the next time you want to make a cup noodle, you better boil the water in a different container first!

Kidney Stones are formed HOW?

Lets start at the beginning. The so-called Kidney Stones are not always located inside the kidneys. In fact, most of them are outside it, either in the ureteropevic (that's the junction area between kidney and ureter), in the middle of the ureter tract, just as the ureter is crossing the iliac artery, or just before entering the bladder. Why? Because those three areas are where the diameter of the ureter are smallest.

Now, if you read on the article title, you'l probably wondering "but those aren't how kidney stones are formed!" Well OK, kidney stones are in fact made from the itty bitty things that are contained in your urine. More specifically, there are several causes to a kidney stone, such as increased urine calcium or uric acid concentration, infections, and lack of magnesium in the urine. Normally all those doesn't cause any trouble, but when something cause them to precipitate into crystal, things begin to get interesting. Now I can't write all the contents of the textbook, they'll expect me to pay for it. But I can tell you that the crystal serve as the nidus, or core, of the stone. Therefore when you have to have one of those PNL (percutaneus nephro litholapaxy), they will cut the stone to see what is the nidus is composed of, and therefore knowing what kind of diet you are to go on, either low calcium, low protein, hi magnesium etc. But we don't need to know too much about that. Just know that adequate intake of water (that's drinking water, kids), and regular voiding (and that's peeing, isn't it fun?) is what most people need to do to avoid the unwanted stones.

Contracting a cold?

Having a cold sucks, but did you know that most likely it's because you didn't wash your hand before picking your nose, rather than inhaling a virus? That's right, most mucosal disease (common cold, sore throat) are not due to airborne carrier, but rather bacterias in our hands and spoons. So remember, always wash your hands before putting it in your nose!