Snot's Landing
The idea of erecting a pane of clear glass or plastic between open trays of food and self-serving diners, aka "a sneeze guard," dates to at least the early 1950s, albeit to mixed reactions. The first patented sneeze guard debuted in 1959, and in the '60s, the Food and Drug Administration began mandating their use around the launch of the self-serve salad bar.
Do the guards work? Well, sort of, which is why they remain mandatory for buffets and salad bars. For expectorating adults looking down, a guard may block big droplets but work less well for shorter people and children. Germs can also come via dirty plates and utensils, or foods not kept sufficiently chilled.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when translucent shields popped up everywhere and made the world a giant salad bar, efficacy studies found the guards more often produced a sense of false security.
Blame it on the microbial nature of the virus. The guards did not stop the flow of tiny aerosol particles but rather impeded normal air flow and ventilation and, worse, sometimes redirected airborne germs to adjacent people.
Body of Knowledge
Babies are born with 300 or so rubbery bones which, with some fusing (primarily in the skull), eventually reduce to 206 bones in a mature adult. But that's not a fixed number. Some people are born with an extra set of ribs or digits, bumping up their final total.
Mark Your Calendar
May is awareness month for arthritis, hepatitis, lupus, mental health, asthma and allergies, celiac disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, nurses, stroke, teen pregnancy, better hearing and speech, preeclampsia, skin cancer, healthy vision, cystic fibrosis and "older Americans," which is what we all are after reading this list.
Stories for the Waiting Room
Remember the Presidential Fitness Test? For generations of school kids, it was the bane of their young bodies. The test was the brainchild of Jack Kelly Sr., a former Olympic rower (and father of actress Grace Kelly) who persuaded politicians that American youth were physically ill-prepared to confront the Soviet menace.
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