ArcaMax

In 1966, when Len Barry sang "1-2-3 ... let's fall in love, it's easy (it's so easy),

Like takin' candy from a baby," he was nominated for a Grammy Award. Len clearly thought it was a piece of cake to take candy from a young 'un, but researchers would disagree. Turns out, kids take to sweet treats pretty quickly if they're exposed to them, and ...Read more

In the 1997 movie "Contact," astronomer Ellie Arroway (Jodi Foster) gets a message from outer space instructing her to build a machine. Hmmm. Will it destroy the earth, or redefine space travel? She and Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey) wonder what the real deal is.

When it comes to your contacts -- lenses, that is -- you, too, may wonder what'...Read more

The Who first recorded the song Substitute in 1970, the Sex Pistols in 1979 and the Ramones in 1993. The first line: "I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth."

Another and more recent substitute concerning plastic manufacturing -- it includes spoons -- happens when the hormone-disrupting chemical BPA (bisphenol A) gets replaced by BPS (...Read more

In the NFL, a scramble for a fumble usually results in a pile of players, all vying for the football. But when a player is late to the party and "piles on," his team incurs a 15-yard penalty. (Ditto if he pulls an opponent off the pile.)

Clearly, piling on is never a good thing, especially if you're overweight or obese and piling on bad food ...Read more

In the movie "Little Shop of Horrors," Audrey II is a blood-thirsty, alien houseplant that devours humans to satisfy "her" desire to take over the planet. And although the potted plant manages to clear the air of some bad guys -- flowershop owner Mr. Mushnick (Vincent Gardenia) and sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin) -- she's clearly ...Read more

If you could watch only Sergio Leone westerns ("A Fistful of Dollars," "Once Upon a Time in the West," "My Name is Nobody"), that steady diet of macho and mayhem might seem tasty at first, but eventually could leave you longing for something to feed your imagination.

Well, the same is true of the typical Western diet, loaded with red meats, ...Read more

To celebrate our victorious Olympic athletes, how would you like a free fitness tracker with your ... Happy Meal? That's what McDonald's offered, until reports came in that they caused skin irritation (one mom posted a picture of a red spot on her child's arm that happened after wearing the band for eight minutes; it was shared online over 100,...Read more

As every good vampire hunter knows (think "Buffy"), the sun's rays are lethal to the undead, unless they wear a daylight ring made by witches (think "Vampire Diaries") so that they can stroll around during the day. Depending on your budget, they're available on eBay (seriously) for anywhere between $1 and $110.

But for the mere mortals out ...Read more

Morihei Ueshiba, founder of the Japanese martial art of Aikido, once said, "The spirit is the true shield." While there's no doubt Ueshiba was onto something, his philosophy is not going to do you a lot of good when it comes to warding off mosquitos.

With the Zika virus threatening to be spread by mosquitos across the southern U.S., and West ...Read more

"Just Eat It" is an award-winning 2014 documentary exploring shameful throw-away food habits. Seems most folks are wary of less-than-perfect produce, believe "use by" dates or simply throw out uneaten foods bought at grocery stores or restaurants.

If you think, "Yeah, but it doesn't affect me," chew on this: The Johns Hopkins Center for a ...Read more

This summer Jeni Stepien walked down the aisle in Swissvale, Pennsylvania, arm-in-arm with the man whose life was saved 10 years ago by her murdered father's donated heart. Though both bitter and sweet for assembled family members, the moment clearly demonstrated how deeply moving and important organ donation can be.

In fact, one person can ...Read more

How long can you hold your breath? One minute? Two maybe? How about 24 minutes and 3 seconds? That's the world record, set by Spanish free diver Aleix Vendrell earlier this year. Now, you may not be shooting for a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records with your lung capacity, but you don't want to have trouble breathing. Well, it turns out ...Read more

The 1986 Harrison Ford movie "The Mosquito Coast" is about bringing ice to a fictional, insect-plagued Central American country, and things get a bit scary. These days, the phrase "mosquito coast" is more than a bit scary when you consider the Zika virus, spread by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, two of the 3,000 species of mosquitos that ...Read more

British explorer John Hanning Speke finally discovered the source of the White Nile (Lake Victoria) 4,285 miles from the Mediterranean on Aug. 3, 1858. Sources can be hard to pinpoint. If someone asked you, "What's the major source of junk food in the American diet," and you answered, "Convenience stores, fast-food restaurants or vending ...Read more

Anna Mary Robertson "Grandma" Moses, one of the most acclaimed American folk artists, began her career at age 78. Fauja Singh thought marathons were 26 kilometers (not miles) long until he ran his first in 2000, at age 89. (He completed the London marathon in 2012 at age 101.) There's proof positive that it's never too late to do remarkable ...Read more

Usain Bolt, the Jamaican super-runner, bounced back from a foot injury to win three gold medals at the world championships in Beijing in 2015. Afterward, despite battling a hamstring tear (ouch!), he declared that he was going to win gold in Rio, and he did!

That kind of recovery is something everyone who's had a heart attack hopes for. And now...Read more

Mercury was the Roman god of shopkeepers, thieves, tricksters and transporters of goods. Bingo! We're not sure how all those centuries ago they knew what was going to be happening during the summer of 2016, but the Food and Drug Administration has caught thieves and tricksters illegally importing and selling goods (in this case various types of ...Read more

On July 15, 1972, Fat Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California, had a ground temp of 201 F. And in late July of 2013 in Siberia, the temperature hit 89.6 F, melting the not-so-permafrost. But those extremes don't come close to the over-the-top number hit by the Whole Hog Burger with sides, from Uno Pizzeria & Grill: 2,850. Yup, 2,850 calories ...Read more

DC Comics' Justice League was originally made up of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman and Flash. And there was no doubt that this team could vanquish any adversaries who dared to cross its path. Well, EULAR, the European League Against Rheumatism, offers a vigorous defense against the often-debilitating ...Read more

Around 1900, the average weight of a 5 foot, 3 inch American woman age 25 to 29 was 132 pounds; a normal weight. Today, according to a new report, 50 percent of moms-to-be (average height 5 foot, 4 inches) are overweight (25.6 percent) or obese (24.8 percent) before becoming pregnant.

That can cause trouble for Mom (gestational diabetes and pre...Read more