Truth
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I'm not really into magazines. They seem to be filled with lots of stuff that is really boring to me. My mum recently bought me a copy of "New Scientist" and I thought "Oh well, I'll give it a shot". Not surprisingly however it bored the pants off me but in the back there was a section where they dispelled hoaxes and rumors and one stood out to me. I looked up the details and found this.
A group of freelance scientists discovered some rare stem cells in the pith of apples. It seems that these stem cells are very rare in nature and this is one of a handful of places it exists. The good part about the fact that it exists in apples is that by chance us humans have cultivated this source for our own benefit. Because of this we have over abundant amounts of the stuff available whereas the other sources would take millions to develop.
Now that much everyone seems to agree on including New Scientist but the next part that dispel as being pure garbage.
Apparently these scientists sold their research to a pharmaceutical company who developed the technology to put these cells into a form of sun tan which when absorbed by the skin would make wrinkles in the skin reduce. At least that's the theory.
New Scientist proclaimed that this is bullshit and you would get much more benefits by just eating the god damn apples in the first place.
However, it turns out that they are in fact wrong. It surprised me at first that a scientific magazine wouldn't know their facts but apparently it actually works and here's the science behind it.
The theory that the skin absorbs it and that somehow interacts with the skin cells to help them maintain their elasticity is complete crap but what does happen is that the cells are absorbed through the skin, carried along the blood stream (assuming the immunity system doesn't kill them all) and merges itself with the cells of the human liver. This in turn causes the liver to produce healthier chemicals for longer, that means that it produces less toxins and those toxins are what cause the skin cells to become damaged losing their elasticity and causing wrinkles.
Therefore, this tan lotion will actually cause wrinkles not to disappear but to prevent them appearing in the first place or getting any worse. I imagine they tested it on rats. If they did then that would explain why they thought it worked the way it did. If they were allowed to test on humans or chimpanzees they would have noticed a difference.
The affects are temporary though so you would have to apply the lotion every day of your life for years on end. So unless you fancy looking like someones shadow i suggest you don't do it.
Also, many of the other chemicals in the lotion may cause skin cancer if you applied it in such huge dosages as this.
It actually turns out New Scientist has been wrong before and not once but many times. It seems that although almost all of the book is scientific fact alot of the stuff in the back where they dispel rumors is not actually researched and is just assumed. So be careful when you read it because not all of it is scientific fact some of it is just opinion.
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Legend
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After discovering that i began to think about some urban legends and found that almost all the well known ones are indeed factual or fact based i.e. there was a strange event exactly like that but the details have been blown out of proportion.
However, i did find some really strange ones i've yet to prove. The first of which sounds perfectly plausible so here it is.
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Santa Claws on Safari
I know with a title like that people will have horrible images of tears streaming down kids faces while someone in a santa claus suit is mauled to death by lions but even though that has actually happened once that's not what this is about.
To set the record straight i must first point out santa claws is a cat. This cat was on safari with its owner and family when is was frighted by an ostrich which had poked its head through the window and leaped out of the sunroof and away to hide somewhere in the enclosure.
Workers at the safari noticed the family screaming for help and went over to investigate. After learning about the predicament that repeated announced over the speakers to be on the lookout for a small orange domestic cat while workers scowered the area for the kitty but to no avail.
They became quite worried that the frightened cat might wander into the pen of one of the more dangerous animals and despite searching well into the night they couldn't find the cat.
The next day the safari personnel were all set to tell the family that since they had not even seen the cat that it might have already been eaten when one of the crew who had got up early to look for it found carcasses of small rodents dotted around the hippo enclosure. They instantly knew that the cat was okay and told the family not to worry because their cat around and eating well.
The problem of course was that they still couldn't find the blasted thing. The cat seemed to be great at stealth and no matter how many bushes they searched it still eluded them. and it seemed to be quite comfortable with hopping enclosures.
They left some of the cats favorite cat food out for it and surely enough they heard it eating and caught a glimpse of its eyes shine in the dark but when they approached it it ran away.
Later they found that one of their rhinos had been brutally attacked. Its eye had been shredded and there were slashes all over its face and neck. They assumed that poachers had tried to sneak into the enclosure and had damaged the rhino in self defense when it charged them.
The next day they found the cat riding the back of one of their hippos. This time they caught it and took it away but as they did they were attacked by the hippos who tried to push the truck over as they drove away.
It turns out that the hippos and the cat had become close friends and that the hippos were trying to protect the cat from the keepers. The cat had a broken shoulder but other than that was fine.
They then began to realize that the injuries to their rhino must have been inflicted by santa claws the cat. So the family got their pet back relatively unharmed but had to pay up for the damage it had caused.
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Vicious Dog Man scares an elderly woman to death
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Man hiccups his own vocal chords off
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Man blinds a police officer with an explosive pistachio nut
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and now for something completely different
Michael Jackson Man
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A young man in europe somewhere built a life size replica of Escher's famous Relativity artwork (image below) out of thick waterproof card. When he went to test out his creation he slipped on the card floor which was wet from rain water and found himself clinging to a set of steps high in the air.
He had falling quite a distance and stopped with such force that his spine had become separated and had lost the use of his legs preventing him to drop down the rest of the distance without injuring himself.
(circled is the set of steps the man was clutching)
He cried for help but his cries were ignored until people noticed him missing. Then they walked inside his creation and found him dangling 20 feet in the air asleep. Fire crews were called to help the man down and he was taken to hospital.
He was wet with rainwater and suffering from hypothermia. He had also developed rheumatism in his joints locking them in place which explained why the man hadn't loosened his grip and fallen to his death when he became tired.
The supposedly fake report was posted on 4chan along with a picture of the man. The members of 4chan named him Michael Jackson Man after the iconic pose on the Michael Jackson "This is it" posters which this man seemed to be imitating (picture below).
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The Lord is Vengeful
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A hiker was spotted on film climbing the summit of a large hill. When he reached the top it began to rain. He stretched his arm out up to the heavens and raised his middle finger. At which point he was struck by lighting.
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Blood of Christ
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A man took his family to meet Pope Jean Paul and shook his hand. When he later returned to his day job of dna research a flake of dead skin which had somehow passed from the pope onto the scientists clothes fell into a test tube and contaminated the results.
The man realized who's dna it was and also discovered that it contained a rare trait in humans which could potentially prevent cancer.
The research team then approached the vatican about this and asked if they could take dna samples from the pope. They refused to let them take swabs from inside his mouth and take urine and blood samples but they did however allow them to take hair samples.
The said that they would need the root and so the hairs would have to be pulled out rather than cut off. They took samples from the popes neck which is where it would be most healthy other than making the pope partially bald.
It was so painful that the pope ordered them to stop. They asked whether they could instead of more hairs pick fewer from more healthy areas such as around the nipples or on the testicles but the vatican refused.
They said they enough samples to research the dna but without another donor with the same genetic trait was found they couldn't replicate its effects.
It appears that the genetic trait could be due to the pope having such a healthy life.
When the new pope took his place they asked again for a dna sample except this time he did not share the same trait. They refused to say why but simply said "At some point he must have been a very dirty man".
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