Fish oil consists mostly of fatty acids, particularly omega-3 fatty acids, whose consumption is touted as a way to reduce the risk of conditions ranging from asthma to arthritis to heart disease.

It appears, however, that consuming too much fish oil might also cause hair loss. Well, at least among mice.

A new study revealed that mice on a high-fat diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids experienced considerable hair loss, particularly in large patches along their shoulders. Researchers deduced that the fatty acids were accumulating in skin cells in the shoulders, interacting with and disrupting immune cells that ultimately resulted in the death of hair follicles.

The findings were novel and unexpected. It remains to be seen if the phenomenon occurs in humans, and if so, at what level of omega-3 consumption. The scientists said more research is needed, which presumably means they'll be putting their heads together (bald or not).

Learn Well, Grasshopper

Humans can reportedly detect up to 1 trillion different scents, but that pales compared to other organisms. Bloodhounds, for example, have 300 million smell receptors. Humans have 5 million.

Dogs are now being used to detect whiffs of some kinds of cancers, but they might soon be joined by others. Grasshoppers deploy quite sophisticated olfactory senses to get around in their world. Detected pheromones let them know, for example, when to molt and, more dramatically, when to swarm.

Michigan State University researchers are now experimenting with using the odor-sensing circuitry of the grasshopper brain to detect the scent signatures of human oral cancers. So-called electronic noses are being developed to do something similar, but the Michigan scientists said grasshoppers still have a leg up (or six) in terms of effectiveness.

Body of Knowledge

When deprived of oxygen, brain cells start to die within five minutes. The exception is when certain factors are involved, specifically cold. If a person's body temperature falls below 95 degrees Fahrenheit (hypothermia), metabolism slows and oxygen needs decrease. There are documented cases of persons surviving longer than 15 minutes without adequate oxygen when exposed to frigid water or buried in an avalanche.

Mark Your Calendar

July is awareness month for cord blood, group B strep, juvenile arthritis, sarcoma (tumors that occur in bones and soft tissues) and UV safety, which means you probably shouldn't be reading this outside.

Doc Talk

Occult bacteremia — the presence of bacteria in the bloodstream of a child with a fever, but who looks well and has no obvious source of infection. In this case, occult means hidden.

Phobia of the Week

Thermophobia — fear of hot weather

Never Say 'Diet'

The Major League Eating record for watermelon is 13.22 watermelons in 15 minutes, held by "Buffalo" Jim Reeves. It was an upset victory, with Reeves besting the top seeds.

Best Medicine

First guy: "I recently heard a great joke about amnesia."

Second guy: "Oh yeah, how does it go?"

First guy: "How does what go?"

Hypochondriac's Guide

Dyscalculia is a learning disorder that affects a person's ability to understand number-based information and math, similar to dyslexia (with language) but an entirely different diagnosis. Both may have similar levels of prevalence. Many politicians are suspected to suffer from the condition.

Observation

"The devil has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life. Either we suffer in health

or we suffer in soul or we get fat." — German-American theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Medical History

This week in 1996, Dolly, a cloned sheep, was born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland. Scientists had replaced the nucleus of an egg cell with the nucleus from a parent cell — in Dolly's case, an udder cell from a Finn Dorset sheep. Somehow, the egg cell reprogrammed the donated DNA contained within its new nucleus, and Dolly was the result. The manipulation was done using microscopic needles, a method pioneered in 1970s human fertility treatments. The resulting embryo was implanted into the womb of a third, surrogate sheep. Dolly's birth was announced to the world in early 1997.

Med School

Match these parts of the body with the how often they are replaced:

1. Liver cells

2. Skeleton

3. Red blood cells

4. Fat storage cells

5. Skin cells

a) 10 years

b) 120 days

c) 39 days

d) 300 to 500 days

Note: One answer applies to two different body parts.

Answers: 1d; 2a; 3b; 4a; 5c.

Curtain Calls

The so-called Erfurt latrine disaster occurred on July 26, 1184, when King Henry VI of Germany summoned his nobles to an informal assembly. They convened on the wooden second floor of the Petersberg Citadel in the town of Erfurt.

The floor could not support the combined weight of the gathered nobility and collapsed, with most of the nobles falling into a latrine cesspit below the ground floor where roughly 60 people died, either crushed by falling debris, suffocated by fumes or drowned in liquid excrement.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Will Turner at Unsplash