Some 50 years ago, someone noticed that music seemed to dull pain during dental operations. Dentists everywhere have been playing Muzak ever since, which may not be music per se, but that's a different story.

In a new paper, researchers attempt to parse the reason why music soothes the savage beast (in this case, mice) or at least appears to make them feel less pain. They zeroed in on brain pathways called audio-somatosensory corticothalamic circuits in mice that allow sound to relieve pain. In their experiments, the scientists found that sounds with a low signal-to-noise ratio — think high intensity — worked the best to reduce pain that the mice felt from their inflamed paws.

Body of Knowledge

In one square inch of your hand, you have nine feet of blood vessels, 600 pain sensors, 9,000 nerve endings, 36 heat sensors and 76 pressure sensors.

Get Me That, Stat!

A study published in Nature Food estimates that a full-scale nuclear war between the United States and Russia would result in more than 5 billion people dying of hunger within two years, due to climate change and disruption of crop production.

Counts

54: Percentage of Americans who say they know at least one person who has died of COVID-19

31: Percentage who say they know someone who has experienced long COVID

54: Percentage who say they rarely or never wear a mask indoors when with people from outside their household — more than double the proportion in January 2022

41: Percentage who say they have already returned to their "normal, pre-COVID-19 life" — up from 16% in January

Source: Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania

Doc Talk

Onychomycosis: toenail fungus

Mania of the Week

Infomania: an excessive devotion for accumulating facts like the meaning of infomania

Best Medicine

Why do your heart, liver and lungs all fit in your body?

Because they are well organized.

Observation

"The well-fed child of today may prove to have been overfed in view of the kind of life he will lead tomorrow." — French-American microbiologist Rene Jules Dubos (1901-1982), who argued that humanity was overtaxing the environment and coined the term "Think Globally, Act Locally."

Medical History

This week in 1772, the soon-to-be state of New Jersey passed the first law in the United States to license medical practitioners, except those who did not charge for their services or whose activity involved bleeding patients or pulling teeth. There is no federal medical licensing law.

Sum Body

Fourteen songs that brought people out of comas, according to Mental Floss:

1: "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele

2: "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt

3: "Mack and Mabel" soundtrack

4: "American Idiot" by Green Day

5: "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band

6: "Don't Cry Alone" by Robin Gibb

7: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones

8: "Angels" by Robbie Williams

9: "Rainbow" by Jessie J

10: "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi

11: "Dynamo" by Si Cranstoun

12: "Gangnam Style" by Psy

13: "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers

14: "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars

Med School

Q: How often should you clean your ears?

A: Ideally, never — and pretty much never with cotton swabs. Ears are naturally excellent at maintaining themselves, primarily by producing cerumen (earwax) that traps particles of dirt and dust and has antimicrobial properties. Cerumen is pushed up through the ear by chewing, where it dries and falls out.

Swabbing can push cerumen back into the ear, creating blockages or, worst case scenario, a ruptured eardrum. Excessive earwax buildup is best addressed by a few drops of olive oil, hydrogen peroxide or an over-the-counter solution. If the problem persists, see a doctor.

Curtain Calls

The French playwright Moliere (1622-1673) suffered a pulmonary hemorrhage caused by tuberculosis while playing the part of a hypochondriac in his own play, "Le malade imaginaire." He disguised his convulsion as part of his performance and finished out the show, which ends with his character dead in a chair.

After the performance, he was carried in the chair to his house, where he died.

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: Movidagrafica at Pixabay