The Straight Dope 07/09/2004

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 07/09/2004

Dear Cecil:

What is the story with human growth hormone (HGH)?
I know that the actual hormone can be injected (at great
expense), and some of the Hollywood crowd supposedly
use this to stay young. However, a lot of companies are
marketing "HGH enhancers," which are not HGH but 
supplements that are supposed to stimulate the body to 
produce HGH in greater quantities. The enhancers are much
less expensive than actual HGH and supposedly almost as
effective in raising your HGH level. So, does HGH really restore
your youth? Do these HGH enhancers work? Or is it all placebo
effect? -- Richard Nash, via e-mail

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Cecil replies:

Chances are you're going to be hearing a lot about HGH
in the next few years. Consider the following facts: (1) 
he most promising test done on HGH so far involved men
age 60 and up. (2) The leading edge of the baby-boom
generation is now 58. If you're, say, Bill Clinton, born in 1946,
you're looking in the mirror and thinking: You know, for an old
fart, I don't look bad. How long can I hold off the inevitable?
(3) Most of the crap you see touting HGH and so-called HGH
enhancers is, in fact, crap. (4) However, some of it's not.

Here's the story so far.  . .

For  more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040709.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

When reading a safety flier recently, I came across a gem I
had not heard before: "Store charcoal in a dry place and
prevent it from getting moist or wet (wet charcoal can self-
ignite by spontaneous ignition)." What's the deal? True or
not?--Bryan Salas

SDSTAFF Una replies:

At first I didn't want to take this question, since like
Hank Hill I grill only with propane so I can "taste the
meat, not the heat." However, since I'm the Straight Dope's
resident Coal Goddess, Cecil ordered me to put aside my
prejudices and answer this one for him. So here we are.
Short answer: The chances of that bag of charcoal you bought
at the Kroger spontaneously catching fire are low--but
that's not to say you should ignore the safety warning. If
you heaped up enough of the stuff and got it wet. . .

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040709.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 11/28/1986

Dear Cecil: 

What happened to the brontosaurus? Number-one son
(preliterate) recently acquired a major case of dinosaur
love, so I've been spending a lot of time lately reading
about prehistoric life in books with large type, lotsa
pictures, and a sketchy sense of detail. In the course of
this I've noticed there's something cooking with my favorite
sauropod. There seem to be three possibilities: (1) The
brontosaurus has been renamed the apatosaurus. (2) The
brontosaurus was never really called the brontosaurus; that
was just its popular name, and the dinosaur establishment
for unspecified reasons is now cracking down and insisting
on the scientific name Apatosaurus ajax. (3) There was never
any such thing as a brontosaurus; there was only the
apatosaurus, but nobody knew it until recently. What's the
truth? Does this have anything to do with the story I heard
that all the heads on all the brontos in all the museums
everywhere had to be knocked off some years ago and changed?
--Clint P., Chicago

Dear Clint:  

This is going to be a world-class bummer for all you Dino the 
Dinosaur fans out there, but it seems there's been a little mistake. 
A couple mistakes, actually. First, Othniel Charles Marsh, the
distinguished paleontologist who discovered the so-called
brontosaurus, somehow managed to get the heads mixed up.
Second, what he thought was a new species in reality was
just another specimen of a previously discovered lizard
called the apatosaurus. Since the name that comes first gets
priority, apatosaurus stayed, and brontosaurus got the hook.
Thus, officially speaking, there is no such thing as a
brontosaurus, and what's worse, what you thought was a
brontosaurus actually doesn't look like what you thought it
looked like. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_011.html

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