Front page news

Front page snippet from the best-selling local newspaper here:

The speed of finger and toe-nail growth has surged by nearly a quarter over the last 70 years, a new study has revealed.

And, the modern diet-rich in protein from readily available fish,meat,eggs and poultry-may be behind the spurt.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina(My comment-I'd love to do a Phd there-they have such interesting research topics) compared results to a study published by Oxford University in 1938....

The results revealed that:

Big toenails now grow by more than 2 mm a month, compared with 1.65 mm in the Thirties.

Thumbnail growth rate was 3 mm a month in 1938 and 2.06 mm in the Fifties study.

The average thumbnail grows by 3.55 mm a month-an increase of more than half a millimetre over seven decades.

Scientists monitored 195 fingernails and 188 toenails over three months.

The results also showed that fingernails now grow by 3.47 mm every month-almost twice as fast as toenails.

The nails of younger people and men grow faster.

The little finger nail grows much more slowly than other fingernails.

The middle finger has the fastest-growing nail.

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Whew-I'm enlightened! Going by the above, I'd say:

- Being a manicurist has a lot of growth potential in the future. It would 'hit the nail on the head',so to speak, if you become one!

- Setting up a factory to manufacture nail-cutters, nail files and the like, would be a winning preposition.

- If you're a tension-caused nail-biter(Like I was, but, much reduced now!LOL), you'll agree with the last two facts. So, don't bite the little finger's nail and the middle finger's nail with the same ferocity.(UGH!)

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I also have a query:

-Are nails biodegradable? If not, what happens to all the mms(millimetres)' which become inches which become feet of nails that people cut and throw about?

(That's a nice topic for a Phd, I guess-anybody game to try it out?)

I also wonder how those people who were the guinea pigs for the research, waited for three whole months before cutting their nails?

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Joke for the day:

"Just try to relax, this won't take long," said the gynaec trying to calm the obviously nervous young blonde patient. "Haven't you ever been examined like this before?" he asked. "Yeah, sure," she replied, "but not by a doctor!"

Till next time,keep smiling.