Despite the plethora of technologically based, potential candidates from apps to buzzy things via e-everythings, this year I have plumped for a good old fashioned common-sense sort of a present.
It seems that in Japan a small mouth, especially for ladies, is a socially attractive asset whereas a wide-open bite is not. Noticing that sales to women of its classic burgers were substantially lower than to men, a restaurant chain started selling such frowned upon foods in what they called a ‘Freedom Wrapper’ with a printed image of a modestly smiling lady. Holding the napkin-like screening image while munching a quarterpounder has clearly done the trick as sales to happily hungry ladies are now up 215 per cent. So, while everyone else is seeking hi-tech devices I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the
season than by allowing someone to have a mouthful of what they like. Open wide!
Mexican goodbye wave?
Who would have credited that the Mexican Government would be the first to take the initiative and introduce a tax on junk food and sugary drinks? Apparently Mexicans consume more soft drinks per capita than any other nation, even the USA, and the eight per cent tax is an attempt to combat the country’s expanding obesity epidemic.
Other governments will doubtless be watching with great interest. In the UK, for instance, a recent study estimated that a similar levy here would cut obesity numbers by 180,000 individuals a year. If set at 20 per cent, raising the price of a can of cola by 12p, it would also bring in a boosting £275m for the NHS. As far as Mexico is concerned it might ironically be that
instead of smuggling contraband across the border into the US, the future holds a trade in the other direction of cheap
carbonated drinks.
Extra teeth nightmare
Scientists in Rochester, New York, have discovered the gene that seems to ‘switch’ on, or off, the ability of an animal (or human) to grow additional teeth, as in the case of sharks for example. Given the humble epithet Osr2, the gene seemingly spurs the dental lamina to set off down the line of forming tooth buds to create ‘extra’ teeth to replace those lost by disease,
trauma or presumably just old age. The finding presages the possibility of humans one day growing new teeth of our own, providing that the gene can be switched on again or programmed differently at or before birth. Scary stuff indeed but even more
mind blowing for dental charting, oral care plans and deciding on the costs of treatment. What price an MOD restoration in another molar in the same place as the one three months ago?
You know what? Forget it all and just have a great Christmas and a happy healthy and prosperous New Year!