Alaska Science Forum
December 7, 2000Article #1519
by Ned Rozell
This column is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer at the institute.
A hallucinogenic mushroom may have been the inspiration for Santa's red-and-white color scheme. Rudolph's nose is red because of a parasitic infection. Resisting the urge to binge on chocolate could damage your resolve to complete projects. Roger
Highfield reveals these and other holiday chestnuts in his 1999 book, The Physics of Christmas. Highfield, science editor at The Daily Telegraph in London, wrote articles of the science behind Christmas for more than a decade. In his book, Highfield also digs up the origins of our Christmas icons.
St. Nicholas, inspiration for thousands of pillow-stuffed Santas in malls throughout America, was born around AD 245 in the town of Patara, Turkey. As the legend goes, St. Nicholas's rich father died when Nicholas was a young man. Possessing more money than he could spend, Nicholas gave away much of the money anonymously. He once saved three girls from a life of prostitution by giving their father money to pay their dowries. Seems St. Nick had three bags of gold, each of which provided enough for a daughter's wedding. He tossed one bag through an open window of the father's home on two consecutive nights. On the third night, the window was for some reason closed. Nicholas dropped the third sack of gold down the chimney. When townspeople heard the story, they began hanging stockings by the chimney, presumably with care.
Science buff as well as Santa historian, Highfield includes in his book these Christmas facts:
One acre of Christmas trees produces enough oxygen each day to sustain 18 people. In the United States, where about one million acres are devoted to growing Christmas trees, the trees exhale enough oxygen for about 18 million people each day.
A turkey's ratio of water-to-fat-to-protein is 60:20:20.
To reach every chimney in the world in one night, Santa and his reindeer need to travel 221 million miles, moving at an average speed of 1,279 miles per second.
Shoppers waiting in five lines to buy presents at five different cash registers will wait five times as long as the same number of people waiting in one line to be called to the next available cash register, as is the setup in banks and post offices.
When buying Christmas presents or shopping in general, women rely more on reading product labels and other in-store information than men, who more often ask a sales clerk for an opinion. The authors of a study on shopping suggested a reason: "males were distinguished by . . . their desperation, abruptness, tardiness, and discomfort with the ritual process (of shopping)."
A British researcher links the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria) to the origins of Santa Claus, noting the hallucinogen's characteristic red-and-white color and its consumption by holy men in Lapp societies. When on a visit to heal the sick occupant within, the shaman entered huts by the chimney.
In his most-quoted study, a scientist at the University of Oslo once suggested the "celebrated discoloration" of Rudolph's nose is probably due to the fact that a reindeer's warm and moist nose is such a fine environment for parasites.
In a study at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, two groups of hungry students sat down to two plates. Chocolate cookies were on one of the plates. Radishes were on the other. Researchers told one group of students to eat only the cookies; the other only the radishes. Both groups then worked on an unsolvable puzzle. Students who resisted the cookies worked at the puzzle an average of eight minutes before giving up; those who indulged in chocolate cookies stayed at the puzzle for an average of 20 minutes. Highfield quoted one of the authors of the study, who responded with words we all need to hear this holiday season: "Resisting temptation can be hazardous to your mental health."
