You might know them as "vestigial" organs, but we no longer overlook organs that aren’t vital for life.

While they can be removed, your tonsils, appendix and gallbladder play important roles in the body.

Norman and Tegan define what "vestigial" actually means, and how our bodies adapt to losing an organ.

References:

• How Do We Know What Human Organs Do? - JSTOR Daily 
• Tonsils, adenoids and throat infections — do doctors still recommend surgery? - ABC News
• Association of Long-Term Risk of Respiratory, Allergic, and Infectious Diseases With Removal of Adenoids and Tonsils in Childhood 
• Influence of Tonsillectomy on Various Disease Outcomes: An Outcome-wide Association Analysis and Mendelian Randomization Analysis
• Cytokine production in patients with recurrent acute tonsillitis: analysis of tonsil samples and blood - PMC 
• Association of Long-Term Risk of Respiratory, Allergic, and Infectious Diseases With Removal of Adenoids and Tonsils in Childhood - PMC 
• Microbial Composition of Human Appendices from Patients following Appendectomy 
• Long-term impacts of appendectomy associated with increased incidence of inflammatory bowel disease, infection, and colorectal cancer
• Cholecystectomy (Gallbladder Removal)

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Not a fruit lover, but eat plenty of veggies? Ever wondered if skipping that banana might actually matter?

We all know a mix of fruit and vegetables is key to a long, healthy life.

Norman and Tegan dig into whether eating little or no fruit could actually be bad for you.

References:

• What exactly is a tomato? The difference between fruit and veg - ABC News
• Key statistics and data about child and adult consumption of fruit and vegetables - Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Fresh fruit consumption and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: findings from the China Kadoorie Biobank  
• Fruit consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: results from three prospective longitudinal cohort studies 
• Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality: Results from Two Prospective Cohort Studies of US Men and Women and a Meta-Analysis of 26 Cohort Studies 
• The global burden of disease attributable to suboptimal fruit and vegetable intake, 1990-2021: a systematic analysis of the global burden of disease study 
• Fruit and vegetable consumption and all-cause mortality: evidence from a large Australian cohort study 
• A basket of new fruit varieties is coming your way – The Economist 
• Releasing a sugar brake generates sweeter tomato without yield penalty

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If you’re into skincare, you’ve probably been advertised light therapy face masks.

These high-tech hockey masks promise to plump up or heal your skin through light – often red, but sometimes yellow, green, blue or even purple.

Norman and Tegan go through the rainbow to assess where there's evidence, and where there's not.

References:

• Sweaty sauna bathing for better health - What's That Rash?
• Near Infrared Photoimmunotherapy: A Review of Recent Progress and Their Target Molecules for Cancer Therapy
• Effect of NASA Light-Emitting Diode Irradiation on Wound Healing
• Visible Red Light Emitting Diode Photobiomodulation for Skin Fibrosis: Key Molecular Pathways
• Utilization of light-emitting diodes for skin therapy: Systematic review and meta-analysis
• Photodynamic Therapy Using HMME for Port-Wine Stains: Clinical Effectiveness and Sonographic Appearance
• Effect of Blue Light on Acne Vulgaris: A Systematic Review
• The efficacy of violet light in the treatment of acne
• Featured review: What are the benefits and risks of light therapy for treating atopic eczema?
• Light therapy for preventing seasonal affective disorder

This episode first aired on December 18, 2024. 

What determines whether you’re right or left handed? Is there really such a thing as being ambidextrous?

It’s a surprisingly complicated story, and culture comes into play – some people are forced to go against their dominant hand.

Norman and Tegan parse through the history of handedness in this live recording at the World Science Festival Brisbane.

References:

• A large-scale population study of early life factors influencing left-handedness 
• The handedness of Kerrs and Carrs
• The association between switching hand preference and the declining prevalence of left-handedness with age
• Stuttering and “Retraining” Left-Handed Children in Mid-Century U.S. 
• Can training to become ambidextrous improve brain function?  
• Brain Size Associated with Foot Preferences in Australian Parrots 
• The Influence of Handedness on the Clinical Presentation and Neuropsychology of Alzheimer Disease

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• The four steps you need to form a habit

Headaches are common, but the causes are wide and varied, and some are more serious than others. 

Why do we get headaches? What's the difference between a headache and a migraine?

Norman and Tegan talk through some basics about headaches, and why a round of squats might help...

References:

• The Science Behind Headaches: What's Really Happening In Your Skull 
• The vascular theory of migraine—a great story wrecked by the facts
• Twelve-month efficacy of CGRP monoclonal antibodies and predictive value of short-term response: results of an Australian multicentre study 
• Trial of Galcanezumab in Prevention of Episodic Cluster Headache
• Erenumab for Chronic Cluster Headache: A Randomized Clinical Trial
• Effect of Exercise on Chronic Tension-Type Headache and Chronic Migraine: A Systematic Review
• The effect of different exercise types on migraine frequency in individuals with migraine: A pilot study

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• Am I addicted to caffeine?
• Is emu oil the new snake oil?
• There's a lot of fog around brain fog

We've all probably wished for a way to achieve our fitness goals without the strain and sweat that can come with exercise.

So what if you could lose weight, gain muscle and improve circulation just by standing on a vibrating platform?

Norman and Tegan buzz through the evidence for and against vibration plates and so called "passive exercise".

References:

• Dr Gustav Zander’s Victorian-Era Exercise Machines Made the Bowflex Look Like Child’s Play
• The effects of whole body vibration therapy on reducing fat mass in the adult general population: A systematic review and meta-analyses 
• Whole-body vibration administered during a 3-week in-hospital multidisciplinary body weight reduction program increases resting energy expenditure in obese adolescents, a randomized clinical trial 
• Immediate effects of localized vibration on flexibility: A randomized crossover trial 
• Effects of whole body vibration with exercise therapy versus exercise therapy alone on flexibility, vertical jump height, agility and pain in athletes with patellofemoral pain: a randomized clinical trial 
• Whole Body Vibration as an Adjunct to Static Stretching
• Whole-Body Vibration Stimulates Microvascular Blood Flow in Skeletal Muscle 
• Whole body vibration training improves leg blood flow and adiposity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus 
• Effects of Whole-Body Vibration Training on Lower Limb Blood Flow in Children with Myelomeningocele—A Randomized Trial 
• Effect of localised vibration on muscle strength in healthy adults: a systematic review 
• Whole-body vibration training improves muscle mass and strength in older adults through intra- and extra-muscular pathways 
• The effect of whole body vibration training on quadriceps voluntary activation level of people with age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia): a randomized pilot study 
• Hormonal responses to a single session of wholebody vibration exercise in older individuals
• Hormonal and Metabolic Responses to Whole Body Vibration in Healthy Adults 
• Low-frequency vibrotherapy considerably improves the effectiveness of manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) in patients with lipedema: A two-armed, randomized, controlled pragmatic trial 
• Efficacy of whole body vibration exercise in older people: a systematic review 

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Snail slime, or snail mucin, has become a popular product in skin care.

Some claim it has anti-ageing properties, but if the early research shakes out, snail mucus could have even more significant uses.

Norman and Tegan discuss why snail gunk has become a hero of cosmetics, and what else it might be capable of.

References:

• Why Snail Mucin? Or, How This Ancient Practice Became a Skin Care Sensation
• Chemical composition, mineral profile, anti-bacterial, and wound healing properties of snail slime of Helix aspersa Müller 
• Extraction, structure, pharmacological activities and applications of polysaccharides and proteins isolated from snail mucus
• Antimicrobial Activities of Different Fractions from Mucus of the Garden Snail Cornu aspersum
• Antimicrobial efficacy of Egyptian Eremina desertorum and Helix aspersa snail mucus with a novel approach to their anti-inflammatory and wound healing potencies
• Reviewing The Potential of Snail Extract to Accelerate and Improve Burn Wound Healing: A Literature Review 
• HelixComplex snail mucus exhibits pro-survival, proliferative and pro-migration effects on mammalian fibroblasts
• The efficacy of Helix aspersa Müller extract in the healing of partial thickness burns: A novel treatment for open burn management protocols
• Helix aspersa maxima mucus exhibits antimelanogenic and antitumoral effects against melanoma cells
• 849 Snail mucus increases the anti-cancer activity of anti-PD-L1 antibody in melanoma 
• Snail Mucus Enhances Chemosensitivity of Triple-negative Breast Cancer Via Activation of the Fas Pathway
• Snails and Skin: A Systematic Review on the Effects of Snail-based Products on Skin Health
• From Nature to Nurture: The Science and Applications of Snail Slime in Health and Beauty
• Artificial Snail Mucus Could Advance Cancer Treatments – Johns Hopkins University

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• What we do (and don't) know about tinnitus

Walking down the street, most people you pass will be wearing headphones or ear buds. Chances are you are too!

But is this trend of noise-cancelling harming your ears or the way your brain processes sound?

Norman and Tegan sound out the evidence on headphone use and hearing damage, and what you can do to protect your ears.

References:

• Know Your Noise - National Acoustic Laboratories
• Pumping loud music is putting more than 1 billion young people at risk of hearing loss - University of Melbourne 
• A Partial History of Headphones - Smithsonian 
• Prevalence and global estimates of unsafe listening practices in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis 
• Hearing thresholds, tinnitus, and headphone listening habits in nine-year-old children 
• Do Noise-Cancelling Headphones Help or Hurt Hearing? - University of Colorado
• Tips for safe listening using headphones and earbuds – Hearing Australia  

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Many people believe that taking vitamin C supplements helps their immune system fight off colds.

But there are even bigger claims attached to this supplement – that it not only boosts immunity, but fights cancer.

Norman and Tegan introduce us to the Nobel laureate who pushed these theories decades ago, and whether there’s any truth to them.

References:

• The Discovery of Vitamin C 
• Treatment for scurvy not discovered by Lind
• Linus Pauling’s Vitamin C Crusade
• Ascorbic Acid in Cancer Treatment: Let the Phoenix Fly
• A randomized trial of pharmacological ascorbate, gemcitabine, and nab-paclitaxel for metastatic pancreatic cancer
• The Role of Vitamin C in Cancer Prevention and Therapy: A Literature Review 
• High-dose vitamin C: A promising anti-tumor agent, insight from mechanisms, clinical research, and challenges 
• Vitamin C reduces the severity of common colds: a meta-analysis 
• Two Faces of Vitamin C—Antioxidative and Pro-Oxidative Agent 
• Vitamin C - Australian Institute of Sport
• Vitamin C – EatforHealth.gov.au 

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Unless you're in certain corners of the internet, you won't be aware of the peptide craze promising to grow your muscles and slow ageing.

That's because your average GP won't be printing a prescription for these injectable drugs, like BPC-157 or melanotan.

Norman and Tegan discuss why there's so much fan fare over unproven peptides with some potentially nasty side effects.

References:

• Effects of Topical Copper Tripeptide Complex on CO2 Laser–Resurfaced Skin 
• Don’t risk using tanning products containing melanotan - TGA
• Melanotan‐associated melanoma
• Melanotan II: a possible cause of renal infarction: review of the literature and case report
• Melanotan II: a possible cause of renal infarction: review of the literature and case report
• Melanotan-induced priapism: a hard-earned tan – BMJ case study
• BPC-157: Experimental peptide prohibited - US Anti-Doping Authority
• Effect of BPC-157 on Symptoms in Patients with Interstitial Cystitis: A Pilot Study
• Safety of Intravenous Infusion of BPC157 in Humans: A Pilot Study
• Intra-Articular Injection of BPC 157 for Multiple Types of Knee Pain
• General practitioner disqualified for inappropriately prescribing peptides

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