48 http://www.popularmechanics.co.za _ AUGUST 2017
phone gives off less than
1 watt of energy compared
with the 2 000 to 3 000 of a
microwave.WE STILL DON’T TRUST THEM.POWER LINESThe electromagnetic fields
around power lines can give
you cancer.A study published in 1979
found that kids with leukae-
mia lived closer to high-volt-
age power lines than did
healthy children, but it was
refuted in 1995. The threat
is if a live power line comes
down. Otherwise, you’re
fine. The electromagnetic
fields given off are both non-
ionising and extremely low
frequency – even lower than
that of cellphones.IT’S WORSE FOR PROPERTY VALUE
THAN YOUR HEALTH.DRIVING IN HEELSLoose shoes impede your
ability to use the pedals.There are plenty of possible
issues: your shoe can get
caught in the brake pedal or
fall off and get stuck behind
it. Your wife can catch you.
Flipflops are just as bad. If
you can, avoid wearing any
kind of loose shoe while
driving. Or go barefoot. It’s
not illegal.PUT THEM ON WHEN
YOU GET THERE.X-RAYS AT THE
DENTIST’S OFFICELead vests don’t protect your
head, arms or legs.“The lead vest is mostly for
patients’ psychological com-fort,” says Dr Bushberg at UC
Davis. Dental X-rays are highly
focused. The photons pass
through your jaw and the sen-
sor to create an X-ray image.
They have little chance to go
where they shouldn’t. In fact,
the hygienist doesn’t need to
leave the room. If you’re still
concerned, Bushberg says, ask
for a thyroid shield. That’s the
only organ that might be
exposed during the X-ray.YOU SHOULD BE MORE WORRIED
ABOUT FLOSSING.BAY LEAVES
They are poisonous.A
s a child, I looked forward to my mother’s spaghetti the
same way I looked forward to my favourite ’80s sitcom
actors performing trapeze routines on Circus of the Stars.
If no one I love dies tonight, I’d think, this is going to be
a real treat.
The source of my dinnertime anxiety was the Mediterranean
bay leaves my mom added to her sauce and subsequently
retrieved in a panic. She knew the relatively boring dangers –
that they’re rigid and a choking hazard – but due to the dog-
gedness of her pursuit, I came to believe something else entirely:
along with adding flavour to jarred ragu, bay leaves were dead-
ly poisonous if ingested. Her running narration while hovering
over the simmering pot with a slotted spoon crystallised my
fears: “No one taste anything yet! There’s still one leaf unac-
counted for! I put three in this time! Bring me the torch.”
The threat neutralised, we ate, never speaking explicitly
of the bullets we’d dodged, though my sister and I came to
embrace the risk almost giddily. Next time we might not be so
lucky; one of us facedown in a bed of capellini, the other
snagging a second piece of garlic bread.
I was 30 when I finally learnt the truth while watching a
cooking show, and I thought back to at least one occasion
when I’d prepared to induce vomiting after finding a green
fleck in my vegetable biryani. I called my mom. She laughed
at me, but I think she was flattered. Spaghetti Night had
always been an act of faith, and I remained steadfast, her
hungry little idiot. – David WaltersJerrold T Bushberg, clinical
professor of radiology at the
University of California, Davis,
it could cause precancerous
tumours. Non-ionising radia-
tion, however, like the kind
microwaves emit, deposits
energy by vibrating quickly
between positive and nega-
tive poles. That vibration
produces heat that warms
your food. The safety stand-
ards for microwaves are set
far below a level that could
cause tissue damage in a
human.GO AHEAD AND HOVER WHILE YOU
WAIT FOR THAT HOT POCKET.CELLPHONESThe radiation from cellphones
might cause cancer.Like microwaves, cellphones
give off non-ionising radiation- the safe kind. Although it
doesn’t have the protective
metal mesh that keeps micro-
waves from escaping, your
TOASTERS
Fishing bread out of the
toaster with silverware
might electrocute you.Despite almost vanishingly
low numbers of people
electrocuted by small
household appliances, it’s
still a bad idea. “A toaster
is designed to not have
anything except toast in it,”
says William Burke, division
manager of electrical engi-
neering at the NFPA. That
attempt to dig out a broken
piece of syrup waffle risks
giving yourself an electric
shock and possibly a burn.
Even if you thought ahead
and unplugged it to remove
those risks, there is still a
chance you could damage
the toaster, which could
start a fire the next time
you use it.
ODDS OF DEATH:
SO SMALL.