What I learned today: sun sneezing
Whether I'm writing a researching a book or writing a contributed article for a business magazine on behalf of a client, every day I'm shuffling learning new stuff that strikes me as funny, odd, interesting or gross but curious. Allow yourself to be schooled in .... what I learned today:
No one really knows why people sneeze looking at the sun (or artificial light). No one - not even totally brained up scientists.
Twenty five percent of the population sneeze when they go from darkness into sunlight. Most of them are Caucasian women.
It's officially called the Photo Reflex. It used to be called Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst (or ACHOO geddit?).
You can be born with the propensity for Photo Reflex or you can develop it.
It has puzzled us humans for centuries - even Aristotle pondered whatup with the sun sneeze. For a truly insightful read, consider perusing a 1993 paper by R. A. Breitenbach called The Photic Sneeze Reflex as a Risk Factor to Military Pilots. Apparently keeping your eyes open constantly is fairly important when you're flying at 2,000 clicks per hour. Who knew.
Here's another What I Learned Today.
