Library staff have been busy searching Hunter this week to find some scientific (and not-so-scientific) festive reading for you, all in the name of spreading some good cheer. Have a look at our highlights below – we’ve linked to the Hunter record or full-text where possible.
Have you ever wondered why Rudolph’s nose is red? This intriguing observational study from 2012 sheds some light on the matter:
Intrigued by the occupational health hazards that Father Christmas might experience in his very unique role? This commentary explores some of the issues and recommends a comprehensive workplace occupational health program for the man himself:
That isn’t the only paper that is concerned with Father Christmas’ calorie consumption. The authors below present some quite worrying calculations:
Other researchers have concentrated their efforts on debunking the ‘naughty or nice’ myth, concluding that there are a number of socioeconomic reasons why Santa is, unfortunately, less likely to visit children in hospital. This is thankfully counterbalanced by the wonderful work NHS staff do to make the festive period special for their patients:
This next paper demonstrates that decorating your Christmas tree might not be such a festive activity if you have a colophonium allergy:
Finally, if you aren’t a Brussels sprouts fan, but feel duty-bound to eat some over the holidays, you might be pleased to hear that a nice glass of tannin-rich Cabernet Sauvignon might help improve the taste:
Happy reading!
References:
Carpenter, G. et al. (2018) ‘Wine astringency reduces flavour intensity of Brussels sprouts’. To be published in Journal of Texture Studies [Preprint]. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jtxs.12378 (Accessed: 18 December 2018).
Gether, L., Gyldenløve, M. and Thyssen, J.P. (2017) ‘Christmas tree dermatitis caused by colophonium allergy’, Contact Dermatitis, 77(6), pp. 412-414. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cod.12798 (Accessed: 18 December 2018).
Ince, C. et al. (2012) ‘Why Rudolph’s nose is red: observational study’, BMJ, 345:e8311, pp. 1-6. Available at: https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/345/bmj.e8311.full.pdf (Accessed: 18 December 2018).
Park, J.J. et al. (2016) ‘Dispelling the nice or naughty myth: retrospective observational study of Santa Claus’, BMJ, 355:i6355, pp. 1-5. Available at: https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/355/bmj.i6355.full.pdf (Accessed: 18 December 2018).
Straube, S. and Fan, X. (2015) ‘The occupational health of Santa Claus’, Journal of Occupational Health and Toxicology, 10(44), pp. 1-3. Available: https://occup-med.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12995-015-0086-1 (Accessed: 18 December 2018).
Wormser, G.P. and Ladenheim, A. (2018) ‘How many calories did Santa Claus consume on Christmas Eve?’, Wiener klinische Wochenschrift, 130(1-2), pp. 73-75. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00508-017-1306-8 (Accessed: 18 December 2018).
