Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, who has degrees in medicine and biomedical engineering, recently explained how to avoid crunchy towels
The secret to soft, fluffy towels is all in how you dry them, according to renowned Australian scientist Dr Karl.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, who has degrees in medicine and biomedical engineering, revealed the hack on live radio.
‘To avoid crunchy towels and wrinkly clothes vigorously shake them before pinning (on a clothes line in the sun),’ he said.
Adding half a cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle can also help keep towels soft.
The popular scientist also took the opportunity to laugh at the new ‘technological advancement’ in clothes drying in America.
People in the USA are embracing manual drying, on a clothes line, where in days gone by they have used electric dryers.
He stumbled across tips to drying clothes on a line when reading a US magazine.
‘To avoid crunchy towels and wrinkly clothes vigorously shake them before pinning (on a clothes line in the sun),’ he said
The tips included hanging clothes in direct sunlight and pulling them in the event of rain.
And the scientist said there are many benefits, apart from the obvious environmental benefits, to drying on the line.
‘You will save $600 per year, your air dried clothes will shrink less and last longer,’ he said.
‘You will also have less belly button fluff.’
Dr Karl also revealed chewing gum is the simplest way to distract your brain and get ‘annoying songs’ out of your head, according to scientists.
Earworms, which effect 92 percent of all adults, can last days leaving the sufferer agitated and sick of whatever song it is that has ‘got stuck in their head’.
The scientist said other methods include ‘rinsing the brain’ of the song by playing it over again, or to go completely cold turkey and not listen to it at all
‘For some unknown reason the same pathways in your brain that are used for programming your repeated jaw movement are also used for replaying music in your mind,’ he said.
The topic came up after a young woman called Triple J during the popular scientist’s regular question-answering segment.
Hearing her complaint led the doctor to start singing his own version of Lady Gaga’s song ‘Bad Romance’ which he says is one of the world’s most successful earworms.
‘Our brains are kind of pre wired to embrace music,’ he said, explaining the annoying habit most people contend with at some point.
Earworms, which effect 92 percent of all adults, can last days leaving the sufferer agitated and very sick of whatever song it is that has ‘got stuck in their head’
He said earworms are driven by spontaneous cognition which is something which helps humans keep a high level of background alertness.
The scientist said other methods include ‘rinsing the brain’ of the song by playing it over again, or to go completely cold turkey and not listen to it at all.
The caller phone back ten minutes after being given the advise and said chewing gum did actually get the song out of her head, but complained the doctor’s rendition of Lady Gaga’s song had replaced it.
Dr Karl said earworms have several characteristics.
They are usually songs from your culture, they are usually faster than regular songs, have a certain degree of repetition and has ‘unusual features’.
For thousands of years these catchy, unforgettable songs, were used to tell stories and share survival techniques.
Generations of knowledge would be passed down, the doctor said.
Scientists believe earworms are a benign form of rumination – the intrusive and repetitive thoughts associated with depression.
Which means these could also be switched off by chewing gum.
Other tactics to get rid of earworms include reading to yourself, listening to a different song or playing an instrument.
This is because they also uses the same section of the brain – distracting it from the song loop.