geekosystem

A new study done by a University of Toronto professor says that smokers who quit by the age of 40 can get back most of the decade of life they could otherwise expect to lose due to smoking. Professor Prabhat Jha and his team analyzed health and death records of Americans to study the benefits of quitting smoking at different ages. The findings are in no way a call to "smoke 'em if you got 'em" and then quit at 40 since smoking poses serious health risks -- even in the short term -- but the study does show that quitting early can greatly extent the life of a smoker.

Remember in middle school when you tried smoking for the first time behind the gym in P.E. because your friend stole some of his older brother's cigarettes? Do you remember how, though you coughed a lot and it was mainly an uncomfortable experience, that kid you had a crush on walked by and you felt like the coolest middle schooler in the world? Well, you probably were pretty cool smoking that cigarette, because new studies show that the popular kids in the U.S. and Mexico are more likely to smoke cigarettes.

For the past decade or so, Tori the orangutan has impressed visitors at the Satwa Taru Jurug zoo in Indonesia with her smoking habit. The 15-year old great ape apparently picked up the habit from imitating zoo patrons and picking up their discarded cigarette butts. Now, the zoo is intervening and plans to cut Tori off, cold turkey.

I wonder if this applies to boobs of the more masculine variety, but I suppose the owners of said moobs already have erectile dysfunction to worry about.

Who says print media is dead? Not Snoop Dogg, that's for sure. He's so fond of print media, in fact, he's putting out a book that is literally disposable. Snoop Dogg's new song book, Rolling Words, is made primarily out of rolling papers. Try to contain your surprise.

You might've seen people smoking those e-cigarettes every now and then; they're supposed to simulate the feel of smoking, but replace the actual smoke with a supposedly much healthier vapor. Diet company Vaportrim is attempting to recreate that type of alternative to smoking that e-cigarettes are trying to provide, but with dessert. Presenting, inhalable desserts, including cupcake, strawberry shortcake, cinnamon bun, peach cobbler, milk chocolate, and more.

It may seem like common sense that cocaine users are more likely to be smokers than other groups. Drug users tend to use drugs, and what better way to mellow out a crazy cocaine high than a few (packs of) cigarettes?  Well, a new study conducted by Denise and Eric Kandel of Columbia University shows that smoking may lead to cocaine: Nicotine actually causes epigenetic changes that boost a smokers response to cocaine. In other words, if you are or were a smoker, cocaine is going to hit you a lot harder. The idea of gateway drugs has been around for what seems like forever. I'm sure all my fellow D.A.R.E. kids remember learning that smoking and drinking are just the first step to crack, heroin, baggy black hoodies, getting mugged by drug dealers and all that jazz. For a long time though, a lot of the evidence surrounding that idea has been psychological and circumstantial. Kids who smoke are more likely to try something else because they already jumped off the straight-edge wagon, kids who are buying pot from their dealer are going to get offered some ecstasy at some point, etc. This study, however, roots the issue of gateway drugs in actual, physical responses. People who use nicotine are actually rewired to feel that line of coke more than people who don't.

Smoking is bad for your health. We've known that for decades. Now, the focus is turning more towards "how bad is it"  and "when is it the worst," either so smokers who can't give it up can smoke "safely," or just because we're curious. According to a new study in CANCER, the journal for the American Cancer Society, the answers to those questions, respectively, are : "It's really bad" and "it's even worse first thing in the morning."

Now, if you talk to a smoker, they'll probably tell you cigarettes are the best in the morning, and at lunch, and right before bed, and after a few drinks, but the study shows that compared to smokers who wait an hour before pulling out the pack, smokers who light up within 31-60 minutes after waking up are 1.31 times more likely to develop lung cancer, and smokers who smoke a bogey in the first 30 minutes are 1.79 times as likely.