We have 13 members!!!!!!!!

Guest Writing

We have one guest writer for this newsletter!!!!

Laurie !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Article is on last page.

 If this is possible I would like more members doing guest writing. If you do guest writing six times you will get a lifetime membership!!

The Beginning

the story of the Cool Geeks Club (on next page)

Jonathan and Matt made the Cool Geeks Club in December of 2001. It was made for geeks to be cool. There have been rules so that no cool kids can come in. Those rules are still the same! Since then we have picked up one new staff member Michael Head Of All members still he is only five he is a great staff member. ALL (that means you Matt) staff members need to be polite and nice to ALL members.

By Laurie

Audiologists, hearing healthcare specialists, certainly have the opportunity to examine many ears on a daily basis.  I have examined numerous pinnas, the cartilaginous portion of the outer ear. Correct, the big floppy things on each side of your head.  The Pinna is largely responsible for collecting sound waves and funneling them down into the ear canal.  Technically, the ear canal is called the External Auditory Meatus. It is also part of the Outer ear. 

It has come to my attention on many occasions that the largest of all pinnas seem to be attached to older adults!  Imagine that!  Or, have I been imagining this to be true????

I often wondered how and when these pinnas grew to be so large. 

Some prominent doctors and researchers from the British Royal College of General Practitioners also asked the same questions!  A researcher by the name of James Heathcote from Kent, England measured the pinnas ( top of ear to bottom of lobe) of 206 male and female patients that ranged in age from 30 to 93 years.  From his data he concluded that both men and womens pinnas continued to grow steadily throughout adulthood at a rate of .0086 inches per year.  This would mean that by age 50 most adults Pinnas would grow approximately a ½ inch!  Wow!  What makes this even more interesting is the fact that other portions of the human ear, specifically the middle and inner ear structures are nearly full size at the time of birth.

Researchers speculate that Pinnas grow because cartilage continues to grow in the human body well into adult hood.  This is unlike bone, which grows through puberty and slows and stops soon thereafter. Bone growth is largely determined by human sex hormones.

The nose, another prominent facial structure, is also composed of cartilage.   No lying nowwe all know what happened to Pinocchio!

Inquiring minds may also want to know:

1.      What does an Audiologist do?

2.    Where is Kent, England?

3.    How big are your pinnas?

4.    How big will your pinnas be when you are 50?

5.    What would you do to determine if your nose grows like your ears?  Can you design an experiment?