'Never Shower in a Thunderstorm'

Published June 26, 2007 at 10:00 AM EDT

Is chicken soup really good for a cold? Will sitting too close to the TV really hurt your eyes?

Columnist Anahad O'Connor reveals whether or not old wives tales and homemade medical cures are fact or fiction in his new book, Never Shower in a Thunderstorm: Surprising Facts and Misleading Myths About Our Health and the World We Live In.

O'Connor writes the weekly "Really?" column in the New York Times science section.

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