source: gmanetwork.com
PARIS - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's snout has been immortalized in movies, books and song.
But until now, no-one has offered a scientific explanation for the glow
that allows the world's most famous antlered herbivore to guide Santa's
sleigh through the night before Christmas.
In a
study released Monday, researchers in The Netherlands and Norway used a
hand-held microscope to examine the nasal lining of five healthy
humans, two reindeer and a sixth person with a non-cancerous nasal
growth.
Reindeer noses have 25 percent more
blood vessels than human noses, according to the tongue-in-cheek
investigation, published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in its
Christmas edition.
The tiny blood vessels
provide plentiful oxygen-carrying cells and help control the body's
temperature, showed their findings, which were backed by an infrared
image of a reindeer after exercise.
"Rudolph's
nose is red because it is richly supplied with red blood cells,
comprises a highly dense microcirculation, and is anatomically and
physiologically adapted for reindeer to carry out their flying duties
for Santa Claus," the paper observes.
Rudolph's round-the-world feat has been closely scrutinized by physicists.
In order to deliver presents to children in around 100 million homes
where the Santa tradition is observed, he would have to travel at around
1,000 kilometers (650 miles) per second, they estimate.
At such speeds, the reindeer, Santa and the sleigh would be vaporised
by friction with the air, along with the gifts and any little elvish
helpers who came along for the ride.
source: gmanetwork.com
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