Yahoo! Answers

Hey Guys,

Some people accept their grey hair. Others do their best to hide it. But lost amid all the hair dyes and painful plucks remains a question that begs answering: Why do we go grey in the first place?

Well, in truth, it might not be such a simple question at all. The Library of Congress explains that while “the how” of grey hair is well understood, “the why” remains something of a mystery.

Hair gets its color from melanin, a type of pigment. Whether a person is blonde, brunette, or a redhead depends upon “the distribution, type and amount of melanin in the middle layer of the hair shaft or cortex.” As a person gets older, the amount melanin decreases, and a person’s hair turns gray. Or, to put it another way, WebMD writes that “hair turns gray as a result of a chemical chain reaction that causes hair to bleach itself from the inside out.”

Ah, but why do some people go grey at 28, while others stay their natural color to a ripe old age? Genes. Sorry for the boring answer, but according to MSN, it’s the truth. If your parents went grey at age 40, odds are you’re going to, as well.

Still, there are other factors that can cause hair to lose its color. For example, some illnesses can lead a person to lose their hair color. Thyroid disease and a deficiency of vitamin B12 can both bring on grey hair. It’s also commonly believed that stress can make a person’s hair color head for the hills. Near as I can tell, this is mostly a myth. According to MSN: “Stress doesn’t actually turn hair gray—the color can’t change once produced by hair follicles, so hair cannot suddenly turn gray if you are under a great deal of stress. If a single strand of hair starts out brown (or red or black or blond), it’s never going to turn gray.”

The Library of Congress mentioned a lot of other factoids about hair. For example, the average scalp has between 100,000-150,000 hairs on it, whether they’re grey or not. And, according to the Straight Dope, scientists have never found a correlation between grey hair and balding. So, if you do go grey, at least you have a fair chance of keeping what you got. I take some comfort in that.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

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We receive emails regularly from many of you expressing your interest in writing a blog post on the Answers blog.

As much of our success is down to our amazing community members, we want to extend an offer to all you – the opportunity to volunteer a blog post and have it published on the Answers blog!

Have you ever dreamed of being famous in the US? Then this is your chance! If your blog hits the spot we may even feature it on our sister-blogs in one of the 21 countries where we blog and translate it into some of the 9 languages we operate in.

This is your chance to have your voice heard, and have millions of people read your words! If that isn’t incentive enough, how about an extra 100 points for each post we publish?

How do I become a guest blogger?

Simple – come up with a suggestion or a full blog post and email it to y_answrs_favorites@yahoo.com.

Here are a few tips and rules to follow:

1) What should you write about? – Focus on what would interest the Answers Community. We are open to any subject area, even if only slightly related to Answers. This could include educational, instructional or informative topics. Some examples are as follows:

o Subjects that you may have professional or personal experience in, for example if you have recently planned a wedding, you may want to pitch a topic on “How to organize a wedding?”
o Or you could pitch ideas based on your personal experience on Answers, such as tips on getting the most out of Answers, things that could be improved, and anything that you would like to share with the Answers community.

2) Use correct spelling and grammar. The more understandable your suggestion is, the higher the chance it has to be used or chosen as a possible blog topic.

3) If you use any Answers content in your blog posts, it should adhere to the Community Guidelines.

Finally, the legal bit – your blog will be featured on the site in accordance with our TOS. We reserve the right to translate and make editorial changes to your blog if selected.

We look forward to hearing from you – y_answrs_favorites@yahoo.com

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We are pleased to introduce a cool new way to help you stay on top of your Yahoo! Answers activity wherever you are on the web – this is the Answers app for the Yahoo! Toolbar.

From now on, if a question suddenly pops into your head there is no need to navigate away from the page you are on – just click on the Answers app on your Yahoo! Toolbar and ask the Answers community directly and instantly!

Many of you may already be familiar with the Yahoo! Toolbar, which is a great way to make your surfing experience more efficient and streamlined by keeping all the information you need in a single click. If you haven’t yet experienced the benefits then download the Yahoo! Toolbar now and enhance your Internet experience by:
• Reducing the time needed to load various sites.
• Getting instant access to your Yahoo! account and other properties by just clicking a button.
• Getting instant access to Yahoo!’s powerful search engine.

What exactly is the Answers app?

Here is a quick walkthrough of the new Answers app:

1-App icon
The App icon lets you navigate directly to Answers at the click of a button, preview your activity, and ask questions without leaving the page you’re on.

2-App module
The App module provides 3 tabs for you to easily manage and check your favorite Yahoo! Answers content.

My Activity tab: Shows the last 5 questions/answers you asked along with your latest points tally.

Ask tab: Let’s you dive straight into asking questions directly from the module.

Browse tab: See the latest questions asked or browse to your favorite categories using the list.

3- Related Links
The Related links section takes you directly to the relevant sections on the Answers site.

4 – Search Answers
We’ve included a Search box to get quick access to the information you are looking for.

Tell us what you think
Once you have given the new Answers app a test drive, tell us what you think on the Forum or leave your comments here, on the blog.

We trust you will find the Yahoo! Toolbar and the Answers app to be a useful addition to your Answers experience!

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Photo by wallyg

Yahoo! Answers is hitting the streets and for all of you Answers fans, here’s your chance to shine on video! The Yahoo! Answers team has selected some fun questions and they’re headed to the streets of San Francisco to see how well YOU can answer them. Think you’ve got the skills to answer their questions? Come on out to show your support and share your knowledge. We’d love to meet some of our community members! We’ll also have some fun stuff to give out for your participation.

Schedule on Monday, May 17:

Marina Green: 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. PT
Ferry Building: 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. PT
1 Powell Street (Bart and Trolley Stop near Union Square): 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. PT
SFO (Domestic Food Court): 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. PT

Hope to see some of you!

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Photo by Loren Javier

Hosting “Saturday Night Live” might not be good enough for Betty White – everyone wants her on the big stage. Facebook fans have now launched a new page, “Getting Betty White to Host the Academy Awards.”

Just days after hosting “SNL” for the first time on Saturday night — thanks to a Facebook campaign called “Betty White to Host SNL…Please?” — fans want to see more of our favorite “Golden Girl.” On Sunday night, the new page already had over 6,000 fans, and today it has over 17,000. Might we see the 88-year-old handing out Oscars?

The Betty White “SNL” campaign proved very successful:  With musical guest Jay-Z, Saturday night’s episode saw its highest ratings in more than 18 months. After rave reviews, Betty White proved that she still has her comedy side. Did you watch “SNL”? What did you think? Where do you want to see Betty White next?

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