SOME OLD WIVES tales have been disproven by modern medicine: It’s a myth that cuts and scrapes should be uncovered in order to "breathe." After cleaning a wound with soap and water, apply an antibiotic ointment, and cover with a bandage.

FEED A COLD, starve a fever is false. When you catch a cold you cannot sweat it out, drown it, starve it, or take medication to get rid of it. Antibiotics have no effect on colds. It usually takes at least 7-14 days to alleviate the condition, with or without medication.

CRACKING YOUR KNUCKLES will not cause arthritis. Some people think the sound is the grinding of cartilage or bone. Actually it’s air bubbles popping in the synovial fluid of your joints. USA TODAY

A DRINK A DAY might ward off dementia, Alzheimer’s. Research already has indicated that alcohol, in modest amounts, could help stave off heart disease. A new study suggests that moderate drinking also might ward off brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s which afflicts 4 million people in the USA. Ibid

I DON’T WANT TO ACHIEVE immortality through my work…. I want to achieve it through not dying. Woody Allen