Nothing To Sneeze At

The other day, I was studying with one of my friends, when I had one of those sneezes that dangles on the tip of your nose. You know the feeling, where you have to sneeze, but you can't get it out. When I told this to my friend, he immediately said "Look at a bright light, it will make you sneeze." Well, instead of looking at a bright light, I looked at him like he had worms crawling out his ears. What the hell is he talking about? This guy is a med student, he couldn't have just said something that ridiculous. "No, it works, trust me, try it." Even though I'm convinced that my friend is insane, I indulge him and put my face right up next to a light bulb. And guess what? Not a damn thing happened.

Then yesterday, as Sharon and I were walking out of a store and into the sun, she suddenly sneezes three times in a row. I ask if she's okay, and she replies"Yeah, that happens when you suddenly walk into a bright light." Okay, I married a crazy person. I didn't sneeze, and I saw the same light she did. But as we walk towards the car, I hear another person behind me sneeze. Is the whole world insane? When I get home, I do a PubMed search for "sneeze light." And guess what? It's a real thing. It's called the Photic Sneeze Reflex. There is no known mechanism for the reflex, but it is an actual reflex. I read other articles and find that it is genetic, following autosomal dominant inheritance. That explains why staring into the light had no effect on me, but forced Sharon to sneeze.

So why am I writing about this? Because this is what it means to be a skeptic. I hear something which seems like bullshit. Then an independent source confirms the bullshit. Then I do a search of the literature and find information that both supports the claim and accounts for my lack of personal experience. I then modify my original position of "my wife and friend are insane" to "my wife and friend have defective gene pools." This is how I approach life. When I hear about medical benefits of echinacea or statistics on health care spouted by politicians, I research it and learn the truth. The idea that someone would take at face value claims made by SCAMers and politicians is completely foreign to me. But I guess that's how these people get their power.

References:

1. Beckman L, Nordenson I. "Individual differences with respect to the sneezing reflex: an inherited physiological trait in man?" Hum Hered. 1983, 33(6):390-1
2. Peroutka SJ, Peroutka LA. "Autosomal dominant transmission of the 'photic sneeze reflex.'" N Engl J Med. Mar 1 1984, 310(9):599-600
3. "Solar Sneeze Reflex." W J Med. 1987, 146(5):20