Are your kitchen countertops killing you? Stop laughing -- I'm being serious here. There might be a very real and potentially deadly source of radioactive gas in your home--your granite countertops. According to this article from the New York Times, granite countertops can contain high levels of Uranium, which is radioactive in itself, and when it decays, it releases radon, a radioactive gas. If that's not frightening enough, consider this: radon can cause lung cancer.

Not all granite countertops are dangerous, but have the potential to be. What can you do to protect yourself? Test the merchandise before you buy it by hiring a certified technician to measure your radiation levels or picking up a DIY tester from the Environmental Protection Agency.

(Via Crabby McSlacker)

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Did you know that falls are the top cause of injury and death for the elderly in the United States? According to the American Geriatric Society, that is, in fact, the case. What might surprise you even more is that most of these falls occur in the home.

Fortunately, there are many steps you can take to protect yourself or a loved one from taking a dangerous spill. Because every home is different, it's a good idea to take a walk through the home in question with the specific purpose of checking for possible dangers.

Click through the gallery to see the seven tips given by the American Geriatric Society, and feel free to leave a comment if you have other suggestions!

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How healthy is your work environment? We all face challenges, for some it's an office full of candy dishes and donuts and for others it's about physical danger and hardhats are involved. There are different kinds of health hazards, but for the purposes of finding out which jobs were the unhealthiest the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently did a survey where they tracked how often employees in different professions sustained on-the-job injuries that caused them to miss at least one day of work.

The results may surprise you.

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In my family it's well known that my dad has a great "sniffer." He detests perfume so, of course, when I was in high school I wanted to wear perfume terribly! I remember buying some with a subtle scent, then putting on the tiniest bit imaginable while I was up in my bedroom. My father, from downstairs, shouted up to me to "wipe that stuff off!" It was amazing. While I don't think many people have a sense of smell quite as attuned as my dad's, it turns out that most of us can be trained to sense danger through our sense of smell.

Scientists have determined that the human sense of smell can be trained to detect even subtle changes in smells associated with danger. Study volunteers were exposed to two grassy odors and none could differentiate between the smells. The volunteers were then given a mild shock during one of of the smells; after being given the shock they were all able to tell the difference between the two odors. MRI brain scans taken before and after shocks were administered showed a change in the olfactory cortex after the shocks.

It's official... the nose knows!

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Did you know that the treadmill is one of the most dangerous things you could have in your home? Most folks don't. We all know to keep kids away from electrical outlets, stoves and irons, and accordingly many of us "babyproof" based on these concerns. I'm always amazed at how many people think it's fun to let their kids try out the old treadmill. It's not fun. In fact it's incredibly dangerous.

Watching Mommy and Daddy scooting along on the treadmill looks like the'ye riding on a big toy to a kid, and that moving belt can seem wildly intriguing. That's why many hospitals end up performing skin grafts on children. Because the curious child reached out to touch that cool belt, even slow moving ones ... and had the skin burned right off their little hands. Long ago I saw an episode of Oprah where a featured child had even lost fingers touching a treadmill. Scary right?

Now think about the five year old who's convinced his father to let him just 'try it'. Far too young to be able to handle such a powerful machine, the speed goes too high or the child simply loses his balance and gets launched off the treadmill landing on his head. Head trauma is the second most common injury seen in the E.R. from treadmills next to hand injuries.

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It's a brand new year and many of us have set brand new resolutions. Getting out and exercising more could be at the top of many people's list for 2007. While New Years gym-goers are sure to renew those ancient memberships, others may set their sights on taking regular jogs around their neighborhood or park. But the weather is still cold so running outside is something that requires a certain degree of safety.

A humorous take on runner's safety in the cold is best exemplified by Doctor Melvin Hershkowitz. In a funny third-person tone, he wrote an autobiographical account of how taking a jog in freezing temperatures rendered the man's genital glans "frigid, red, and anesthetic to light touch." Don't worry, he recovered.

But the moral of the story stands: boxers won't protect you all by themselves. Another concern the author tackles is frozen lungs. Interestingly enough, this is nothing more than a common myth as many doctors assure the only way this symptom can occur is if the runner is dead. Although the cold, dry atmosphere can induce "runner's asthma," our bodies are well-adapted and warm the air going into the lungs. So is running in the cold dangerous? Only if you don't bundle up properly (or don breezy underwear).

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