Here's some interesting news I learned from The Beauty Brains: Dirty hair might save the environment. Ok, maybe that's stretching it a bit, but dirty hair is at least good for the environment because it absorbs ozone from the air. In fact, dirty hair absorbs seven times as much ozone as clean hair does. And according to scientists, this can help cut the amount of harmful ozone floating around your head. Surprising? I think so.

But, as the brains are quick to point out, this isn't going to save the world or anything. In fact, the ozone in the air can interact with oil in dirty hair to produce other harmful chemicals. Still, washing your hair too often will waste water. Instead? Try to find a balance. Or, just shave your head.

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When I learn of a new cancer diagnosis -- my own or someone else's -- it makes me start contemplating life. I admit the thought of death does surface somewhere in my mind but life -- how to approach it, how to best live it, how to appreciate it -- is what mostly consumes my thoughts. That's what's happening now, now that I've heard actor Patrick Swayze has been diagnosed with one of the deadliest forms of the disease: Pancreatic cancer.

The media may want us to believe death is imminent for Swayze -- they give him just weeks to live -- but his doctors tell us otherwise. They say the Dirty Dancing star is receiving aggressive treatment, that he's pressing forward with projects, that he has a limited amount of disease in his body, that his life is not in fact over.

Swayze, 55, may be no closer to death than any one of us who might possibly fall victim to a car accident or a medical trauma. So I say he should make the most of his life, despite -- or in spite of -- his cancer diagnosis. I think you should make the most of yours too. I know I plan to.

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Regular exposure to bacteria and viruses is known to exercise our immune systems, as those that always protect themselves may not have the internal tools to fight something off when it comes.

When it comes to those nasty allergies, the same remains true. Recent research states that having too clean of an environment can be responsible for increasing allergy amounts in kids.

If, in fact, we are all living in cleaner places than we did in the past, the bodies of children are not receiving the necessary "workout" when it comes to fighting off the issues caused by allergens. Therefore, when those allergens cause problems, they are quite a bit more pronounced than with kids in the recent past, concluded the research.

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If you drive a car, and most of us do (except maybe you New Yorkers out there), you probably spend a great many waking hours in that tiny space traveling to and from all kinds of places. Your car really is a big part of your life -- some of us even name our cars like they're people, or pets, or something.

But a good question to ask yourself next time you're getting comfortable in that cushy seat is what kind of germs are lurking nearby? And how many are there? More than you think, I'd be willing to bet.

What area is the worst? Obviously, anywhere you've ever spilled food and not cleaned and sanitized properly ranks #1. Some other places, though, surprised me a little. Like the dashboard -- the dust on the dashboard -- harbors a LOT of bacteria. And some places you might think would be full of germs, like the radio knob or door locks, are actually some of the cleanest on the list.

I guess I need to make another entry on the "Spring Cleaning" to do list.

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What you aren't aware of can't hurt you, right? We wish. Here is something that doesn't ring a bell every time we go to pick up our groceries: the handles of shopping carts are literally crawling with disgusting bacteria and germs. Okay, so the fear of using such a common item could border on obsessive compulsive, but that isn't stopping the state of Arkansas from passing legislation encouraging businesses to clean up those buggies.

How is this for following up with your constituency: legislator Fred Allen from Little Rock put the "Arkansas Health-Conscious Shopper Program" bill into action after hearing from many older women during his campaigning last fall. They voiced concerns over not wanting to go shopping due to the dirty nature of grocery carts. Mr. Allen thought they were on to something so he pitched the legislation and even cited a University of Arizona study which uncovered the truth about the matter.

It turns out that shopping cart handles are one of the dirtiest public surfaces you can touch, right next to public door handles and vending machines. Makes you think twice before putting your child in the front seat of one, doesn't it? Don't worry though, as germy as they might appear you would be hard-pressed to find medical cases where someone died from picking up their weekly shopping list.

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