"

sknaht

Sorry about being so backward in my thanks, but I only just discovered your  get-well wishes, which made me laugh — or at least made me try to laugh. ;)  I seem to have misplaced my lungs, although I'm sure they'll turn up somewhere; I've resorted to buccal breathing, in respectful and appreciative solidarity with our amphibian friends ;)

One thing occurred to me in my languid repose: we should discuss the age dependence of the immune system.  You know, how young toddlers seem to have super-charged immune systems (important for surviving day-care) whereas older people get sick more readily?  One cute factoid I gleaned from a dentist was that older people get a lot more cavities because they have dry mouths; producing less saliva means fewer protective peptides and they suck on sweet lozenges to wet their whistles, providing a nice diet of pure sucrose for their unwelcome guests.  Anyway, speaking more generally, I think that lay readers would be really interested in the whole age-dependence thing, as it touches all their lives.  Maybe someone there can look into it?  I'll try to tackle the hormonal thing.

Slinking back to bed, 

P.S. For someone with ""very poor memory"", you're remarkably good at remembering our MCB votes. ;) (Note to self: recalibrate scale for Tim's self-assessments.)  Thanks muchly for your own vote of confidence, and I'll be happy to relieve you of the more mundane tasks, once I get well again.  Hopefully,  will recover before I do!"