By Diane Mapes

They show up on your fingers, your face, your feet and even your family jewels. Every Halloween, they also tend to show up on your front porch, as part of a traditional witch costume.

Those bedeviling skin bumps known as warts have plagued human beings (not to mention pigs, horses and cows) for generations. In fact, the ancient Roman physician Celsus wrote about three different varieties of warts (including genital) in 25 AD. Blamed on everything from sea foam to frogs to masturbation, warts are actually caused by the human papillomavirus (or HPV) and the nongenital variety has been reported in up to 25% of children and young adults.

Transmitted from person to person, often through a break in the skin, warts can be picked up like any common virus, although many people have a natural immunity.

By Brian Alexander

We all get lost, but how many times have you been unable to locate the bathroom — in your own house?

Researchers at the University of British Columbia recently encountered a woman with a profound inability to orient herself. The 43-year-old has been unable to navigate the world by herself since she was 6 years old, although she seems to have no other mental impairments and no signs of brain injury.

Since her case was first reported about a month ago, about 60 other people who believe they have the same condition have contacted the researchers, says neurologist Giuseppe Iaria.

We’re not talking about losing the car in the mall parking lot, walking five blocks in the wrong direction after emerging from a subway, or common absent-mindedness like Einstein who was famous for having a poor sense of direction.

These directionally-challenged people have a developmental disorder where their brains can’t form a map of their environment, says Iaria.

By Diane Mapes

Most people have come to expect a certain amount of wonkiness during an election year, but last week’s vice presidential debate offered something new: winkiness.

With a half dozen blinks of her left eye, Sarah Palin raised eyebrows and rampant speculation, inspiring the launch of a new Web site — palinwink.com — and prompting the British newspaper The Guardian to dub the seemingly flirtatious phenomenon “Winkgate.”

But what exactly is a wink and what does it signify?

While blinking may be necessary for healthy eyes, winking is generally a deliberate expression of personality and is a learned behavior, like snapping your fingers, rolling your tongue or raising one eyebrow, says Dr. Roy S. Rubinfeld, an ophthalmologist in the Washington, D.C. area and clinical correspondent for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

“It’s normal for us to close our eyes, to blink; that’s a natural important element of eye health and is unconscious,” he says. “But winking is generally a conscious act, although there are medical reasons that cause people to wink or blink pathologically.”

By Mark Leyner and Dr. Billy Goldberg

Attention all campers! You no longer have to bother dipping your bunkmate’s hand in warm water in an attempt to make him pee in the bed. If you want to know how to terrorize that kid who picked on you on the kickball field, all you have to do is get inside his dreams. Get inside his dreams. Through his nose.

German researchers have found that sleepers exposed to an unpleasant smell will have negative dreams. The opposite is also true. When subjects were exposed to the smell of roses, their dreams were predominantly positive. These olfactory observers used rotten eggs in their study, but we are sure that a stinky gym sock, left perched on the pillow of your enemy, would work just as well. While we’re fairly certain that the researchers didn’t plan to have their findings used in this manner, there are always unintended (and sometimes dastardly) consequences of scientific breakthroughs.