Newswise — Naughty or nice? The age-old debate may still be raging in households around the world, but there was nothing but kudos for the members of the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Santa Institute during their annual press conference.
Before an enthusiastic audience of five-year-old guests from French Elementary School and the Covenant Presbyterian Preschool, members of the Santa Institute - Dr. Jim Hutchins, Dr. Rebecca Waterer, Dr. David Dzielak and Dr. Andrew Grady - presented their most recent discoveries regarding the magic of Santa's story.
The Santa Institute strives to "study" many of the mysteries that have baffled children and adults for generations. Hutchins, UMC's vice chancellor for faculty development and a professor of anatomy, and his panel of experts take questions submitted by the public and present their findings at the annual Santa Institute press conference.
The members of the team are always looking for new questions and concerns. They encourage girls and boys of all ages to submit questions at their special Web site (http://www.umc.edu/santa/). The committee will share its thoughts with those submitting good-hearted questions and make a collection of inquiries for next year's Santa Institute presentation. Some lucky submitters will get a response from Santa himself.
While visiting the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children on an advanced scouting trip late last week, Santa recorded a special message for those in attendance at this year's Santa Institute. The jolly old elf offered his congratulations and good luck to the members of the Santa Institute and urged everyone to be on their best behavior until Christmas and beyond.
The committee, Hutchins said, has worked feverishly this year, and the members may have discovered one of the keys to Santa's magic. "We obtained an image of Santa's head recently, and we've determined that he has an additional lobe in his brain. It may be the key to most of his supernatural abilities. This extra lobe of the brain allows Santa to know, for instance, when you've been sleeping or when you're awake," explained Hutchins. "We also think that it may help him know when you've been bad or good, so it's the Institute's recommendation that all children be good, for goodness sake."
Dr. Andrew Grady, UMC's director of laboratory animal facilities, is the Santa Institute's on-call veterinarian in case of an accident or injury involving the reindeer. Although Santa and his reindeer crew have not needed his services for a number of years, Grady is prepared to spring into action if any of Santa's reindeer are injured during their visits to Mississippi homes. Grady has spent the majority of his Santa Institute research time exploring the possible ways in which reindeer can fly.
"We all know that Santa's magic probably has the greatest effect on their flying abilities, but we are looking into the possibilities that reindeer may have hollow bones and supernatural speed to help them fly," Grady said.
Dr. David Dzielak, UMC's associate vice chancellor for research, has helped create the SCET (Santa Claus emission tomography) scanner to monitor Santa's brain activity. "It's obvious, by looking at the scans, that different portions of Santa's brain respond to those who have been naughty and those who have been nice. And the whole brain practically lights up when it comes to the snacks boys and girls leave behind. He's quite fond of cookies and milk, but doesn't like fruitcake very much."
On the subject of Santa snacks, Dr. Rebecca Waterer, UMC's director of employee and student health and associate professor of medicine, studies Santa's eating habits. Waterer explained, "We've done an extensive study, with the help of children throughout the country. With the evidence presented, we've determined that Santa will eat just about anything, except fruitcakes. He hardly touched those."
Waterer encourages boys and girls to limit the number of cookies left for Santa and to consider healthy alternatives like carrots and raisins. "We need to help him watch his weight and stay healthy if we want him to be around forever," she said.
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