Eek, sorry, I kinda disappeared for a few days. There was really good powder, what can I say?

I can at least draw a tenuous connection between driving up to the mountains and today's blog topic! If you've ever tried to change altitude with a cold, you know how much trouble your sinuses can cause. These pockets of air in our heads have to equalize with the air pressure outside our heads, or else: PAIN.

Most of us just stick it out or pop some pseudoephedrine, but some people who suffer from recurring sinus infections require surgery to fix the condition. Unfortunately, the cure can be worse than the disease, in cases where surgery scars cause more sinus blockage and infections.

Squid to the rescue!

Sure it's a non sequitor, but it could be a sinus saver. A few years ago, the University of Adelaide in Australia, the University of Otago in New Zealand, and a private company with the fabulous name Robinson Squidgel Ltd. created a medical gel out of--yep, squid chitin. It was brought to my attention again recently because the American company Medtronic just bought the squid gel technology.

Chitin is the building material for all the hard parts of a squid's body: its beak, its pen, and its sucker rings (for species that have them). But chitin is not unique to squid--it's actually more famous for forming the exoskeletons of insects, and it's also found in a number of other invertebrates. I think of it as the invertebrate's keratin.

Chitin is so widespread and awesome, in fact, that there is a European Chitin Society dedicated to its study. Rad.