Explainers for the things nobody taught you at school and even parents don't always know: how a cold spreads and why it lasts a week, what a painkiller actually does, when leftovers become unsafe, what the humidity meter is telling you. Each page gives the short answer, the mechanism in plain words, what to do, the exceptions, and the sources — so you understand it once and use it for years.
A child's dose of paracetamol or ibuprofen comes from weight or age and from the strength on this bottle, one drug at a time, and the tables differ between the UK, the US and Russia.
The line that matters on a medicine box is the active ingredient and its amount, because two brands are often one substance and the daily limit applies to the sum.
Fever, aches and a running nose are the immune response at work, and yellow or green mucus is a normal phase of a cold rather than a sign of bacteria.
A cold passes on its own, so home measures make the days easier rather than shorter; a doctor is needed if breathing is hard or things get worse after getting better.
An illness that ends on its own makes almost any remedy look effective; recovery, regression to the mean and placebo feel identical from the inside, and only a control group tells them apart.
Several colds a year are normal because immune memory is virus-specific; what deserves a doctor's attention is severe, unusually stubborn or unusually frequent serious infections.
Colds, flu, and COVID look alike, and a test earns its place when it can change treatment; with severe symptoms or in a risk group, care does not wait for the result.
Popular cold remedies have modest evidence at best and often none at all; a cold ends on its own, and warning signs need a doctor rather than a supplement.
Colds travel by droplets, by indoor air and by hands, and a person is contagious before feeling sick; cold weather alone infects nobody.
When someone at home is ill, cleaner air, hand washing, distance and masks lower the risk for everyone else, and being exposed is still not the same as being infected.
A percentage without its starting point does not tell you how many people are affected. Turn it into "out of a thousand", over a stated period, before deciding how worried to be.
Sit up, lean forward and pinch the soft part of your nose without letting go; heavy bleeding that won't stop, a nosebleed after a blow to the head or while on blood thinners needs medical help.
A cold is a viral infection that clears on its own and antibiotics do not treat it; a doctor is needed for trouble breathing, for getting worse after getting better, and for a fever that will not settle.
Cloud sync copies every change to all your devices — including deletions and damaged files. The trash and version history only buy you time; a real backup is a separate copy your everyday changes can't overwrite, and one you have tried restoring.
Wash the wound with soap and water straight away, then get it checked — whether rabies treatment is needed depends on the animal and the country, and it cannot wait for symptoms. A snake bite needs an ambulance.
Protect the head, don't hold them down or put anything in their mouth, and time it. When it stops, check breathing: normal — roll them on their side; not normal — call an ambulance and start CPR. A long or first seizure needs an ambulance.
From another device, mark the phone as lost, have your carrier block the SIM, secure your main email and bank, and report the theft. Erase only as a deliberate choice — on Android it ends tracking — and never chase the thief yourself.
Before signing, find the sum insured, the exclusions, the deductible, the limits and your own duties in the policy; if you change your mind, many policies allow a short window to cancel.
