Ireland's smoking ban has improved not only the air in pubs, but also the music played there.

While some people still dispute the effects of second-hand smoke on people's lungs, a team of Dublin doctors discovered that it definitely damages accordions, bagpipes, concertinas and other instruments favoured by Irish pub musicians. Particulates accumulating on the instruments' reeds can even change their pitch.

Instrument repairers told the researchers that this kind of damage has dropped sharply since the ban was implemented three years ago.

One repair person told the physicians he was able to identify the key most used by a musician from the distribution of deposits on the reeds.

The findings were published in the British Journal of Medicine.

Swell gel

Many of the homes destroyed by the recent California wildfires could have been saved if they had been covered with a fire-retardant gel.

The super-absorbent polymer can hold many times its weight in water and clings to vertical surfaces, including glass. The gel is mixed with water and sprayed on.

Firefighters say it lasts much longer than fire-retardant foam and can withstand direct flames.

"This stuff really works," retired California fire boss Ed Waggoner told The Associated Press. "We're talking about a water bubble that you put on your house two or three hours before the fire gets there, and it'll save it."

A few hundred dollars' worth is enough to protect one house. Afterward, the biodegradable gel can be removed with a hose or pressure washer.

Liberty's dangers

The Statue of Liberty's crown, closed since the Sept. 11 attacks, will remain that way.

"Our primary concerns about public access to the ... crown are safety and health concerns, not terrorism," Daniel Wenk, deputy director of the National Park Service, told a congressional hearing.

A fire, for instance, could easily lead to catastrophic loss of life.

The very narrow spiral staircase to the crown does not meet any fire or building codes, the New York Times reports. The 12-storey stairs were intended for periodic use by maintenance workers, Wenk said, not heavy, daily use by the public.

Wenk said the creator of the statue, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, "never intended or designed the Statue of Liberty as something to enter or climb."

Liberty Island, where the statue has stood since 1886, was closed after Sept. 11, 2001, and reopened in August 2004 after $20 million was spent improving fire safety, security and evacuation routes.

Smoke and mirrors

Australian researchers say smoking might make you look thinner, but it's because you're losing muscle, not fat.

At least, that's what happened when mice were exposed to cigarette smoke in a study by scientists at two universities.

The smoking mice ate 23 per cent less than the others in the experiment, but their fat mass stayed the same. What's more, fat started accumulating around their internal organs, an unhealthy development indeed.

"We have a real problem with a lot of young girls taking up smoking specifically because they think it can control their weight, and this study indicates that it doesn't," Margaret Morris of the University of New South Wales told the Melbourne Age.

A word in your ear

Snus, pronounced "snoos," is a kind of smokeless tobacco new to the North American market. It comes as a moist powder, which is wadded between the lips and the gums, where it dissolves. Snus is Swedish for snuff, a type of tobacco that is sniffed.

dhaggo@thespec.com