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Dude, Where's My Laptop?

We all know the airport security drill: Shoes off, laptop into a bin, and then watch your belongings roll along the conveyor belt as you pass through security.

It's easy to lose track of your stuff as the TSA people watch your every move.

According to a study by the Ponemon Institute, every week, more than 10,000 laptops are reported lost at the 36 largest airports in the US alone. What's worse is that 65 percent of the lost computers are not reclaimed.

The problem is pretty bad at smaller US airports too. The study reports that 2,000 laptops are lost in those airports, with almost 70 percent remaining unclaimed. The reason for the high number of unclaimed computers: 77 percent of people surveyed believed they had "no hope" of recovering a lost computer at the airport.

If the number of unclaimed computers is truly this high, more than 400,000 laptops are unclaimed every year. What the heck are airport managers doing with all of those laptops?

The reminder from the study is to protect your laptop when traveling. Keep your eyes open and don't get distracted by the security screening process.

Stop Airline Colds

If you think you caught your last cold on an airplane, it turns out you could be right.

According to a study in the Journal of Environmental Health Research, you may be 100 times more likely to catch a cold on a plane than you are in your everyday activities.

Among the many ways that people get colds while flying, the study zeroed in on the extremely low cabin humidity of most airplanes. That's because low humidity compromises the body's first line of defense against harmful germs and bacteria.

You can protect yourself against airline bugs by staying hydrated, keeping your hands clean, gargling with disinfectant mouthwash during a flight, and taking a multivitamin on a regular basis.

It all sounds like advice you'd get from your mother. But following that advice just may help you fight off a vicious head cold or a nasty flu bug.