Are there living things that can survive without oxygen?

Original Yahoo! answer question: Is there any living thing that can survive without oxygen?

Funny Answer:  Yes, my mother -in-law. No matter how much I try to deprive her from oxygen by strangulating her she still keeps on telling my wife that she could have done better than me. I suspect that if all the oxygen of the world would disappear she would still survive.

Serious Answer: Actually yes, there is a class of bacteria that is called anaerobic bacteria that can't live in the presence of oxygen, so obviously they can survive without oxygen. When life initially developed on earth there was actually no oxygen in the atmosphere, the oxygen that now exists is a by-product of the metabolism of the first living organisms. Now some examples of such a metabolism can still be seen in some archaebacteria.

What causes hiccups?

Original Yahoo! answer question: Why do hiccups happen?

Funny Answer: Hiccups are a way for your body to express its dissatisfaction with your person by annoying you as much as possible. Yes, your body actually reached the point where it considers it better to embarrass you socially and prevent you from sleeping, eating and drinking comfortably than to let you continue to live as you do now. If a hiccup causes you to spill while drinking your body considers it a bonus. The bonus is double if the spilled liquid was colored and you made ugly stains on your clothes. The bonus is triple if this happened in public and other people are laughing at you. Yes, your body can be a bastard sometimes.

Serious Answer: Actually hiccups are an uncontrollable movement of the diaphragm muscle (no, nothing to do with the birth control diaphragm). The causes of the hiccups can be multiple. It is usually annoying but benign unless it goes on for several hours, at which point the hiccups can cause pain / damage the muscle. It is extremely rare that hiccups causes any damage however.