My husband says he can remember things - such as wartime bombings - that happened before he was two years old. That's difficult to believe. My earliest memories are from when I was about five.

Some years ago, experts on memory told me that we don't really have a full memory before our second birthday. Adults who say they can remember things from their infancy are either mistaken or have been prompted by their parents, years later. It seems that a six-month-old can keep a memory for only 24 hours. At nine months a baby can keep a memory 'alive' for a month, and by 21 months, toddlers can remember what happened four months before. It is not until the age of two and beyond that memories begin to 'stick'. (Don't ask me how the researchers worked all this out.) Most adults are like you, whose earliest memories derive from their first year at school.

Is there a reliable way of preventing athlete's foot from recurring? I'm always getting it and I don't want to continue using antifungal powders.

You could try the 'cure' offered by a doctor colleague of mine. He found that his fungal infection always started between his third and fourth toes, which he put down to the fact that there is no gap between them, as there is between his other toes. This reduces evaporation of sweat from the area and creates a warm, moist site that the fungus prefers. So he puts a cotton-wool ball or piece of gauze between those toes, to keep the skin dry. Since he has been doing this, he has had no recurrence of athlete's foot.

Has any scientific evidence been found to prove that wearing perfume makes a woman more attractive to men?

Some years ago, Chicago researchers reported that men who smell floral perfume on a woman believe her to be nearly a stone lighter than she is. So, ladies, if you want to appear slimmer than you are to your men friends, you don't have to lose weight, just choose the right perfume. There are drawbacks, though. One is that cigarette smoke and food-related smells neutralise the effect of the perfume. Another is that non-floral perfumes don't have the same effect. A third is that you can't fool other women: they don't get the 'slimmer' message from your perfume.

Do you have a question for Dr Smith? Email doctordoctor@theguardian.com