retrospectacle

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January 9, 2008
Yes its plague week, and yes I promised to post something today on the topic, but ironically (and inconveniently) I'm not feeling well. (Oooohh, maybe its Y. pestis? Maybe I should coat myself in mercury and hop in the oven...) So, I owe an extra post tomorrow on Plaguey goodness. In the meantime…
January 9, 2008
A friend of mine is visting a relative in Abu Dhabi and sent me this priceless screen shot, which he got when he was trying to access YouTube.
January 8, 2008
This video is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen on YouTube. It shows the oh-so-careful surgical removal of an egg-sized cyst (intact) from a person's brain. The cyst is a hydatid cyst, which is the result of a parasitic infection by tapeworm larvae(Echinococcus). Generally speaking, it…
January 8, 2008
This week is plague week at Retrospectacle, and every day I will be posting something about the Black Plague. Now that you've read my introduction to the Black Plague replete with its cause (both real and imagined), I wanted to write a bit about what 'Plague doctors' in 16th century Europe wore in…
January 7, 2008
I think I might have been quoted in today's Chronicle of Higher Education journal, except I can't find out since it requires a subscription (which U of M doesn't have.) Well humbug. From what I could tell from the title, the article is about drugs which enhance cognition, which I discussed 2 weeks…
January 7, 2008
True to form, OmniBrain has posted an informative video about the "ice cream headache" also known as "Iceberger's syndrome." This is the nominally painful headache one experiences after eating too much of something extremely cold. While no "silent killer," as the video jokingly claims, "brain…
January 7, 2008
This week is plague week at Retrospectacle, and every day I will be posting something about the Black Plague. The Black Plague was responsible for wiping out 1/3 of the population of Europe during the 1300s, and is considered one of the worst (is not THE worst) pandemic in recorded history. The…
January 6, 2008
Trepanation is a procedure where a hole is drilled into the skull, exposing the dura mater and brain for either medical (releif of pressure) or mystical (supposed heightened consciousness)purposes. It is likely the oldest procedure in neurosurgery and has been practiced by many ancient peoples all…
January 5, 2008
It's an odd sort of entertainment: put two bugs in a glass aquarium and watch them fight to the death. Scorpions, tarantulas, huge wasps, mantis, centipedes, and other creepy crawlies are caught on film trying to defend themselves against their opponent. The fight is over when one bug is belly up…
January 4, 2008
Hear ye, hear ye! To all those curious about the mysteries of the Plague, next week I will be blogging something about the Plague every day. To get a whiff of where I'm going with this, check out my post Coffee as A Treatment for the Plague. If you've got anything you'd like researched, or…
January 4, 2008
Its been a while since I've posted some of my 'world-famous' (heh) LOLParrots. Pepper was squawkin' that I was neglecting his kin so here's my offering to appease him.
January 4, 2008
While this short YouTube clip is ostensibly a preview of a TV show about brain surgery and tumor removal, the clip itself had some amazing footage of conscious brain surgery that I hadn't seen before on the internet. There is a little blood, so if you are squeamish about blood and guts you may not…
January 3, 2008
What looks like a bevy of medieval torture tools is actually a early 19th century set of German neurosurgical tools. I think I would be terrified if a doctor walked into my room and opened that innocuous-looking velvet-lined case to reveal all those gleaming edges and tongs and probes, all meant…
January 3, 2008
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I spent with friends in Lansing, Michigan, but on the 28th I packed up my car, kissed Pepper goodbye, and headed to Lexington, KY to hang out with Steve of OmniBrain for a few days. His sister lives there, and they were nice enough to give me a post-holiday home as I…
January 2, 2008
On December 30, the New York Times Magazine ran a feature about the most important obituaries of 2007. It was gratifying, yet still sad, to see that a joint obituatry for Alex the parrot and Washoe the chimp was included in the list. Alex and Washoe ("the Communicators," as described by the NYT)…
January 2, 2008
Its great to come back from vacation with good news waiting for you. Usually I just come back to school (and my blog) to a build-up of spam, bills, and unwanted catalogs so it was quite a welcome surprise to be notified by Bora that a post of mine will be published in the up-coming book, Open…
December 27, 2007
From the time I was a little kid, the idea of writing the thank-you-note was engrained in me by my parents. When you got a birthday or Christmas present from family or a friend, or if someone did something particularly nice for you, you hand-write a thank you note and mail it to them. No matter if…
December 26, 2007
It has been suspected for some time that taking fish oil may reduce the risk of developing age-related Alzheimers disease. Fatty fish, like salmon, are rich in oils which contain omega-3 acids. Omega-3's cannot be manufactued by the body and must be acquired through diet or vitamins. New research…
December 20, 2007
Well tomorrow (edit: TODAY!) is my birthday! 28 years ago, tomorrow, I was born in Euliss TX. Man, I'm getting old! Well happy birfhday to me. If you have a favorite birthday LOLcat please leave it in the comments. :D
December 19, 2007
A commentary today in Nature, by Sahakian and Morein-Zamir, poses the question: if you could take a pill which enhanced attention and cognition with few or no side effects, would you? But I ask, why wouldn't you? Interest in potions and drugs which increase awareness and "brain power" has been…
December 18, 2007
In the movie The Princess Bride, the hero Wesley is attacked by fearsome Rodents Of Unusual Size (ROUS) in the fire swamp. Turns out, ROUS really exist! Example of a Princess-Bride-era ROUS Confirmed ROUS! A new species of rat, the size of a large cat, was confirmed during a scientific expedition…
December 17, 2007
Along with Shelley, I am a graduate student in the Neuroscience Program at UM. The last three years my labmates and I have made a trilogy of satirical neuroscience posters poking mild fun at the mystical art of brain science. Shelley has kindly invited me to write on said trilogy. Also in any spare…
December 16, 2007
Page 3.14 asks, in a poll which you should all go participate in, which language should ScienceBlogs branch into next? I voted that the next ScienceBlogs should be in Chinese, due to their up-and-coming science programs as well as the massive amounts of people who could stand to benefit from…
December 16, 2007
People have always lost their hearing with age, but before there were hearing aids and cochlear implants, there were ear trumpets. And ear trumpet is pretty much exactly what it sounds like (a cone whose small end fits in the ear canal) and serves to better collect and amplify sound into the ear. A…
December 15, 2007
Over at Pharyngula, Mark Antimony posted this: A friend of mine, who's name won't be mentioned, blacked out in class the other day. Since then, he's been on a seizure drug. The drug is giving a very weird side effect. It must be affecting his auditory cortex, because he is hearing all audio roughly…
December 12, 2007
Sorry for the paucity of posts this week, folks. Its been a crazy week, with school winding down and lots to get done. Things will be getting back to normal very soon, and I'll get back to writing here.
December 9, 2007
I went to go see the movie the Golden Compass last night with a few friends, and was phenomenally impressed by it at every level. As someone who has not read the books (The Golden Compass was based on the book 'Northern Lights', renamed 'The Golden Compass' in America) I don't have a basis to…
December 8, 2007
No one could deny that Oktoberfest in Munich would be a roaring good time. However, it seems that a few in attendance occasionally have *too* good of a time and might end up in the emergency room. Now usually, those who do so likely drank too much beer, or fell down and broke an arm, etc. You know…
December 7, 2007
As an admitted Sephora junkie, I've come across a lot of caffeine-laced cremes for sale that I thought were a rather ridiculous waste of money. A few examples are: - Bliss Fat Girl Slim and LoveHandler - Lancome High Resolution Eye Creme - Zirh Aftershave Creme - Ren Leg Gel But does infusing…
December 6, 2007
Some good news for the Florida manatee: We just learned today that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) deferred the manatee's status change from Endangered to Threatened. They also directed their staff to undertake a review of the flawed state classification system for ALL…