Yellow Fluff

I have been subscribed to RadioLab for a couple of weeks now, but have never really had the chance to really listen to it. (I also am developing a backlog of This American Life episodes, but let’s not talk about this…) So, this morning, I’ve finally gotten around to listen to the episode Yellow Fluff & Other Curious Encounters (aired: 01/12/08) – and it is amazing!

Me = excited.

Posted via web from Bearded Dave

Filed under: Blogging, Science, Technology , discovery, Documentary, exciting, podcast, posterous post, Radiolab, Science

The Pitfalls of Cryonics

While drinking coffee this morning I read the current issue of WIRED and came across their advice column. Usually I don’t read advice columns, but the one in WIRED is kinda interesting and this one is just to good not to be shared. Somebody wrote that their mother had just passed away and they were wondering what to do with their father, who had died a couple of years before and, thanks to his wife’s belief in cryonics, had is head cut off and stored at a cryogenics facility. Here’s a snip of the answer:

Let’s first consider why Ma put Pa on ice. Was it because she genuinely believed that a cure for death (and decapitation) was imminent and that the lovebirds would someday be reunited? That seems improbable, because she didn’t arrange for her own remains to be frozen (or “vitrified,” in cryonics industry lingo). The more plausible explanation is that your mother never made it through the five stages of grief. Maybe she got stuck on bargaining, two steps away from acceptance. Arranging for the “neuropreservation” of her husband—a process that costs $80,000 and up—probably helped her evade the terrible finality of her beloved’s death.(via Mr. Know-It-All : WIRED)

This makes a good point. Even more so as I thought that cryogenics were, well, sooo 1990s (see if you can find the documentary Synthetic Pleasures (NYT review) somewhere. It’s a great trip down memory lane. Plus: it’s very interesting to see what counted as cutting edge 14 years ago).

Funnily enough, just a couple of weeks ago a friend pointed me towards a great episode of This American Life (which I’m recently becamse addicted to, by the way) called “Mistakes were Made“, which deals with cryonics and the shady characters involved in the trade of freezing humans. It’s a great listen, if you have the time, give it a go.

Filed under: History, Science, Technology , advice columns, complications, cryonics, dilemmata, freezing, This American Life

Brainfreeze, Bleeding Heart Liberals, and James Nachtwey’s Wish

Hello? Did I miss something? Last time I looked it was summer. Hot. Now, all of a sudden I’m freezing my ass off. Whatever happened to fall? I always thought Global Warming would do just that: warm stuff up! Well anyway…

The Big Picture is an amazing website and its series of the Earth from Above photos, which are stunningly beautiful, the website is worth checking out not only for landscape photography, but also high-quality photojournalism. Take for example the excerpt of a longer series from James Nachtwey, recent winner of the TED Prize last year (see Boing Boing post and Nachtwey’s Wish), on XDR-TB. Now, XCR-TB ranks somewhat high in the lameness-scale, because it is “eXtremely Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis,” meaning that this one is a keeper. Watch the video and get involved.

On other fronts, being a creature of habit, the fact that the Presidential Debate took place yesterday and NOT tomorrow completely passed my radar. I only caught the last few minutes. However, I do have piece of advice – Obama a domestic terrorist? Give me a fucking break. This recent comment by Keith Olbermann that I posted on my tumblr-blog hits the nail on the head. Kind of. You know, I don’t understand what’s wrong with the Democrats. This is first class mud served on a silver platter, so why the hell do you not grab a handful (or ten) and start slinging?! This is not the time to chuckle – take off the gloves and hit back! I mean, really.

Filed under: Documentary, News & Culture Flash, Photography, Science , democrats, freezing, james nachtwey, olbermann, Palin, Photography, photojournalism, ted prize, tuberculosis, xdr-tb

Here, have some MRSA with your gout!

Jesus Christ, it’s so hot here that I if I should die I’d shrivel up within a day so the people who’ll find me will think that I’ve been dead for almost 100 years. I mean, seriously. I want a more temperate climate! I also should add that I’ve had a horrible day today involving one gigantic deathmarch errand throughout the entire down for one fucking stamp on a documents for which I had to cough up $100!

And to round this day up, I’ve just learned that “MRSA infections are sweeping the nation.” What the fuck? I’ve never heard of this but the fact that this came up during a conversation about leprosy should’ve make me afraid. A little reminder, leprosy makes you look like that guy. Doesn’t really make you suitable dating material, let me tell you. Now, MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and

[t]he initial presentation of MRSA is small red bumps that resemble pimples, spider bites, or boils that may be accompanied by fever and occasionally rashes. Within a few days the bumps become larger, painful and eventually open into deep, pus-filled boils.

That’s not all, because apparently it can also spread to your organs and fuck them up. Oh, and you’ll also get abcesses. Yum! And the free bonus is exactly this – it’s free! It’s totally contagious and you can get it basically everywhere. I just wonder, as the Americans are hand-sanitizing the shit out of things and the Germans don’t, why I haven’t heard about this being a problem in Germany. That’s a serious question. Maybe the germs aren’t allowed to enter the Fatherland? Maybe the autorities are keeping a lid on it? Who knows. You know, thinking about diseases it’s a miracle that we make it through life in one piece! Think about  gout, for example, which

is characterized by excruciating, sudden, unexpected, burning pain, as well as swelling, redness, warmth, and stiffness in the affected joint. This occurs commonly in men in their toes but can appear in other parts of the body and affects women as well. Low-grade fever may also be present. The patient usually suffers from two sources of pain. The crystals inside the joint cause intense pain whenever the affected area is moved. The inflammation of the tissues around the joint also causes the skin to be swollen, tender and sore if it is even slightly touched. For example, a blanket or even the lightest sheet draping over the affected area could cause extreme pain.

It sits in the big toe. And sucks, big time, as expressed by James Gilray in this little drawing. It has something to do with your diet, or more specifically your uric acid intake. Which is apparently in most things that are yummy (well, except the offal).

So yeah, I guess being able to walk all the way through town with both big toes intact is not such a bad thing, if you look at it from this perspective. However, that doesn’t make me feel less grumpy about the missed Canning Workshop I wanted to attend and whose venue had been changed 2h before it was supposed to start. I don’t know about you people, but I check my mail in the morning and then I leave the house and might not be able to check it again come evening.

Fuckers.

Filed under: Bizarre-O-Rama, Life, Science , cartoon, disease, gout, leprosy, MRSA, pain

Medical Instruments and Trepanation.

I started writing this post quite a while ago, but only got around finishing it now. io9 is not new anymore, of course, but that doesn’t put an end to its awesomeness. 

If I could choose again, I’d definitely go and study history of medicine. Take this column on the new and absolutely awesome io9 website, called titled Control Hammer (actually, the column is called Entropist and the column title is Control Hammer…but anyway, both are fine). It’s about the Museum of Psychological Instruments in Toronto. The exhibits are almost indescribable, like alien probes or props from a Cronenberg movie. These weird tools were considered

to be a vital part of “experimental psychology,” a new field whose central proposition was that psychology itself could be measured and mapped; even the most subtle reactions, on the level of conscious thought and unconscious reflex, could be predicted and repeated elsewhere, these experimentalists believed, under laboratory circumstances.

The column is worth reading and do bookmark io9 – you won’t regret it.

ONWARDS! Another great place to sneek and peek around medical devices from times long gone is Phisick, a collection of antique medical devices. This is a great website and I won’t comment on the picture below. You gotta guess what it is, but here’s a hint: it’s ‘Made in Germany’ in 1894…

(image taken from Phisick)

And be sure to check their extensive links page! If you’re looking for a place to start looking for medical antiques and oddities, you’ve found it. Of course, the always wonderful BibliOdyssey just posted some amazing scans from a 1829 surgical album which a definitely worth checking out (the entire set is on view at Humboldt University’s edoc service). I don’t know whether they just signed up on Flickr or have been there for a while and I was just to dumb to find them, but here is their photostream where you can just immerse yourself in bibliophile goodness.

And last but not least, check out this article on trepanation on Neurophilosophy (current location here). It is really great and instead of summarizing or quoting from it, I’ll just kindly lead you there with this little link.

 

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Filed under: Bizarre-O-Rama, Books, Documentary, History, Science, Vintage Stuff , blog, History, medicine, Science, science fiction, surgery, trepanation, vintage