Day 935: Ah Yes, But Is There Any Evidence Of Semen?

originally published July 23, 2014 You can have your John McClanes, your Alex Murphys, your Jimmy McNultys. When it comes to picking out the Hollywood super-cops, we shouldn’t look any further than network television’s procedural potentate: the CSI family of formulaic programming. On the CSI shows, the stars are scientific swamis, investigative prodigies, precocious and […]

Day 917: That Big Ol’ Salad Plate Known As Earth

originally published July 5, 2014 There are certain scientific truths which appear to be inarguable. Light travels faster than sound, an explosion is exponentially more bad-ass when someone is walking slowly away from it, and the consumption of alcohol makes me a scientifically better dancer. But we have come a long way since our ancestors […]

Day 913: Psychiatric Pseudo-Symptoms Take Aim At Science

originally published July 1, 2014 In more than one of his couch-quivering rants, Tom Cruise has expressed distrust and disdain for the science of psychiatry. Perhaps he believes Xenu and his intergalactic pals can do more for the struggling mind than can a branch of human medicine. I don’t agree – and I count that […]

Day 894: Take A Journey To The Center Of Your Mind With José

originally published June 12, 2014 Over the last 894 days I have had the opportunity to gain a sparkly new appreciation for medical science, and for how far we have progressed over the last 150 years or so. Back then, doctors didn’t even wash their damn hands, and now we’re allegedly on the threshold of […]

Day 893: The Weird Cocoon-Like Prison Of The Gibbon Twins

originally published June 11, 2014 Growing up as an only child, whose only companions were the top-notch offerings of prime-time network television, I always wanted a sibling. But beyond that, I was downright fascinated with twins. That unspoken connection – some even say psychic communication – poked at the crusty, ashen embers of my imagination […]

Day 890: Put Your Head On My Shoulder, Neck And Everything Else

originally published June 8, 2014 In honor of our species’ unending quest to concoct our own mythical creatures from the depths of our creativity and our most depraved scientific know-how, I give you the head transplant. I’m not referring to the overplayed movie trope in which Jamie Lee Curtis swaps minds with Lindsay Lohan in […]

Day 889: Palming, Swinging And Sungazing Your Way To Perfect Vision!

originally published June 7, 2014 The day I acquired my first pair of eyeglasses – those big, clunky 80’s frames that cock-blocked so many teens in the throes of inescapable hormones. I was thirteen and wholly displeased. Sure, now I could read my Star Wars poster from across the room and I no longer had […]

Day 879: When One’s Writing Cup Overfloweth

originally published May 28, 2014 Were it not for the six or so hours of procrastination that has siphoned away my productivity today, I might have ascribed a new disorder to myself, in that special way that we net-snooping nutjobs are prone to do. Anyone who has ever tried to diagnose themselves using WebMD or […]

Day 869: Unleashing The Other 90% Of The Brain

originally published May 18, 2014 In the 2011 film Limitless, Bradley Cooper uses a tiny pill to unlock the full 100% of his brain’s abilities, granting him superhuman reasoning skills, instantaneous deduction and an unnatural gift of foresight (though not enough foresight to keep him from making that third Hangover movie). This August, because Hollywood […]

Day 857: How Ignaz Semmelweis Changed The Medical World And Never Lived To Know It

originally published May 6, 2014 Does the name Ignaz Semmelweis mean anything to you? My readers whose boot-prints lay along the medical mud-path (or in the frightening swamp of germophobia) will shout an esteemed “YES!”, probably with the reverence my musician friends would reserve for a Les Paul or a Robert Moog. Dr. Semmelweis’s work […]