Welcome to today’s exciting episode of “How Big a Dork Am I?” Today, we’ll be discussing the making of unnecessary models: In this graph, the blue points represent the average mass in grams of a fetus at a given week of gestation, while the red line is the mass predicted by a simple model treating […]
Category: Medicine
The Road to Woo is Paved with Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria
I’ve had recurring problems with hives for a couple of years now. I have, at times, jokingly attributed this to an allergic reaction to George W. Bush continuing to be President, but I really have no idea what, exactly, is causing the problem. My allergist says that it’s most likely an autoimmune thing, and thus […]
FutureBaby Chronicles: Medical Mascot Choice
One of many parts of the FutureBaby! process that I was lamentably ignorant of is the idea of the hospital tour. When I first mentioned to colleagues that we were expecting, many of them (mostly women) asked “Where are you going to have the baby?” My initial response was “How the hell should I know? […]
Framing Stem Cells
With the “Vox Day” business winding down (one way or another), it’s time to unwind with something less contentious and controversial: Framing! No– seriously. Most of the really loud opponents have publically washed their hands of the whole topic, so I expect this will be relatively non-controversial. What could possibly go wrong? Anyway, Janet is […]
Magazine Etiquette in Medicine
Dave Munger has been spending a lot of time in waiting rooms: When it comes to waiting rooms, it turns out, eye doctors wipe the floor with everyone else’s ass. Not only does the eye doctor have the least shabby interior decor, it also arguably offers the best selection of reading material and visual entertainment […]
Earlier Alcohol Prevention?
EurekAlert tossed up a press release from the University of Minnesota yesterday with the provocative title: “U of Minn researchers find primary alcohol prevention programs are needed for ‘tweens’” and the even more eye-popping subtitle “Study recommends that prevention programs occur as early as third grade.” What, you may ask, is the problem this is […]
School Killings and The Problem With Relative Numbers
The mysterious Revere looks at school killings today (or, more accurately, looks at a study looking at school killings). He/she/they opens with an arresting factoid: The second leading cause of death in the 5 to 18 year old age group in the US is homicide. These are school aged children and the first thing that […]
Steroid Madness
Steroid scandals in sports, most particularly baseball, have been dominating sports media for a couple of years now. I thought that there really wasn’t anything I could possibly care less about, but the New York Times proved me wrong with an article on steroid use among hip-hop artists. Actually, the Times story is a report […]
Tree of SCIENCE!!! #7
Another cold December day, another ornament from the Tree of SCIENCE!!! This one’s for the doctors in the house: That’s a little elf guy smoking a pipe, and he represents the science of public health.and epidemiology.
Guess the Nobel, Win a Prize
I somehow managed to lose track of time for a bit, and forgot that it was Nobel season until I saw this morning’s announcement that the 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine hase just been announced, going to Mario R. Capecchi, Sir Martin J. Evans, and Oliver Smithies, for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific […]