Friday Weird Science: A “problem” we all wish we had

For most people in the world, a really satisfactory bowel movement feels…good. The relief, the relaxation, we’ve all been there. But apparently, for the patient in this case study, defecation felt more than good, it felt GREAT. But is it possible for a crap to feel TOO great? Apparently so. After all, the man actually [...]

Feeling Risky Today? How’s Your Dopamine?

It’s that time of the semester again. The time when Sci has to present at her Journal Club. I know I’ve talked about Journal Club a couple of times, but what is the purpose of a Journal Club? For those not in grad school, what IS a Journal Club? For my MRU, Journal Club is [...]

Help up get all new and shiny!!

First of all, some of you may have seen the concept of “science’s rightful place” floating around after President Obama said “we will restore science to its rightful place”. But what IS the rightful place of science? There are a lot of great bloggers weighin in on the topic. Sci…needs time to formulate her thoughts. [...]

Part 3 of Welcome to MY Brain: The rest of the bits and pieces.

Welcome to part 3 of Welcome to my brain! Apparently everyone is very impressed by how hot my brain is (see parts one and two), but unfortunately, we’re almost out of pics. Today we’re covering the rest of the bits of my brain that look really awesome, which really boils down to all the ones [...]

In which Sci amuses the internets

First, we have a new Scibling!!! His name is Sciencepunk, and he’s got a super fancy new banner and material already awaiting the masses! Check him out! So I was goofing around the other day, and I came across the original video for this song. I love this song. Who DOESN’T love this song?! Who [...]

How much pain will buy you a meal?

My illustrious coblogger points out that by taking part in research studies, a graduate student can actually afford to do things like, well, eat. Normally relegated to scraping the crumbs off the post-seminar cookie tray, or sneaking into a urology luncheon and being forced to sit through an hour talk on ureter infections only to [...]

Friday Weird Science: Got Hiccups? We have the cure for you!

As some of you may recall (considering it’s my one post that got the most hits ever ever ever), I’ve previously used weird science to cover various hypotheses on how to deal with your nasal congestion. But it turns out that sex is for more than your nose! After all, what can more adversely affect [...]

Part 2 of Welcome to MY Brain! Of mater and brain holes.

Ok, so I thought I would be able to do this brain stuff in TWO entries, but I think it might have to be three. After all, the brain is a wondrous, glorious world of awesome, and MY brain in particular is especially nice. Last time I talked about the outer features of the brain [...]

Part 1 of Welcome to MY Brain! Introduction and general features

Some of you may recall that I got my brain scanned in an MRI for the sake of science. Well, my lovely fellow grad student was nice enough to send me some of my baseline pictures! I think I have a lovely brain (see my new profile pic? I’m totally hot, right?), and so I [...]

Friday Weird Science has found its Patron Saint

It is rare that a non-fiction book, let alone a non-fiction book about science, makes me laugh so hard I have to put the book down until I can get off the floor. In fact, I would say it’s only happened once. That once was during this last week, when I finally got to read [...]