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Medicine

Narwhal Horns Laced with 10 Million Nerve Endings

A small pod of narwhals, Monodon MonocerosFor centuries, humans have speculated on narwhals’ bizarre horns, believing them to be everything from supernatural appendages to spear fishing weapons to tools for poking around on the ocean floor. In 2005 a team from Harvard and the National Institute of Standards and Technology put a horn under an […]

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Medicine

Better late than never: Grand Rounds

The latest Grand Rounds was posted yesterday at Fat Doctor. Lots of great stuff, as usual.

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Medicine Politics Science

Fear of the frame, part II: A cultural divide

I remain confused. Yes, I know that people who don’t like me very much or at least don’t like the message that I lay down here day in, day out, week in, week out probably aren’t surprised at this startling admission, but I don’t mean it in a general fashion (although no doubt those aforementioned […]

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Medicine

Spider Monkeys Use Cologne

Researchers in Mexico have documented wild spider monkeys rubbing themselves with fragrant, chewed up leaves. Though the exact purpose of this behavior is yet to be proven, it appears as if the scents “may play a role int he context of social communication, possibly for signaling of social status or to increase sexual attractiveness,” according […]

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Medicine Science

Biomedical researchers at medical schools: Free-lance used car salesmen? Or: Show me the money!

From fellow ScienceBlogger Abel, I’m made aware of an excellent post on the Health Care Renewal Blog about the financial reality of being an academic physician in a modern U.S. medical school. It’s an excellent overview of how medical schools view clinical faculty as, in essence, cash cows that have to bring in the cash […]