In the days before anesthesia, speed was at least as important as accuracy when doctors were performing surgery. The longer a patient had to endure the pain of being cut open and […]
The Doctor Who Had a 300% Fatality Rate
What’s that Condition Called? It’s on the Tip of My Tongue
About 3-5 percent of people have a harmless condition known as “geographic tongue.” It is caused by uneven distribution of papillae (short, fine, hair-like projections) over the surface of the tongue which […]
Take Some Mummy Powder, A Few Drops of Gladiator Blood, and Call Me in the Morning
Quack medicine is nothing new. Over the centuries, people have ingested some pretty disgusting things in hopes of curing whatever ails them. Consider some of the following examples from history: Mellified Man: […]
First Make People Laugh; Then Make Them Think
The “Ig Nobel Prizes” are a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think”. They are presented by […]
Turn Baby Mice Whines into Baby Mice Wine
If you like mice — particularly the baby kind — you might enjoy the traditional drink in China and Korea: baby mice wine. Manufacturers take baby mice from their mothers before they […]
Becoming a Human Statue
Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), sometimes referred to as Stone Man Syndrome, is an extremely rare disease of the connective tissue. A mutation of the body’s repair mechanism causes fibrous tissue (including muscle, […]
An “Irregular” Fact About Mark Twain
Nikola Tesla once “shook the poop out” of a constipated Mark Twain with an experiment. One famous legend surrounding the eccentric Tesla was that he had an earthquake machine in his Manhattan […]
Commonplace Fun Facts 