“It isn’t brain surgery.” We use the phrase to describe simple tasks that anyone should be able to do. The unstated assumption behind this is that brain surgery is far from simple […]
Did you hear about the surgeon who accidentally amputated a patient’s right leg, when it was the left one that was to be removed? Once he realized the error, he had no […]
We at Commonplace Fun Facts are big fans of the Ig Nobel Prize and its mission to “first make people laugh, then make them think.” The list of 2019 laureates touched on […]
“Stopped.” That was the last word spoken by Joseph Henry Green (1791-1863). The English surgeon spoke that word upon checking his own pulse. Read the last words and epitaphs of the famous […]
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 […]
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