Here’s something I haven’t done in quite a while: The Friday Random Top Ten. So, let’s fire up iTunes, set it to “shuffle play” and see what comes up, shall we? Here we go: The Kinks, Going Solo (from: Word of Mouth). David Bowie, White Light/White Heat (from: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: […]
Author: Orac
Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.
That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)
DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.
To contact Orac: [email protected]
I tell ya, life just ain’t fair. I work and slave for many years to master medicine, surgery, and molecular biology because I want to be part of developing new therapies for cancer. My reward? Instead of being in the lab directly participating in experiments, I spend more of my time begging for money to […]
Here’s an interesting tidbit that I came across: A new study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Political Economy, calculates the prospective gains that could be obtained from further progress against major diseases. Kevin M. Murphy and Robert H. Topel, two University of Chicago researchers, estimate that even modest advancements […]
I just have time for a short take today. (If you need more, fortunately, Bora has posted the 33rd Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle for your edification. Yes, my preamble was just an excuse to plug the Skeptics’ Circle one more time.) In the comments of yesterday’s post about a medical student who is a […]
The 33rd Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle
The 33rd Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle has been posted at Science and Politics. Bora has kindly provided an abstract: Complaints like “hurts my brain” and “blows my mind” as a result of exposure to incredible stories have recently been definitively tied to the neuronal cell death (apoptosis). Furthermore, the notion of the usefullness of […]