Where Does Sex Live in the Brain? From Top to Bottom

Posted on September 9, 2009May 13, 2020 by admin

Discover, September 9, 2009

On April 11, 1944, a doctor named T. C. Erickson addressed the Chicago Neurological Society about a patient he called Mrs. C. W. At age 43 she had started to wake up many nights feeling as if she were having sex—or as she put it to Erickson, feeling “hot all over.” As the years passed her hot spells struck more often, even in the daytime, and began to be followed by seizures that left her unable to speak. Erickson examined Mrs. C. W. when she was 54 and diagnosed her with nymphomania. He prescribed a treatment that was shockingly common at the time: He blasted her ovaries with X-rays.

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Faust And The Dandelion

Posted on September 8, 2009June 30, 2021 by Matt Kristoffersen

Romantic poetry and developmental biology have something in common: Goethe. One of botany’s lesser known pioneers, Goethe actually wrote a visionary essay about plants in 1790, which can be summed up in his motto, “All is leaf.” Scientists who are studying the evolution of flowers today hear the echoes of his words. To find out more, check out my lead story in the Science Times section of the New York Times today.

And for more information, check out these recent reviews–

The Evolution of Petal Identity

Reconstructing the ancestral angiosperm flower and its initial specializations

The meaning of Darwin’s ‘abominable mystery’
Reconstructing the ancestral female gametophyte of angiosperms: Insights from Amborella and other ancient lineages of flowering plants

Parasites+Radiolab!

Posted on September 8, 2009June 30, 2021 by Matt Kristoffersen

Radiolab and parasites. A match made in parasitic heaven. If you haven’t discovered this excellent radio program, check out the first episode of their sixth season. During the first 20 minutes of the show, I persuade the hosts of the show, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, that parasites are not degenerate or evil, but rather sophisticated creatures that have a huge influence on humanity and the entire natural world (the basic message in my book, Parasite Rex). The rest of the show delves into some particularly cool parasite tales. Check it out.

Where Did All the Flowers Come From?

Posted on September 7, 2009May 28, 2020 by admin

The New York Times, September 7, 2009

Link

Throughout his life, Charles Darwin surrounded himself with flowers. When he was 10, he wrote down each time a peony bloomed in his father’s garden. When he bought a house to raise his own family, he turned the grounds into a botanical field station where he experimented on flowers until his death. But despite his intimate familiarity with flowers, Darwin once wrote that their evolution was “an abominable mystery.”

Darwin could see for himself how successful flowering plants had become. They make up the majority of living plant species, and they dominate many of the world’s ecosystems, from rain forests to grasslands. They also dominate our farms.

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Schrodinger’s Tat [Science Tattoo]

Posted on September 5, 2009June 30, 2021 by Matt Kristoffersen

Berg writes, “I’m a big fan of quantum mechanics (regardless of how little I truly understand it), so getting a tattoo of Schrodinger’s cat seemed like a no-brainer. It’s on my right forearm, which means it ends up being a good conversation starter after a quick handshake. Either people get what it is right away, or I have the pleasure of explaining ‘No, it’s not two cats fornicating, it’s one superpositioned cat,’ which is fun in its own right. Huzzah!”

Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.