Over the last couple of years I’ve been dazzled by the anatomical imagery that’s come out of the School of Medicine. From the pristine photos in the Bassett Collection, to the wizardry of Paul Brown, DDS’ group, the images have shown us our innards and fascinated our brains.

Now, thanks to Katherine Wells’ article in Science of the Arts, I’ve discovered a whole new galaxy of truly amazing dissections. Artist Jason Freeny is exhibiting a beautifully rendered dissection of a Carassius auratus auratus, bis coquere, otherwise know as a goldfish. What a rush! They’re so easy to eat by the handful that I admit I’ve never inspected the inside of one. Now, I can see that it’s not the cheddar that gives them their cheesy goodness; it’s their little bones and guts! Brilliant. I tell you, this guy’s a genius. Check out his website for a whole range of dissection wackiness.

Image courtesy Jason Freeny

Over the next three decades, the number of people older than 65 in the United States will double from 40 million to 80 million. The effects of that huge shift were discussed at the Stanford 2010 Roundtable, which was titled “Generation Ageless: Longevity and the Boomers.” Journalist Tom Brokaw moderated for the session, and he was joined by Laura Carstensen, PhD; John Hennesy, PhD; Sandra Day O’Connor, JD; Barry Rand; Sheryl Sandberg; and Robert Saplosky, PhD. Excerpts from their conversation is above, and the full roundtable is available here.

Previously: Experts weigh in on how aging population affects us

Pneumatic tube systems: I don’t pretend to fully understand how they work, but I’ve always thought they were pretty cool. There’s something about the now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t mechanism that seems so simple, yet so mysterious. It’s like a magician suddenly pulling a flight of doves out of his coat. For decades, I’ve been curious about what goes on inside a pneumatic tube system. What makes the capsules move so fast? How do they know where to go? If two of the capsules collide mid-stream, does it create pneuclear fission?

With the assistance of Stanford Hospital’s Chief Engineer, Leander Robinson, this video shows what happens when a small camera and a couple of tiny flashlights get nestled into the foam-filled plastic capsule and launched into the inky tangle of pneumatic tubing. It doesn’t answer all my questions, but it’s a trip nonetheless!

Take a zippy trip through the tubes and read the accompanying article in the new issue of Stanford Medicine.

On April 28 MythBusters takes a crack at two pain myths: whether women handle pain better than men and whether redheads are more susceptible to pain than everyone else. A clip from the show is above. Once Jamie and Adam have had their way with these good sport “test subjects,” they head to Stanford School of Medicine to meet pain specialist, Lawrence Chu, MD, who helps them bust a few myths and face the painful truth.

Oh, yes, I know all about arachnophobia. As a little sister, I was a prime target for two older brother’s unmerciful teasing. They had me so freaked out that a subtle hand gesture mimicking a spider would send me into a fit of tears.

Having spent my life blaming them for this encumbrance, it’s a bit unsettling to read that the primary instigator might have been…my mother. My brothers simply picked up where she left off - at my birth.

If you missed it, MSNBC ran a fascinating story yesterday discussing how some researchers speculate that we may be delivered into this world programmed to fear scary critters. Specific scary critters:

Scientists aren’t sure how the fear is passed down, but they speculate that stressful events like predator attacks trigger the release of a hormone in the mother that influences the development of the embryo.

Two researchers, Jonathan Storm, PhD, of the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg, and Steven Lima, PhD, of Indiana State University, figured this out by putting pregnant crickets into a terrarium containing a wolf spider. (They must both be older brothers.)

To make sure the spider didn’t eat the crickets, they put wax on its fangs. Thus, the spider could scare the bejeezus out of the crickets by stalking them - and probably gumming them - but the crickets would be left intact and able to produce offspring.

When the researchers compared the offspring of the freaked-out mothers to the offspring of the unfreaked-out mothers:

The differences were dramatic, the scientists said.

The newborn crickets whose mothers had been exposed to a spiderwere 113 percent more likely to seek shelter and stay there. They were also more likely to freeze when they encountered spider silk or feces - a behavior that could prevent them from being detected by a nearby spider. Overall, these newborns had better survival rates than other newborn crickets, eaten by the wolf spiders for the sake of science.

(Yeah, for the sake of science, and probably as payback for having their fangs waxed.)

This is really interesting stuff. It makes sense that we might be hardwired to fear spiders and snakes, but how is it that the cricket offspring knew that they should specifically fear spiders? The hormones released by the mother must be full of amazing information just waiting to be decoded by researchers.

Photo by Thomas Shahan

Sleep expert Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD, was just interviewed on the Today Show about a 15 year-old girl from England who has Kleine-Levin Syndrome.

Mignot is one of this country’s leading researchers in Kleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS), a rare neurological disorder that affects primarily male adolescents. Those afflicted experience periods of excessive sleep (up to 20 hours a day), and, when awake, experience altered behavior. Parents of teenagers might argue that excessive sleep and altered behavior are teen trademarks, badges of teenage-dom - hardly rare! With KLS, however, sleep episodes can last a few days to a few weeks.

At the onset of an episode the patient may experience flu-like symptoms, become drowsy and sleep for most of the day and night, waking only to eat - sometimes excessively - or go to the bathroom. When awake, the patient may appear spacey, irritable, childish, apathetic and disoriented. Instances of uninhibited hypersexuality during an episode have also been noted. KLS usually lasts 8 to 12 years, and episodes gradually become less frequent and less intense as it runs its course.

There is no definitive treatment and the cause of KLS is unknown. But Mignot and his group have launched multiple studies to uncover the underlying causes and, hopefully, find an effective treatment.

As the second wave of holiday migration is upon us, zillions of soon-to-be travelers are girding their loins, knowing that no matter which mode of transportation they’ve chosen to get to grandma’s, it ain’t going to be easy. But travelers can make it a bit easier on themselves by arming their MP3 players with a passel of podcasts. For anyone with a passing interest science or technology, there are some dandy possibilities.

As you might guess, NPR is always loaded with good stuff. Let’s say you’re still on the hunt for gifts. Visit Science Friday and check out What to Get That Special Geek (link to audio file).

Or, if you know your plane is going to be flying through dark and stormy skies, be prepared and download Erasing Fears by Thinking About Them (link to audio file).

If you’re more concerned about being brought down by a plane full of scowling grumps, fire up Smiling in Groups to hear that happiness really is contagious. Ditto with the Science of Getting a ‘Yes’. This could come in handy if you’re checking in for your flight and you’re angling for an upgrade.

If your mode of travel involves a car, check out Radiolab with Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad. This podcast is one of my all-time faves. Here’s their description:

Radiolab believes your ears are a portal to another world. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience. Big questions are investigated, tinkered with, and encouraged to grow. Bring your curiosity, and we’ll feed it with possibility.

Their podcasts are about an hour each. They’re quirky, full of cool information, and perfect for a long drive in a car full of humans of all ages. For starters, try the piece on Laughter-We all laugh. But why?.

Photo by quinn.anya

I’m a vociferous talking-on-cellphone-while-driving opponent. I think people who do it are dumber than dirt, and I USED to think that people who text are ten times worse. But my disdain has ballooned into unfettered fear, and I now consider texters a zillion times worse than talkers. Thank you, New York Times, for publishing this fun little game.

This game illustrates how external distractions affect concentration and reaction time. It puts you behind the wheel of a car racing down a roadway full of closed gates. If you’re paying attention to the on-coming gates, a little sign will tell you which one you need to open. No biggie. Then they up the ante and add a cellphone with a text message. You have to read the message, then answer it-exactly as it’s written-and send it, while trying to keep an eye on the gates. If this remotely simulates someone who is texting while driving, I’m trading in my Honda this weekend for an armor-plated Hum-Vee.

Also interesting is the NSC factsheet on cell phone use while driving.

I fall. And when I fall, I usually hit my head. Hard. So, as I’ve followed the sad news about Natasha Richardson, I’ve fretted and freaked out, my stomach has been tied in knots, and my already too-high feeling of vulnerability has been stretched even higher. If Richardson’s head could suffer a mortal blow by hitting a soft patch of snow, what’s going to happen to mine the next time I whack it on the hard kitchen floor?

Being vertically challenged, I spend an inordinate amount of time grappling with gravity. So, it’s not too surprising that this is freaking me out. I imagine that my healthy counterparts who are following this accident haven’t thrown themselves into a tizzy. They probably see it for what it is: a sad twist of fate. But, the media’s been slow to point that out. Probably because in the first three days, there wasn’t a lot of specific medical information to reveal. From my perspective, it seems somewhat irresponsible that the accounts haven’t been balanced with statistics about head injuries, or with experts reminding us scaredy-cats that scads of people tumble down bunny hills every day and get up to do it again, and again, without ever earning a fast-pass to “walk and die syndrome.”

So, if I can’t find an expert’s frame of reference in the media reports, I’ll find one on my own: Gary Steinberg, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery. I e-mail him, “Is this just a totally freak accident? Is there anything you can tell me that will make me stop fretting?” He reassures me that epidural hematomas can be successfully treated, but, “know the symptoms, and seek prompt medical attention.” He adds, “Not to worry. You’ll live another 60 years!”

Just what I needed! A voice of reason from a seasoned neurosurgeon. Now, why couldn’t the New York Times have a quote like that? Especially when they DID have a quote like that. They interviewed Dr. Steinberg the day before I emailed him, and for god-knows-what-reason, they cut it from the article.

It took them a week, but the New York Times finally got it right.

In today’s Well, Tara Parker-Pope references a handful of studies that in one way or another, come to the same conclusion: recess is good for kids.

Parker-Pope sites a study published in this month’s journal Pediatrics that showed that kids who had at least 15 minutes of recess a day were better behaved than those who didn’t. A Harvard study found that the more physical fitness tests kids passed, the better they did on academic tests. And, researchers studying kids with ADHD discovered that a walk in a natural setting improved their concentration as well as, or better than, a dose of their meds.

OK, the studies’ results make sense to me: A frolic on the playground facilitates focus in the classroom. But, I think the by-products of that equation - the experiences and memories of recess - are also beneficial.

When I first started kindergarten, I remember being awed by the playground pandemonium. It was a free-for-all. Total anarchy…until the teacher blew her whistle. In an instant, that whistle could transform the schoolyard maelstrom into two perfectly silent lines - one of girls and one of boys. Holy cow! I was only five years old, and I’d stumbled upon the key to success - a whistle. I needed a whistle. I could rule the world-that is to say, my brothers - if I had a whistle. So, I got one and I took it to school. I waited for recess to rev up, then I hid behind the door to the classroom, and I blew it. It worked!! Recess slammed to a stop, the two lines formed, and the teacher stood there, flummoxed.

The bad news: my life experiences were fairly limited at that point, so it didn’t occur to me that consequences existed outside the boundaries of family. The good news: experiencing the consequences of the Whistle Caper taught me the importance of employing foresight in all future bright ideas.