Syphilis and Dracula Rise Again — Say, you know what we haven’t talked about in a while? Syphilis. Yes, that unlucky STD that took down kings (and ultimately Al Capone) with its nose-munching virility. Not to worry, though. It’s back in the news. It’s turning up in St. Louis, and in the water system of London…

How to raise happy and healthy birds, and maybe heal yourself — The news is terrible. Which news? All of it. But I’m not going to talk about that today. I’m going to talk about Jezebel. And Matilda. And Martha, Geraldine, Florence, Blue, and Rocky. …

The strange science of life, death, and consciousness — Thirty-two dead pigs woke up in a lab without their bodies — or, rather, their brain cells did. The experiment happened in 2019, at the early stages of the pandemic. Researchers went round to a food processing plant and asked to have the discarded heads of slaughtered pigs. Four hours…

Despite the challenges, there is so much to celebrate — On June 10th, 2022, out Canadian radio personality Maurie Sherman and his father, Frank Sherman, installed Pride-themed bases at Friday’s Toronto Blue Jays. A few days earlier, in US primary elections, out LGBTQ candidates won races in California, Iowa, and Montana, meaning they will advance to the November election campaigns…

Reviewing medical history to forecast future disease — Headlines began appearing last month: monkeypox, a zoonotic (usually occurring in animals) Orthopoxvirus, has infected humans — and it’s spreading. The World Health Organization reports nearly 200 cases of monkeypox in countries not “usually known to have outbreaks,” and in the wake of the novel coronavirus, panic has begun to…

We must not give up our anger, nor accept that there is no better way — Journalists began calling me two days ago, as I knew they would. It happens after almost every tragedy: from the New York Times and NPR when the novel Coronavirus struck down hundreds of thousands; from WIRED editors when the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade; from various venues in the…

Consequences will impact IVF procedures, emergency room medicine, and advances in cell-cloning technology — Late one night, a young patient was admitted to the ER with terrible pain in her abdomen and chest, and soon had difficulty breathing. She grew pale in the ER — then paler. Luckily, a young doctor sounded the alarm. …

What an 18th century mystery can tell us about reproductive rights — A few years ago, I wrote an essay for a (now closed) periodical called the Appendix. I told a story, then, about a weird machine… a mechanical woman that had been built for the purpose of replacing real women — women midwives, to be exact. Man-Midwives wanted to take over…

Can the theme song for a prequel about an animated toy from a 1995 film trigger grief? Yes. Yes it can. — It felt like a heart attack. I had been recovering from post-holiday flu, consequence of over-extending myself and then finally hitting full collapse a few days after New Year. #DavidBowie was trending on Twitter. Not so surprising, I thought; he had turned 69 a few days before and released a…