I recently came across an article titled “Biotech Company Granted Ethical Permission To Attempt To Use Stem Cells To Reactivate The Brains Of The Dead.” The article got a lot of play on social media. I’m not surprised; it seems to describe the exact scenario that would precede future documentary The Walking Dead. But that title is serious clickbait. A more accurate wording of the last part would be “…To Revive the Brain-dead.” That’s the experiment—trying to bring consciousness back to brain-dead patients currently on life support. The article even uses a picture a cadaver on an … [Read more...]
You’re Killing Me, H
The animals of war kill me every time, and not in a good way. When Hannibal crossed the Alps to attack Rome in 218 BC, he brought 38 elephants along with the army. Or he tried. Of the 38 that began the trek, only a handful—maybe even only one—survived the crossing. Those remaining were all dead by the end of the first battle and made no real contribution to Hannibal’s victories. I imagine those poor elephants struggling through the mountains, driven without mercy by their handlers. Cold, malnourished, faced with terrain far different than their natural habitat. I see them dropping one … [Read more...]
Find It, Before It Finds You
There is beauty all around us. Behind every tree, over every hill, in each blade of grass. Just walk out your front door and give yourself to the world. Step off the well-trodden path and open your eyes. It’s in those moments that you will find something magical. Like THIS: I’d heard of the Doll’s Head Trail before, a found-art installation in south Atlanta. It winds through Constitution Lakes Park, presumably named for the time two lakes got together and wrote a constitution. But the perfect weirdness of it surprised me. I believed I had already found all the worthy strangeness in … [Read more...]
Coffee and Chaos Theory: Biohack Attack
Remember your nightlight from childhood? How it comforted you in the time before device charging ports, keeping the dark forces at bay? Me too. Ever want to surgically implant that nightlight underneath your skin so that you could glow at will? ME TOO! Ok, not so much. But that’s where the biohackers come in. These early adopters are sprinting toward cyborg status as fast as technology will take them. Which is still not very fast, but not for lack of trying. The biohacker community fascinates me. So when I read about a group that sliced their own skin to implant LED lights in … [Read more...]
Take a Breath
Everything was golden until that morning. Lifeguarding saved me during the first semester of grad school. The classes were intense, and drilling into my skull to relieve the pressure had only made things worse. So I took a job with a private school summer camp to get away from the books. Good choice! The job was simple: work in the sun, keep watch, clean up, repeat. Most of the kids were careful to follow the rules, and the first month passed without a single scare. The only danger came from dodging giant black widow spiders in the pump house. I’ve never seen so many, and the spare … [Read more...]
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