Oh Noes! iPeed on my iPhone.

Another *wonderful* use for the iPhone - STD testing. All you have to do is urinate (or spit) on a computer chip and plug it in. The Guardian reports.

Bring something to throw tonight at Malaprops

Suggestions can be found here.

Plastinated Body Parts - Just in Time for Christmas

According to this post in the Telegraph found here, Gunther von Hagens, the creator of the Body Worlds exhibitions is selling human body parts online. The article stated that, "the German entrepreneur, whose Body Worlds exhibitions showed human cadavers in lifelike poses, has told clients they will be able to buy the fleshless corpses which he injects with plastic resin over the internet. The body parts will go on sale from November 3 with whole human bodies available for £61,733." His site offers plastinated body slices to qualified buyers, and giraffe tail or bull testicle slices fashioned into jewelry to the public. If that's not quite your style there is always the purse or t-shirt option plastered with the face of an actual corpse.

White Coat, Black Hat at the U bookstore

Carl Elliott, local author and U of M professor will discuss his new book, White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine, on Tuesday, October 26 at 4:00 p.m. at the University of Minnesota Bookstore in Coffman Memorial Union.

"Patients Like Me"

Today's Slate has a fascinating article on the concept of "crowdsourcing" of medical problems- defined in 2006 by Wired Magazine as, " the process of seeking a problem's solution from a wide community, often online..." Check it out here.

Trivial Punishment

What do you think game show audience members would do if they could shock a contestant when he answers questions incorrectly? As reported by MPR in March this year, a French television station created a mock game show to answer this question. One would think that the Milgram experiments provided sufficient evidence of what someone would do when given the opportunity to shock another person for trivial reasons, but what's going to produce higher ratings than broadcasting someone being shocked to 'death' with 460 volts of electricity? Probably not much. Read the story from MPR, here.

Book trailer: Kate Ledger's Remedies

THE weight-loss solution of the century

Dr. Steve Brule from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! on Comedy Central proposes an amazingly American weight-loss solution in this short clip. To see the clip, click here.

What have gastroenterologists been doing all these years? Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?!

Calling All Shoppers...

Your cash register receipts might be toxic to more than just your bank account. Check it out at The Patch.

Body Worlds returns

But without the sex.  Read more in The Vancouver Sun.

Driven from discovering

Alice Dreger writes about the suicide of Dan Markingson in a clinical trial at the U in the Bioethics Forum.  Read it here,

Never let me go

Lawyers, drugs and money

Mischke on the death of Dan Markingson. Read it here.

The Minnesota Daily on the death of Dan Markingson

"Mary Weiss says she wasn’t surprised when her lawyer called notifying her that the University of Minnesota was seeking about $57,000 in legal fees. It had already put her through enough after her son, Dan Markingson, 26, stabbed himself to death while enrolled in a clinical trial for an anti-psychotic medication here in 2004, a trial she didn’t want him in."  Read more on the Daily editorial page.

$272 Can Only Go So Far

A recent article in Salon.com talks about "Pink Kisses," a website for women who seek post-breakup "counseling." According to the article, "For $272, you can receive a 'super goddess action plan,' a bouquet of flowers, two life coaching sessions, 'better than sex' truffles and two weeks of 'you-go-girl' text messages (e.g.,"You're a lady deserving of an enchanted existence" and "Supergirl, you can move mountains"). You also have the option of uploading a photo of your ex's face and watching "his picture burn with our awesome virtual flames" and creating your very own inspirational poster. These clichés also come in smaller, more affordable packages." Check out the article here. Also the (very pink) Pink Kisses site.

White Coat, Black Hat

The unauthorized website is here.  Don't visit it; you'll just encourage him.

The Mild Torture Economy

Scott McLemee reviews Roberto Abadie's new book, The Professional Guinea Pig, in Inside Higher Ed.

Stunning news (yawn) on Meridia

News flash: a diet pill is linked to strokes and heart disease.  (Again.)  Should Meridia be recalled?  Read about it here.

Medicating Children with Antipsychotics

JAMA editor is leaving

Remember when the editor of JAMA called Jonathan Leo "a nothing and a nobody" for criticizing the JAMA conflict-of-interest policy?  Dr. Catherine DeAngelis is leaving her post as JAMA editor-in-chief.  Read about it in Pharmalot or the WSJ Health Blog.