Having unexpectedly become a eunuch, Richard Wassersug, a professor in the department of anatomy and neurobiology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, did not despair. Being curious, he turned his apparent tragedy into a happy new obsession. Along with his ongoing exploration of amphibian biology (described last week), Wassersug now conducts research about eunuchs.
In 1998, at the age of 52, Wassersug was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His website explains the situation he then faced – a situation not so very unusual, but one seldom discussed in public: “When first-line curative therapies for prostate cancer fail, patients are offered either surgical or chemical castration. Strictly speaking, the patients who accept this treatment are ‘neutered’.”
Wassersug discovered that being a eunuch has, in addition to the famous drawbacks, some unexpected benefits….
So begins this week?s Improbable Research column in The Guardian.