More than one scientific investigator has examined the implications of misplaced facial attributes in drawings. [Example] But fewer have drawn attention to the implications of a facial attribute which actually is misplaced (rather than just in an illustration). What would happen for example, if one’s nose was upside down? This question was asked – and hypothetical answers provided – in a letter to the Singapore Medical Journal 47(8), in which professor Biji T. Kurien PhD of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation performed a thought-experiment investigating Survivability with a topsy-turvy olfaction/respiration organ. The professor outlined a variety of possible drawbacks to an upside-down nose. What would happen in a rainstorm for instance? To say nothing of the problems of overflying birds. And smokers might find their vision severely impaired when exhaling.
