This new study, describing a now-long-dead person who ate a snake whole, is reminiscent of the Ig Nobel Prize-winning study about swallowing a shrew. The new study is: “Analysis of a coprolite from Conejo Shelter, Texas: Potential ritualistic viperous snake consumption,” Elanor M. Sonderman, Crystal A. Dozier, Morgan F. Smith, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, […]
Tag: Swallow
“A Jackass and a Fish”—Doctors save the life of a Fish-Called-Wanda imitator
This young man who swallowed a fish As part of a party tradish- ion he followed with friends: Unhappy? Depends. The young man has gotten his wish. That limerick is a hasty summary of the medical case described in this newly published study: “A Jackass and a Fish: A Case of Life-Threatening Intentional Ingestion of […]
The old lady, the young man, and the swallowed shrew
In the title of this blog post, the old lady is hypothetical, the young man is real, and so is the shrew. The old lady appears in this item in the Cardunculus blog: One of the cats was sick in the gravel, but the Systems Administrator had to clear it up as I was out […]
What can happen, medically, to people who swallow lots of chewing gum
Some people chew lots of chewing gum, and then swallow what they have chewed. Swallowing gum can lead to problems, as this medical study explains: “Chewing gum bezoars of the gastrointestinal tract,” David E. Milov, Joel M. Andres, Nora A. Erhart, and David J. Bailey, Pediatrics, vol. 102, no. 2 (1998): e22-e22. The authors write: “In summary, […]
Podcast 83: Journeys of Toothbrushes
Toothbrushes journey — somehow, and other — to the depths in humanity, in this week’s Improbable Research podcast. SUBSCRIBE on Play.it, iTunes, or Spotify to get a new episode every week, free. This week, Marc Abrahams discusses medical reports about toothbrushes that mysteriously found their way into people’s stomachs and other deeply secret places. Harvard chemist Daniel Rosenberg gives dramatic readings and opinions: Toothbrush journey #1: “The Swallowing of […]
The loadbearing capacity of the Taishuh horse (study)
The keeper of the ‘Bridge of Death’ (Terry Gilliam) made a grave error in not specifying to which breed of swallow his question applied. But authors A. Matsuura, S. Sakuma, M. Irimajiri and K. Hodate from the Department of Animal Science, School of Veterinary Medicine, Kitasato University, Towada, Aomori, Japan, have made no such mistake […]
There was a young woman who swallowed a knife…
We hope that someone will ask Dan Meyer and Brian Witcombe, Ig Nobel medicine prize-winning co-authors of the study “Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects“, for their take on this case report newly published in the New England Journal of Medicine: “Unexpected Swallowing of a Knife,” Aida Venado, and Sarah Prebil, N Engl J Med 2012; […]
When something inside you is crushed like a nut
The pressure in the esophagus (the tube connecting the mouth and stomach) can become abnormally very high. Because of this high pressure an analogy was drawn between the esophageal pressure and the pressure generated by a nutcracker giving the term – nutcracker esophagus: R Fass, R Dickman. Nutcracker Esophagus-A Nut Hard to Swallow. Journal of […]
Write Ho! The Long-Lost, Ingested Pen Turns Up
Medicine and literary production combine in a fairly unusual way in this study: “An incidental finding of a gastric foreign body 25 years after ingestion,” Oliver Richard Waters, Tawfique Daneshmend, Tarek Shirazi, BMJ Case Reports, 2011. The authors, at Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital Foundation Trust, Exeter, UK, report: A 76-year-old female, with a blameless […]
A slip of the pen (followed by 25 years of writer’s blockage)
A pen in the wrong hands can be dangerous. This medical case report shows one specific danger (and also demonstrates the fine quality of pen manufacturing 25 years ago): “An incidental finding of a gastric foreign body 25 years after ingestion,” Oliver Richard Waters, Tawfique Daneshmend, Tarek Shirazi, BMJ Case Reports 2011. The authors, at […]