In 2006, a man named Jasper Lawrence travelled to Africa to infect himself with hookworm by walking barefoot in a steaming mound of human excrement. He and other proponents of so-called helminthic therapy say that industrialized societies have become too clean, and in the process of sterilizing our homes and bodies, we’ve eradicated an essential piece of…
When you cross a helium-filled balloon with a kite, you get a Helikite. Watch the slideshow to learn how scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute are using it for ocean research.
When I wake up in the morning, I stumble into my kitchen, plunge a spoon into a jar of solidified coconut oil and scoop it into my mouth. I soften the oil with my tongue and swish it around, pushing and pulling it between my teeth for exactly 20 minutes. After I spit the oil…
“Don’t you dare lick that seal!” screamed a bikini-clad young woman flicking the salty waves with her toes. As I glanced across the Santa Cruz Dog Beach toward the base of a succulent-covered cliff, a brown mutt the size of a footstool was fondling a lifeless pinniped half buried in the sand. It was one…
As we sat in my car outside a silent movie theater in Los Angeles, my friend anxiously opened a plastic bag containing a white T-shirt she’d slept in for the past three nights. “Does it smell like me?” she asked nervously, gesturing the open end toward my face. I stuck my nose into the bag and inhaled….
For the past few months, my iPhone has been tracking my movements while I sleep. This isn’t because I’ve fallen victim to a National Security Agency sting (at least as far as I know). I have programmed my phone to keep close tabs on me – on purpose. Of the many “a-ha!” moments I had in college,…
