Oooh! I’m glad they replayed that segment! Well, one of them, at least. I’m not sure which one you heard, but there are a couple good ones - here’s the Science Friday segment on it. This Fresh Air interview of Carl Zimmer has some additional information on it.

As for “if it works”, that’s still being determined in many respects, but so far, it’s looking like one of the most effective treatments for infections caused by the destruction of gut bacteria - when our normal gut flora is destroyed by antibiotics, bacteria that are normally kept in check by the “good bacteria” can take hold and take over, like Clostridium difficile. C. difficile is in your gut already, most likely, but the good flora in there makes it so that it can’t get a solid footing in your intestines and cause problems.

Really, that’s the primary use for fecal transplants right now, but they’re being investigated in other intestinal diseases and conditions. For now, though, we’re pretty sure that the extremely high success rate for eliminating C. difficile infections(80%+ with non-“matched” transplants, 95%+ with transplants from a household member) is directly due to the infusion of good bacteria back into the gut - nothing is for certain until every possibility is investigated, but it’s looking like a really solid solution, possibly even a new standard solution to be used BEFORE giving a patient more antibiotics. We’ll see how studies on other diseases turn out eventually, but C. difficile is a horrible infection, and affects a lot of people, and this is actually a really promising treatment modality.

Oh my. I’m sorry to hear about your friend - anaphylactic shock is a terrible thing in anyone, but I can’t imagine being someone who didn’t expect it have it come on without warning.

Despite all the good it does, the immune system can be a real jerk, sometimes.

…you tell me.

I wish I knew. Stupid angry immune systems, I guess.

Ughhhh…rubor, dolor, calor, tumor. Yeah. Thanks. Been mixing up “calor” and “tumor” more than I’d like to admit lately.

Still, appreciate the correction. Just annoyed at myself.

Alright, I might. I find a lot of the diseases/deformities of the generative organs and orifices just as interesting as any other disease, but I’m always afraid people will see me as “obscene” or inappropriate…not sure why, given my other posts, and my language, just a hang-up of mine. >_>

Will try to do so later today. Fascinating subject. In the mean time, here’s a post on osteonecrosis (which can be caused by osteomyelitis), and some random bones, for no reason.

Yes, yes they are. Unfortunately they’re a fairly recent discovery (though the first inklings of “wtf is wrong with these ants” was way back in the 30s!), and when I’m discussing species/genera I have this irrational dislike of writing up posts without images.

I may attempt a post on them at some point. They’re bizarre and so highly adapted and so well-evolved and so creepy as all hell.

What? No. Go away. You’re uninvited to this party.

“Methinks thou art a general offense, and every man should beat thee. I think thou wast created for men to breathe themselves upon you.”

Also that may be so but at least I’m not French

Most of the deep-sea fish are pretty fugly, from what I’ve seen…the deep-sea jellies and cephalopoda can be downright beautiful, though!

That said, I have a toy hatchetfish and my partner asked me why I bought a toy of a “dead fish” when he first saw it.

Yeahhh…about that. My dude’s computer overloaded the logic circuit on my old external hard drive. Got a new computer, but did lose ~75,000 image files in the end. Mind you, each page of every book is a single file - it’s not like I have tens of thousands of books.

Not sure if I’ll get it recovered or not. Can’t decide whether the time I put into getting those files (and the other media on it) is worth the expense to get it back, on top of still having to buy a new external. In the end I’m probably just gonna get a new PCB and do the work myself (I’d give it a 1 in 4 chance of turning out well - I know my computers and what needs to be done, but I’m not good with fine work). If it doesn’t work out *shrug*. Just wasted my own time, not the additional labor costs.

I mean, a week after I found out it got burned out and I actually started making steps towards getting some recovery done, I got in a pretty major car wreck, so I haven’t thought much about it the past few days.

Long story short, lost all that shit, probably won’t get it back for a good while if I get it back at all, currently functioning off of newly dug-up/edited files. Not really that focused on it at the moment, though.

Still have a bunch of weird stuff to give away next week, car wreck and file loss aside.

I don’t even…what are you talking about? The whole brain? None of it? The brain stem? the cerebrum? I really would…actually, I’m not sure if I want clarification on what you’re asking.

There are a lot of structures in the brain, but unless you’re into squishiness, I don’t think any of them would make particularly good sex toys. Just sayin’?

Hah, good catch. Fixed. Honestly, that’s one that wasn’t just an early-morning fluke…I actually forgot that word had multiple spellings. >_> Ya learn (well, at least re-learn) something every day!

While digital imaging has made tremendous strides in recent years, I believe that in many instances (especially in projects with limited funding and limited resources) there is no substitute for the human illustrator - it’s a difficult field to get into, and you will probably need a great mentor to get a good step up,but it’s still (and I think always will be) an essential field. I wish I could be more helpful and steer you towards people who could help you, but I’m sure that you’ll find more helpful resources than me when you delve into the career!

Plants! Yes! I do love plants, though they don’t come up terribly often - I love them, though, especially in the context of “traditional” remedies, and the plants that have killed people (white snakeroot caused “milk sickness” in Abraham Lincoln’s mother which eventually killed her!) are equally fascinating.

I’m listening to my drunk friends finishing up a game of Cards Against Humanity. Or rather, trying to finish up the game, while one of them keeps shooting the Nerf gun at the rest of them, and he’s a damn good shot…people keep getting shot in the eyeball.