Brandy L. Schillace
Euclid
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Articles by Brandy L. Schillace
An Editor’s farewell
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The God of Mathematics
In the small hours of morning, when sleep has fled and the strange noises of night crowd young imaginations, numbers can be magical. I do not mean math proper, not yet; I mean the solidity and reality of counting. We counted sheep, we counted our toes and small fingers, our elbows and knees - strange preparation for the infinite, uncountable stars that awaited in the velvet dark.
Ethics and medical specimens
Statistics from Altmetric.com Request Permissions If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways. On 1 August, it was announced that the family of Henrietta Lacks reached a settlement with the biotech company over non-consensual use of her cells.
The Peculiar Book Club is Moving
Hello there! You are receiving this message because you are a loyal (lovely) subscriber to the Peculiar Book Club free newsletter. We have had two newsletters for a while now, one for VIP members (who very kindly chip in to help us stay afloat) and this one, at no cost. VIP get special access codes to extra shows, etc. We are merging the two newsletters, but not to worry! On your end, the only change will be a subtle difference in logo appearance.
The Puzzling Reason for a Date Change
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The Puzzling Reason for a Date Change
RIGHT! Okay, so: Let’s say you are just a cool author fellow, minding your own business one day, and you get a call from… —The White House. —Because the President would like to invite you to a PRIDE event. —On June 8th. —But you already have a gig that night with the Peculiar Book Club. It’s a touch choice, you know? I think the President *almost* lost this one, but we #Peculiars love a good PRIDE event, so we encouraged AJ to accept.
Be A-MAZE-D (and PUZZLED, too!)
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Be A-MAZE-D (and PUZZLED, too!)
The New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically goes on a rollicking journey to understand the enduring power of puzzles: why we love them, what they do to our brains, and how they can improve our world. What makes puzzles—jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus—so satisfying? As a self-proclaimed “word nerd since childhood”, Jacobs adds to his impressive oeuvre of peculiar books about his personal lifestyle experiments with The Puzzler.
The Evening Hero--and the return of Musician Susan Hwang!
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The Evening Hero--and the return of Musician Susan Hwang!
Usually, we have a week between shows, but our NEXT meet-up will be THIS THURSDAY! Please join us for a surprising and unusual show format. Author Marie Myung-Ok Lee will join us for a pre-recorded chat with Davey Berris about this incredible and moving story—war, secrets, love, hope. In addition, musician Susan Hwang will return to us LIVE to talk about music, and about her life as the child of immigrant parents. She will present a featured song for us.
Ed Yong joins Peculiar Book Club Livestream!
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Ed Yong joins Peculiar Book Club Livestream!
We host a VIP members only show. Subscribers to VIP make the PBC possible (we would not be able to cover costs without them—it’s surprisingly expensive to run a twice-monthly variety show!) We choose a few special authors to be our VIP guests. Ed is one (and later in the year, Mary Roach will be another).
Comments - Link and Drink! - by Brandy L Schillace
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Link and Drink!
It is TIME! The drink names are being voted on here.
Comments - Escape Velocity - by Brandy L Schillace
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Escape Velocity
Hi gang! So I am on my way to Sweden to give a keynote about medical humanities and social justice—then on to the alps for a vacation. I promise many photographs! I will be joining you on the 27th for Katie Mack (YAY). Kat should be posting the drink recipe on our Facebook Group soonish, because I don’t have it to send here.
The BOOKCLUB at the End of the Universe
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The BOOKCLUB at the End of the Universe
Yes, it *is* a reference to the indomitable Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Also, though, don’t panic even though we only have one show in April! Because that particular show is going to be, pun very much intended, OUT OF THIS WORLD.
Conservatives weaponize #autism in their fight against #transgender
Introduction: Red states have been limiting transgender care through unfair legislation, seeking to limit or eliminate affirming outlets for trans youth. That’s bad enough. But recently, states like Alabama and Georgia have added additional language that targets those with disabilities, too. Gabriel Arkles writes that “ableist justifications for anti-trans legislation are everywhere” in an essay for Truthout; Eric M.
Morning Coffee but at 3PM by Accident
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Morning Coffee but at 3PM by Accident
Ever have one of those days where you get around to your planned to-do list at, like, never? Or at 3pm, anyway. The best laid plans, eh? I do have something to share, though. I mean, I have the link to Thursday’s AMAZING #WomensHistoryMonth show (free to all because some of you donated here—still accepting till Thurs). And I have the cocktail, too. But in addition, I wanted to wax complimentary a minute: I have always seen the Peculiar Book Club as a safe space, a home, a found family.
Fight for your RIGHTS with Kate Kelly! Free for Women's History Month!
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Fight for your RIGHTS with Kate Kelly! Free for Women's History Month!
THE BATTLE GOES ON! Ordinary Equality digs into the fascinating and little-known history of the women and queer people who have helped shape the U.S. Constitution for more than 200 years. Based on author Kate Kelly’s acclaimed podcast of the same name, Ordinary Equality recounts a story centuries in the making.
What happens when a #historian talks about #transgender rights
On May 10, 2021, I published an article in Scientific American called “The Forgotten History of the World’s First Trans Clinic.” It would appear in the print magazine in August of the same year—still 2021. In it, I wrote the following sentence: Two years have gone by, and we are presently witnessing the worst attacks on transgender (and other LGBTQIA) people in the 21st century.
This Week's Event: Award Winner Florence Williams!
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This Week's Event: Award Winner Florence Williams!
Thursday’s show link to YouTube and FB (free) This week’s book cocktail (heart of Agave, folks!) A Special Guest does a mysterious REVEAL We have 17 pro-rated memberships left, sale ends March 30 Subscribe to our YouTube and spread the word! In reverse order: We really do hope you will subscribe to the YouTube feed. One nice thing about it: it tells you when we put something new up.
We have something special planned...
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We have something special planned...
I know February is the shortest month. It does not FEEL like the shortest month. In Cleveland, we get snain, snail, and snog. Basically, every kind of weather (apart from the very rare ray of sunshine) comes with the threat of maybe-almost-not-quite-wet-cold-snow. My back yard is a small lake surrounded by mud flats. The chickens are not pleased. Darwin… just plays in the mud. Anyway, I decided we needed a pick-me-up in March. Ok, ok—our first March show might not seem like a mood lifter, I realize.
Broken Heart Syndrome
In 2018, Karin nearly died of a broken heart. No disease, no congested arteries, no signs and no symptoms, yet her heart suddenly ballooned in size and threatened to burst. If she hadn’t been lying on an operating table for an entirely different medical procedure, she would have died. Karin would be diagnosed with broken heart syndrome. Severe stress, sudden shock, bereavement, financial losses, even a surprise party can cause it. And it can kill you.
A Whole Town that Talks to Spirits?
I live in Cleveland, Ohio. In summers, I like to drive through the finger-lakes region of New York State—just a few hours away. But veer off the beaten tourist track a little bit, and you might just find yourself transported in time. Well. Sort of. I have spent a bit of time studying the historical relationship between Victorian science, religion, and the occult, what was known as Spiritualism. Some quite famous people were ardent practitioners, including Arthur Conan Doyle (of Sherlock Holmes fame).
New Newsletter Platform!
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New Newsletter Platform!
Hello Peculiar Subscribers!! This is our new newsletter platform. Why? Because Mailchimp hates me and crashes constantly. Also, this platform lets us consolidate a lot of things. For the most part, the only difference for the average subscriber to our usual free shows will be a slightly sleeker looking newsletter. But let’s say you want to join as a VIP member for the extra shows and perks.
If You're Weird, You're Family
This is Peculiar Book Club . It’s weird. It’s science-y. It’s a safe haven of nerdery for all peculiar people with bizarre interests–and best of all, you get to chat LIVE with your favorite authors from the comfort of your Nautilus or other computer station. Get signed books from indy shops Loganberry Books (US)or Foxlane Books (UK), hear live music, name the week’s cocktail.
When Death Comes
In a small town not far from where I live, spirits move. Or so I am told. Lily Dale, a small hamlet in New York state, was incorporated in 1879 as Cassadaga Lake Free Association: a spiritualist camp. The principle tenet of spiritualism is the ability to communicate or interact with the dead. As a belief, it has been around almost as long as religion itself.
The (real, weird) History of CYANIDE Poisoning
Like many of you, I have watched the new Netflix series, Wednesday, where the titular character spends her first semester at Nevermore Academy solving seriel murder. Ah, nostalgia! (Okay, maybe not the murder part, but the reading alone in graveyards—yes ma’am.) In this recent season, there’s quite a lot of talk about poisons in general, and cyanide in particular.
Our Next Show will be all Gilded Age DRAMA!
Peculiar News and Notes Upcoming Show and Link Reminders Well, I finished my edits on the fiction for my editor (there will be more, as is the nature of such things), and I'm back into the non-fiction research and writing... So OF COURSE I am making tiny tea cups and picnic baskets out of clay. Who wouldn't, in my shoes? In other news: Don't forget that Davey now runs the PBC Film podcast, and that a new show will be coming this month (a love triangle flick!) Let's show him the love.
The God of Mathematics
In the small hours of morning, when sleep has fled and the strange noises of night crowd young imaginations, numbers can be magical. I do not mean math proper, not yet; I mean the solidity and reality of counting. We counted sheep, we counted our toes and small fingers, our elbows and knees—strange preparation for the infinite, uncountable stars that awaited in the velvet dark. I remember feeling small, but with my back against grass and the warm earth under me, I don’t ever remember feeling lost.
Bone up on the science of smell!
Cadaver Dogs Face-time with authors on DISCORD! PECULIAR MOVIE CLUB! DRINK recipe What the Dog Knows PREVIEW The LIVE version of this show (and discord after party) is available as Patreon Perk.
Brain Transplants, Again? (or, More from the World of Frankenstein Science)
Canavero is once more in the “head”lines. This time, at least, I saw it coming. He emailed me a sort of press-release for his latest article, where he claims to have moved on from head transplant. Not very far, though. Now he will transplant brains. In case you need it, some history on this weird little story: In 2013, an unusual paper appeared in Surgical Neurology International, a peer-reviewed medical journal based in the United States.
Can You Really "Smell" Death?
When I was four years old, I lived with my mother and grandparents in a white house with two porches. I remember a day in spring, when little bluebells were blooming next to the front steps, I began thinking of each little bell as the life of a person. How long would it live? Fifty years? Maybe I even guessed a hundred. But the point is this: I worried about what would happen when the bluebell’s life was all used up. What happened then? The real question, of course, was what happens when you die?
Autism Out Loud
Technically, I did this in 2021—in October, right around my birthday. But though my first article on “Coming Out Autistic” (in Scientific American.) explained the process I’d gone through to acknowledge my autism, I did not really live my autism publicly until this past year. In other words, though I broke the news, I had yet to do the living-out-loud part. Believe it or not, it doesn’t come naturally. For most of my life, I’ve been told that success depended upon keeping my autism a secret.
The Writer, Her Brother, and a Wild Pony
Summer heat dried up the ditches till the earth cracked, meaning everything, everywhere was floured in a layer of dust. There wasn’t much to do in the lazy hours between lunch, when our father left for his second shift welding job and six-thirty, when our mom made it home from the factory. Well. There were chores, obviously. But those could wait until the last panicked half-hour before we were caught shirking.
What’s it like living with high-functioning autism?
The GLP Needs Your Help It is easier than ever for advocacy groups to spread disinformation on pressing science issues, such as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. No, vaccines are not harmful. Yes, the use of biotechnology, GMOs or gene editing to develop antigens for treatments including vaccines are part of the solution. To inform the public about what’s really going on, we present the facts and challenge those who don't. We can’t do this work without your help.
Being Autistic Out Loud
When I grew up, the only real reference I had for neurodivergence was Rain Man, a film with David Hoffman playing an autistic-savant named Raymond, who has been institutionalized most of his life. The film has been praised for bringing “autism awareness.” But it also entrenched the idea that all autistic people are savants (having a remarkable talent in one area, while suffering in most others), 2. that autistic people are or should be institutionalized “for their own good,” and 3.
‘The Oracle of Night’ Review: What Dreams Are Made Of
Once there was a boy who feared to sleep, beset as he was by troubled dreams. His night terrors contained muddy alleys and dark streets gray with rain. He traveled with companions and knew that one of them would be sacrificed to the appetite of witches. He dreamed, too, of a dangerous criminal, invisible but lurking, hanging like a bat far above his head. And he dreamed of tigers that attacked in deep jungles, and of falling into the blue-black sea teeming with sharks.
Science is Making it Easier than Ever to Predict Our Own Deaths
Photo: Markus Spiske / Unsplash In October, Apple ID announced a new “Digital Legacy” program designed to designate “legacy contacts” for users, in the event of their demise. The statement carried with it an asterisk (*) meant to alert customers that the new tech was not yet online. The result can be seen here, a sentence that reads: …in the event of your death…coming later this year. It’s not as meant, of course.
外部からの神経刺激で“人間拡張”を実現できる？ 「ニューロモデュレーション」の応用可能性と倫理的な課題
腕や手に重大な障害をもつ脳卒中患者108人を対象にした特殊な臨床試験が始まったのは、2017年10月初旬のことだった。その内容とは、外科手術によって患者の迷走神経に神経刺激装置を埋め込む試験である。迷走神経とは首の前部にある溝に沿って走る脳神経で、脳から身体のほかの部分へと信号を送る機能をもつ。 この試験が終わるころには、それまでは能力が限られていた被験者たちの腕や手が元通りに動くようになり始めていた。理由は不明だが、リハビリ療法と並行して迷走神経にパルスを送ったことで、患者たちは障害のある腕や手を以前よりもうまく使えるようになっていたのである。しかも、これまで何に対しても反応しなかった患者でさえ、これまでのどの治療よりも早く反応が起きていた。 この臨床試験の結果は、21年4月に医学学術誌『The Lancet』オンライン版で発表された。まひを回復させること自体が驚くべき結果だが、この論文にはさらに根源的な内容が含まれている。それは患者の神経が「何を」学習したのかではなく、「いかに」学習したのかについてだ。...
The Skinny on LASIK, Botox, and Butt Lifts
Photo: Inés Castellano / Unsplash The headlines don’t get much stranger: Two Charged With Murder in Illegal Butt Lift Operation. The story broke September 16th, with a mother and daughter arrested for injecting liquefied silicon into a woman’s buttocks. They had promised a cheap means of replicating the “Brazilian butt lift,” a cosmetic procedure that involves the transfer of fat to help create more fullness in your backside for a fraction of the usual $15,000 price-tag.
5 Things You Didn’t Know About Your Brain
Photo: David Matos / Unsplash There’s a lot about the brain we still don’t know. In fact, just this week neuroscientists discovered what they’re calling “zombie” brain cells, which only turn on after you die. (They are glial cells, and they are supposed to clean up the mess after a stroke or other trauma — they get to work immediately following death, even if their work is ultimately futile). The space between your ears turns out to be almost as elusive as the space between planets.
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