The weather in FrinkTank’s Springfield-like unidentified city of origin is supposed to be shite for Independence Day. Luckily, there’s always a backup light show to be had by sticking your head in a magnet. Dig the latest fMRIreworks, from the ACLU, who are not too keen on the Gub’ment’s new plan to use the technology […]

OK, so some days we slave over a hot, snarky stove in the chem lab, painstakingly mixing trace amounts of butyric acid, sperm whale sputum, and pureed Family Circus pulp until we achieve the desired suspension of high comedy and “blow ya mind” cultural relevance.
This type of work makes our ankles sore, so we love […]

A story on Ye Olde Mothership about scientists leapfrogging the peer review process got my eyeball all a-twitchin’.
“What happens when research bypasses the validation process and goes straight to the public?” the article innocently asketh. Hmmm… Maybe we get tossed-off popular-press-baiting bullshit like THIS? Or THIS?! [pauses to wipe spittle from side of lip]
I’ll […]

We all have our pet peeves at FrinkTank. What makes me Hulk out is the constant, relentless, mind-numbing torrent of fMRI “discoveries” in the news– almost all of which can be described using the following formula:
(ambiguous/mysterious/quirky behavior) + (really neat machine that creates colorful pictures of brains) + (the phrase “lights up”) = BREAKTHROUGH UNDERSTANDING! […]

A British TV show will claim that acupuncture works by deactivating the area of the brain governing pain.
The usual: Blah blah brain scan blah “light up” yada yada see that proves it doo de doo de doo.
A pain specialist grudgingly admits this “may be possible,” but only with the caveat that “it is a […]

The usually-sober Beeb gets its shriek on, “claiming” that SCIENCE CAN READ YOUR THOUGHTS.
Well… maybe, if those thoughts happen to be “red stripy pattern” or “blue stripy pattern.” [Seriously. These are technical terms, people.]
As is often the case with Crazy Brain Scan Science Breakthrough Flashes, the researchers’ quotes are a blitz of contextless, wildly […]