Tree Grows in Man’s Lung

Remember when we were kids and we thought that if we swallowed seeds then a plant would grow inside of us?  Then we got older and laughed at ourselves for frantically spitting out the seeds of everything we ate.  That couldn’t really happen!

Artyom Sidorkin may beg to differ.  The 28 year old Russian man went to the hospital complaining that he had been having intense pain in his chest and was coughing up blood.  Doctors performed an X-Ray on Sidorkin and discovered what they thought was a tumor in his lung.  They performed surgery and were incredibly surprised to find that it wasn’t a tumor, but a small, 5cm. fir tree growing from Sidorkin’s lung.  Doctors removed the tree and are keeping it for research.  The pain and blood were caused from the needles poking into the lung’s capillaries.

Doctors are baffled and amazed at this, and assume Sidorkin must have inhaled the bud of a fir tree, which somehow found his lung a safe place to grow.  Part of me wonders if this is a prank, like when they thought they found Big Foot last year.  Can a tree even grow without sunlight?  I did find this on multiple reputable news sources, so apparently everyone believes it for now.  I’m curious to see how it plays out.  In any case, I’m pretty confident that I will spend the rest of the spring with a surgical mask tightly in place over my mouth…

Click Read More to see the photo of the tree on Sidorkin’s lung.  (Warning: Although interesting, it’s pretty graphic.  Don’t look at this if you plan on eating for the rest of the day.)
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The Zombie Psychiatrist

Did you ever wonder why zombies act the way they do?  Why do they just want “BRAAAAAAAINS!” and forget about all the other human aspects of life?  Which parts of their own brains are controlling their hunger for flesh and slow zombie movements?  Psychiatrist Steven Schlozman, MD is giving a speech at The Coolidge Corner Theatre on April 13th to answer these questions for their “Science On Screen” series.  The series pairs films with well established professionals who relate the film to their area of scientific specialty.  Schlozman himself is a huge fan of zombie films and pop culture.  Combining his love of zombie films with his work as a psychiatrist, he has prepared a presentation that helps to explain the motivations and brain functions of the living dead.

Schlozman will also discuss why the humans who are fleeing from the zombies usually react in similar ways through the majority of zombie films.  Humans automatically reflect the moods of others around them.  They feed off of one another’s stress, feeling the hopelessness of their situation as more and more people are infected.  Therefore they eventually fall into the same brain function as the zombies themselves, giving up and rushing out into the mass of zombies, fighting with everything they have until they are devoured.  They know it is hopeless to fight the zombies, but their brain’s simple functions take over and they react with the zombie’s own sub-cortical behavior.

After Schlozman’s presentation, the classic George Romero zombie film Night of the Living Dead will be shown.  If you live in the Boston area, tickets are $9.75 regular admission, or $7.75 for seniors, students, and Museum of Science members.  Admission is free for members of the Coolidge Corner Theatre.

Click here to go to the “Science On Screen” website: http://www.coolidge.org/science

Click Read More to watch the original 1968 trailer for Night of the Living Dead.
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