Superstition is the Human Condition

Halloweeeeeeennnn! It's upon us, and while we're women and men of science around here, we're not completely able to shed our lizard-brain's need to take shortcuts. Which is why we are not at all surprised to know that ER docs still think the moon's revolutions around the big blue marble are in any way important. Fortunately, the post-cave-dwellers at the Marburg Center for Undiagnosed and Rare Disease are putting IBM's Watson to good use by diagnosing--in seconds-- rare diseases that defy the efforts of meatier doctors. And a Rutgers study finds that med school faculty severely underestimate students' stress and mental health issues. But enough of that scariness; the Short Coat Podcast is fielding a team for the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine's Trivia Night fundraiser, so we practice and accidentally learn a lot more than we thought we would.