Tag Archives: halloween

First your headlamp failed and then your backup light and then the light on your phone.  It’s pitch black. Not just shadowy black, but absolutely, completely black – so black that the fish have no eyes.  You’re in a limestone cave, deep underground. You’ve been utterly lost for hours.  There are no paths, only the […]

Walking fast, you round the corner of an urban street and collide with — a clown — the greasepaint, the red, bulbous nose, oversized shoes, fright wig, exaggerated clothing, exaggerated smile, exaggerated eyes.  Immediately you feel nausea, your hands sweat, you struggle to breathe, you feel panic, anxiety and dread.  Your mouth goes dry and […]

Imagine the following: You were very sick.  It was touch and go for a while, but you’ve just awakened and feel much better.  You open your eyes and see… nothing. It’s absolutely, completely black, like the deepest cave.  ‘Am I blind?’ you ask yourself out loud, but the sounds of your own voice are all wrong. […]

Here’s a familiar situation: the shuffling figure, arms outstretched moving slowly toward you, emitting indecipherable moans, munching on what could be human brains…  And the universal question: Is that a zombie or is it your teenage offspring?  The answer will determine whether you dispatch it in the most grisly way imaginable or feed it mac-and-cheese. . […]

When you’re dead, you’re dead, right? Not if your genes have anything to say about it.   A team of microbiologists from the University of Washington studied gene activity in recently dead mice and fish. They found that the activity of over 1000 genes increases after death with the activity of some genes increasing as much as 24 […]