A Clarification on Causal Questions: We Ask Them More Often Than We Realize

Munchausen's syndrome--more common than we realize?

Munchausen's syndrome is a condition whereby a patient deliberately simulates symptoms of an illness in order to gain admission to hospital and gain the sick role. It is an uncommon condition and is possibly underdiagnosed. This case-series examines the cases of three patients with Munchausen's syndrome who presented to a Dublin hospital within a four-month period. Two of the presentations invo...

Men ask more questions than women at a scientific conference

Gender inequity in science and academia, especially in senior positions, is a recognised problem. The reasons are poorly understood, but include the persistence of historical gender ratios, discrimination and other factors, including gender-based behavioural differences. We studied participation in a professional context by observing question-asking behaviour at a large international conference...

More ties than we thought

We extend the existing enumeration of neck tie knots to include tie knots with a textured front, tied with the narrow end of a tie. These tie knots have gained popularity in recent years, based on reconstructions of a costume detail from The Matrix Reloaded, and are explicitly ruled out in the enumeration by Fink and Mao (2000). We show that the relaxed tie knot description language that compre...

More Mysterious Than We Suppose

Sudden infant death syndrome: what questions should we ask?

A limited historical perspective can affect the questions we pose about the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) issue. Evidence is presented from the literature that the SIDS rate in Western countries was low prior to World War II and peaked in the 1980s. An analogy is drawn with the trends in the prevalence of some infectious diseases, and questions are posed from the perspective of a bacteria...