It is that time of the year again. The holidays are done. Everyone is returned from visiting family and friends.

Why is the Western scientist always clothed? What would happen if science was conducted, metaphorically, in the nude? Thinking through...

my roses are yellow, as yellow as the hair of the mermaiden,

[Originally published in Synapse on January 19, 1978.] Do mental patients check their constitutional rights at the hospital door? Do...

With five minutes left for the clock to strike 12, I was standing on the roof of my building looking...

Lately I've been relating life to dentistry and I don't find much difference between the two.

[Originally published in Synapse on January 4, 1996.] The bomb scare that welcomed many UCSF students back to class Tuesday...

What does craft making and science have in common? Quite a bit if made by members of the UCSF community.

[Originally published in Synapse on December 19, 2003.] Why is the greatest insult one can hurl at a boy is...

As I sit behind the wheel, knuckles pink and white, fingers clenched. I roll my windows down, the August night...

Marie Antoinette, former Queen of France, marches through the Place de la Revolution as onlookers jeer and throw vegetables that...

I got the call during anatomy lab, while holding your heart in my palms. Otosan has heart failure, said my...

[Originally authored by San Francisco orthopaedic surgeon Edward T. Kelley and published in Synapse on December 13, 1961.] Recent remarks...

Call me old-school, but I love going to the cinemas. From as young as I can remember, my mom would...

Not the darkness that stars bathe in Not the brain illness that requires saving