Nick sent me this absolutely delightful Flash animation of the They Might Be Giants Song, The Blood Mobile, made by David Logan. If you're a fan of such TMBG science standards as Why Does The Sun Shine? you'll love this little ditty. A nice introdution to the functions of blood for small children and review for very, cough, old children. As Scott recently pointed out in comments science + music = sexy! (third t-shirt down.) It reminded me of a recent post by Pharyngula, pointed out as uncommonly beautiful by Ezra Klein:
Tonight, while I was preparing dinner, I slipped and gouged out a small chunk of my thumb with a knife—it stung for a moment, but it was nothing serious, just large enough and deep enough to bleed copiously. It was gorgeous. It welled in cycles with my pulse, and it was like I was dripping rubies. Brilliant, scarlet rubies polished smooth that would splash and sparkle when they hit the countertop.A meditation on our love-hate relationship with our vital liquid. Makes an interesting juxtaposition with this Ode to Immunity I recently stumbled upon at Rhinocrisy:" Most people go their entire lives without realizing the existence of the lymphatic system, and few people have any sort of detailed knowledge about it." Lymph is indeed fascinating stuff--a passive circulatory system, a kind of graveyard for our immunity battles. The only addition I would make to the bloodmobile song would be a verse about platelets--the cement that's deployed to fix up gashes when we hurt yourself. If you have the time and ability, please consider giving a regular blood donation or trying apheresis, a special kind of platelets donation.
