Aubrey in Waco, Texas, says her mother used to warn the kids against contracting honkus of the bonkus, a fanciful name for a contagious disease. This colloquial term probably comes from the words bonk and konk, meaning “to hit” or...
Samantha from Charleston, South Carolina, says her mother and grandmother are of Italian heritage, and have always advised keeping one’s neck warm as a precaution against the mal aria. That sort of consigli della nonna, or...
retrospectoscope n.— «The view through scopes—colonoscopes, arthroscopes and laparoscopes, to name a few—routinely aids physicians in narrowing diagnoses and arriving at a plan of care. But none is as illuminating as the one doctors refer...
actigraphy n.— «They also filled out sleep questionnaires, kept a log of their hours in bed and participated in six nights of sleep studies with a technique called wrist actigraphy that uses a motion sensor—worn like a watch—to estimate...
defac n.— Note: “Defac” is far less often spelled “difac,” despite being a blend of “dining facility.” «Camp Phoenix in particular, was an example of where the disease began with food preparation and...
nanobialy n.— «Ultra-miniature bialy-shaped particles—called nanobialys because they resemble tiny versions of the flat, onion-topped rolls popular in New York City—could soon be carrying medicinal compounds through patients’...