New York, NY-Hitting newsstands today, the latest edition of Maxim Science, the popular science magazine for men, will reveal the highly anticipated results of their controversial annual listing of the world's unsexiest organs.
Coming in as the unsexiest organ this year according to the team of scientists at Maxim Science, the "spleen is the least sexy organ in a group of very unsexy organs." They reveal that the unfashionable and hopelessly unhip mass of lymphoid tissue is pivotal in cleaning up old or diseased red blood cells and plays a key role in the immune system's ability to protect the body from microbial predators. But, says Yale anatomist and Maxim Science consultant Sam McCluggage, the spleen is "so last decade it's not even funny!"
As word of the list has made its way around the scientific community over the past few weeks, defenders of the maligned organ, present in the abdominal cavity of most humans and many animal species, have been speaking out. Carmen Electra, an American actress and part-time faculty member of University of California at Irvine's Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy department who lost her spleen in a tragic encounter with a wheat thresher as a young child growing up in a Latvian farming community, has expressed outrage over the magazine's list and concern over the potential negative health consequences.
"Does the spleen fit some ideals and standards of some researchers writing in a men's science magazines? Maybe not," the star of 2006's hit film Hot Tamale explained. "Is it really the unsexiest organ in the world? Wow! It's so brutal in a way, so filled with rage and anger. I can't help but worry what may happen if people begin to neglect their spleen health in favor of focusing on more glamorous but less important organs."
The listing of the world's unsexiest organs comes on the heels of the science magazine's recent unveiling of their annual sexiest organ rundown. Not suprising to many experts, and longtime readers, repeating with top honors was the vagina, followed by the breasts. Making the list for the first time this year, the gallbladder came in third.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
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Speaking as the proprietor of a blog called "Dr Aust's Spleen", I am chagrined to hear this most excellent organ get such a bad rap.
BTW, mention of the gall bladder calls to mind a famous gall bladder joke. Founder of modern pathology Rudolf Virchow, known for both his social conscience and his mordant sense of humour, was once asked by a student "Prof Virchow, can men live without the gallbladder?"
- this was around the end of the 19th century, the time when gall bladder removal was becoming a popular surgery for treating jaundice or gallstones, and surgeons were beginning to make a big pitch for the operation.
Virchow thought for a moment:
"Men, yes" he commented. "But surgeons? I think not".
Hilarious blog, by the way - first-time visitor here.
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