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04.19.08
When I was 7 years old, my favorite game was Operation. When Akrit Jaswal was 7 years old he was operating on real people. Yup, you heard me right; real scalpel, real blood, and really trusting patients. The British series Extraordinary People follows Akrit from his village in India - where he's revered as a child guru - to England where he receives a reality check after spending two weeks with top cancer researchers at London's Imperial College. Don't get me wrong though, I'm definitely on Team Akrit. The kid is clearly a prodigy, and if anyone's gonna find a catch-all cure for Cancer, I do hope it's him. (Click here for part 2)
If you've nestled in with some popcorn and you're butt isn't sore yet then I also highly recommend Guru Busters, a great Channel 4 documentary that came out in 1995. The programme follows the work of The Science & Rationalists Association of India who trek across the subcontinent in a minibus using science to debunk the mystical powers of local swamis, gurus and fakirs. You'll get to see how "holy flames" are conjured up using simple techniques (much like Dr. Schrempp's Building Fire with Chemistry piece for Wired Science) and pick up other nifty science tips & tricks so that you too can become a venerated Godman or Godwoman someday.
Science Doc Series :: God-men vs Scientists
by
I'm guessing I'm not the only one here with a crack-like documentary
addiction. And with literally hundreds of docs popping up each day,
trying to spot the good ones online feels a bit like playing
Whack-A-Mole. So dear readers, since I've got the "habit", the blog and
the wherewithal, I've decided to share some of my favorite online
science documentaries in a brand new blog series called: The
Black Mallet (after all, I have won a mini-stuffed toy ;>)
So to kick things off today, we're gonna check out an Indian-themed double
bill: God-men vs. Scientists
When I was 7 years old, my favorite game was Operation. When Akrit Jaswal was 7 years old he was operating on real people. Yup, you heard me right; real scalpel, real blood, and really trusting patients. The British series Extraordinary People follows Akrit from his village in India - where he's revered as a child guru - to England where he receives a reality check after spending two weeks with top cancer researchers at London's Imperial College. Don't get me wrong though, I'm definitely on Team Akrit. The kid is clearly a prodigy, and if anyone's gonna find a catch-all cure for Cancer, I do hope it's him. (Click here for part 2)
If you've nestled in with some popcorn and you're butt isn't sore yet then I also highly recommend Guru Busters, a great Channel 4 documentary that came out in 1995. The programme follows the work of The Science & Rationalists Association of India who trek across the subcontinent in a minibus using science to debunk the mystical powers of local swamis, gurus and fakirs. You'll get to see how "holy flames" are conjured up using simple techniques (much like Dr. Schrempp's Building Fire with Chemistry piece for Wired Science) and pick up other nifty science tips & tricks so that you too can become a venerated Godman or Godwoman someday.
Tags: Black Mallet, chemistry, documentary, science, surgery, Ziya Tong
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April 19, 2008 3:28 PM
Michael Tobis
Well, that's unfortunate timing with my last article, isn't it? It pretty much undermines everything I said. I really have no choice but to ask for some evidence that this isn't a complete fabrication.
He was apparently born in 1993 and the video is 8 years old. So he should be fifteen by now. So which medical school is he attending? How is the one true cure for cancer coming along?
April 22, 2008 3:48 PM
Ziya Tong
I'm guessing the cure for cancer isn't quite in the offing yet, but he's apparently working on his BSc in Zoology, Botany & Chemistry at Chandigarh College in India.
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