Billy Goldberg (born April 10, 1966) is a New York City emergency medicine physician at the NYU School of Medicine (Bellevue Hospital and New York University (NYU) Medical Center), where he is also an Assistant Professor and an Assistant Director in the Department of Emergency Medicine. [1] He graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1992.
He has collaborated with writer Mark Leyner on two books of answers to commonly pondered, though discomforting, medical questions. The two plan on making a third book to be released sometime in 2013. "That is if we're not dead from drinking all of those martinis and whiskey sours" said Mark Leyner when interviewed about the upcoming book.
The books are:
In September 2005, Nipples was #1 on the New York Times Bestselling Paperback Advice Books List.
Goldberg and Leyner attempt to answer questions such as, "What causes an ice cream headache?"; "Does it really take seven years to digest gum?"; and, "Why does your pee smell after eating asparagus?" [2]
In an interview, Goldberg posits the philosophy behind the books: "We spend every moment walking around in this incredibly well-constructed but hard-to-figure-out machine that is our bodies. Everything we do — when we think, when we hear, when we smell, when we eat — there are these processes that are happening that we don’t understand. You can’t escape from having these moments thinking, how does it work?" [3]
Asparagus is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus Asparagus native to Eurasia. Widely cultivated as a vegetable crop, its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable.
The nipple is a raised region of tissue on the surface of the breast from which, in lactating females, milk from the mammary gland leaves the body through the lactiferous ducts to nurse an infant. The milk can flow through the nipple passively, or it can be ejected by smooth muscle contractions that occur along with the ductal system. The nipple is surrounded by the areola, which is often a darker colour than the surrounding skin.
A wink is a facial expression made by briefly closing one eye. A wink is an informal mode of non-verbal communication usually signaling shared hidden knowledge or intent. However, it is ambiguous by itself and highly dependent upon additional context, without which a wink could become misinterpreted or even nonsensical. For example, in some regions of the world, a wink may be considered rude or offensive. Depending on the relationship of the people involved, a wink could possibly constitute a sexual gesture.
A supernumerary nipple is an additional instance of nipple occurring in mammals, including humans and monkeys. They are often mistaken for moles. Studies variously report the prevalence of supernumerary nipples as approximately 1 in 18 and 1 in 40.
Mark Leyner is an American postmodernist author.
Matthew John Lesko is an American author known for his publications and infomercials on federal grant funding. He has written over twenty books instructing people how to get money from the United States government. Widely recognized for recording television commercials, infomercials, and interviews in colorful suits decorated with question marks, Lesko's signature fashion also extends into his daily attire and transportation, earning him the nickname Question Mark Guy.
American singer Madonna made an appearance on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman on March 31, 1994. The appearance was noted for an extremely controversial series of statements and antics by Madonna, which included many expletives. In particular, Madonna said the word fuck fourteen times throughout the interview. This made the episode the most censored in American network television talk-show history while at the same time garnering host David Letterman some of the highest ratings he ever received. Critics commented she reached her "lowest low".
"Shaken, not stirred" is how Ian Fleming's fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond prefers his martini cocktail.
Mary Steichen Calderone was an American physician, author, public speaker, and public health advocate for reproductive rights and sex education.
Asparagusic acid is an organosulfur compound with the molecular formula C4H6O2S2 and systematically named 1,2-dithiolane-4-carboxylic acid. The molecule consists of a heterocyclic disulfide functional group (a 1,2-dithiolane) with a carboxylic acid side chain. It is found in asparagus and is believed to be the metabolic precursor to odorous sulfur compounds responsible for the distinctive smell of urine which has long been associated with eating asparagus.
Mitchell Symons is a British journalist and writer. Born in London, he was educated at Mill Hill School and the LSE where he studied law. Since leaving the BBC, where he was a researcher and director, he has worked as a writer, broadcaster and journalist. He was a principal writer for the early UK editions of the board game Trivial Pursuit, and has devised many television formats. He wrote an award-winning opinion column for the Daily Express.
The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks is a book about cocktails by David A. Embury, first published in 1948. The book is noteworthy for its witty, highly opinionated and conversational tone, as well as its categorization of cocktails into two main types: aromatic and sour; its categorization of ingredients into three categories: the base, modifying agents, and special flavorings and coloring agents; and its 1:2:8 ratio for sour type cocktails.
Why Do Men Have Nipples?, subtitled Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini, is a humor/medical book written by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D., and is a New York Times Bestseller.
Martini: A Memoir is both a memoir and a meditation on the martini by the Australian and Miles Franklin Literary Award winning author Frank Moorhouse.
Night and the Doctor is a series of five made-for-DVD mini-episodes of Doctor Who which were written by Steven Moffat. They were released as bonus features in the Complete Sixth Series DVD and Blu-ray box sets in November 2011. The first four are narratively linked, centring on the question, "What does the Doctor do at night when his companions are asleep?" and take place in the console room of the TARDIS. The fifth one precedes the events of the episode "Closing Time", possibly a prequel or deleted scene, though this remains unconfirmed by the BBC. No cast or crew were credited for any of the five episodes except for writer Steven Moffat.
Ear hair is the terminal hair arising from folliculary cartilage inside the external auditory meatus in humans. In its broader sense, ear hair may also include the fine vellus hair covering much of the ear, particularly at the prominent parts of the anterior ear, or even the abnormal hair growth as seen in hypertrichosis and hirsutism. Medical research on the function of ear hair is currently very scarce.
Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life is a three-part television documentary presented by Richard Dawkins which explores what reason and science might offer in major events of human lives. He argues that ideas about the soul and the afterlife, of sin and God's purpose have shaped human thinking for thousands of years. He believes science can provide answers to some of these old questions we used to entrust to religion.
Auricular hypertrichosis is a genetic condition expressed as long and strong hairs growing from the helix of the pinna.