Minerva

Did you know that Babinski's legacy was two clinical signs? The abnormal plantar reflex is the one we all know and love. The second is seen in patients with hemifacial spasm. It occurs when the orbicularis oculi muscle contracts, closing the eye, with the internal part of the frontalis muscle contracting at the same time so that the eyebrow rises when the eye closes. It's apparently impossible to reproduce this effect voluntarily, and it's used to distinguish between hemifacial spasm and blepharospasm (Neurology 2007;69:402-4 doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000266389.52843.3b).

Crime scene investigators look for prints from the palm, foot, ear, and lip as well as the traditional fingerprint. Invisible lip marks are possible to develop given the increasingly common use of protective and permanent lipsticks, and lysochromes such as Sudan Black are good at developing recent but invisible lip marks that contain lipstick on dead skin. Fluorescent dyes are just as useful, and they may also reveal lip marks not created by lipstick (Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine 2007;14:340-2 doi: 10.1016/j.jcfm.2006.10.010).

To tackle the problem of faulty research citations and their negative influence on the growth of scientific knowledge, journals …