Cranial, Brain, and Heart Development: Human, Andorian, Klingon, Gorn, Tellarite, Vulcan

Did I ever mention I am the (very) proud owner of the fully illustrated Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual? It is epic - I mean, the medical advisor is listed as Leonard McCoy, MD.

One of the super-cool sections in this book shows the differences in cranial, heart, and brain development between Humans, Andorians, Klingons, Gorn, Tellarites, and Vulcans.

Now anyone who knows me also knows that I somewhat obsessive about Vulcan biology and culture - other species, not as much. Because of this, I will quickly go over what these illustrations tell us about Vulcan physiology, while completely ignoring every other species (except for human).

The Vulcan skull is considerably larger than that of humans, with harder bone that is about 0.2cm thicker around the brain. It is also said that Vulcan males do not possess the "supraorbital taurus" (bony ridges above the eye socket).

Now let's check out them brains!

The Vulcan brain and the Human brain have the same overall structure and size, however the midbrain is significantly different in Vulcans. This midbrain is where telepathic and telekinetic powers originate - the Vulcan midbrain is larger and far more intricate, explaining to a certain extent their psionic powers.

Last one - the heart.

The Vulcan heart beats at 242 minutes, and the average blood pressure is 80 systolic, and 40 diastolic (the blood vessels are extremely dilated). Blood vessels with a large diameter help cool the body. The heart is contained where a the liver would be in a human, thus leaving room for their larger lungs. The cartilage that would normally protect a human heart extends an extra 3.5 cm down to protect the Vulcan heart. The Vulcan heart is somewhat larger in size, extremely muscular, and has thinner walls (to allow for a greater pulse range and a greater volume of blood.

Bonus Fun fact:
Vulcan time is based on the beating of the heart and units of ten. Let's say, for this, that the Vulcan heart beats 240 times per earth minute. 100 Vulcan heart beats is equal to one Vulcan minute. A Vulcan minute is equal to 25 standard seconds, and 24 standard minutes is equal to ten Vulcan minutes. (Strangers from the Sky - Margaret Wander Bonanno)

Trek or Treat - 1977 (Part 2)

Continuing on from Part 1, here are some more semi-amusing scans from the book: Trek or Treat, by Terry Flanagan and Eleanor Ehrhardt.

First we have a strained looking Spock, made out to seem like he is finally taking offense to McCoy's taunting... (but actually from "Is There in Truth no Beauty, where he starts going crazy)

I'll thank you to keep my ears out of this!

And then we come to McCoy, Kirk, and Spock, standing on the bridge while Kirk "imitates the Fonz". (I have always loved Happy Days, so this one appealed to me. There was also a page in this book where Spock wasn't doing his work because he was too busy watching the Fonz, but it wouldn't scan right.)

Aaaaa-yyy! 'Cause I'm the Captain!

Next we have Spock, wearing the IDIC (from "Is There in Truth no Beauty?"). I happen to love this picture, and despite Nimoy's opposition towards the use of the IDIC, I love what it stands for. I do not, however, love the fact that they keep making Spock out to seem like a disrespectful fool (once again, I feel illogically protective about his character).

Anyways, this is also the picture they used for the front cover of the book:

Same to you, fella.

From "The Changeling", we have here that internet-famous picture that has been dubbed the "Vulcan nipple pinch" and continues to fuel disturbing fan-fiction everywhere. I am afraid. None the less, here is a less disturbing take on things:

A little more to the left... that's good. Now scratch.

The next picture/caption duo is actually classic Kirk... I can actually see him making this face and saying this exact thing.

I have a friend that I met in an art class, and every art class I would talk non-stop about Star trek to her. I thought that eventually she had learned to tune me out, but later I found that even though she had never seen an episode, she knew the back-story of every character and the plot of most of the episodes from merely listening to me... she knows more about Star Trek now than a lot of the fans I know who have seen every episode.

Anyways, the whole point to this anecdote is that I am always posting creepy/flirty pictures of Kirk on her facebook wall, because... well, because I can. And because she freaked out in disbelief when she found out William Shatner was 80, and had never really seen how good-looking he used to be. And because I (still) think he is massively sexy (and I don't think she does). I'm a good friend.

But I digress. Again. To my friend - if you are reading this, this is for you:

Anyone for skinny-dipping?

Moving on, we have Spock, 1950's high school-girl musical style.

This is the pits! Got into my dress blues and now the party is called off.

Last one! (Of the half that I scanned.) A large portion of the photos in this book are from "The Enterprise Incident", which is quite alright because as I mentioned before, it is one of my favorites. One of the reasons why I love the episode so much is that Kirk disguises himself as a Romulan:

It goes well with your high heels.

So there you have it! Some very strange captions to go with epically amazing pictures. Not bad for a dollar, not bad at all.

Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin

The first Doctor Who book I ever read was written by Terrance Dicks and published in 1977 - Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin! As usual, I picked this up at an antique bookstore. It only takes a couple hours to read (although I have been told I am a speedy reader - I usually read a novel a day) and gives great insight into the workings of the Time Lord society, and the history of Rassilon.

Fun fact: Not all Gallifreyans are Time Lords.

Even more fun fact: The book is based off of the four episodes that made up the "The Deadly Assassin" serial, which can be watched on youtube! Thanks, technology and copyright infringements!