Were you one of those kids who bit your nails down the quick or bit your skin until it bled? If you were, and your parents broke you of the habit, you should call them up and thank them immediately. Who knows, they may have prevented your behavior from escalating into a far-worse condition known as body integrity identity disorder (BIID). To call it a disorder doesn’t really do justice to the depraved nature of this malady, in which a person develops a desire to amputate his or her own perfectly healthy limbs. Finally, stories that entertain as well as inform in the Science Times section of The New York Times! (Frankly, I’m surprised the Post didn’t get this one first, but hey, you can’t win ’em all.) The Times sure got to the heart of the story in a hurry: “This is so completely beyond the realm of normal behavior,” Dr. Michael First is quoted as saying. Ya think?! Clearly there’s an untapped market here for pharmaceutical companies. How about a pill to block such bizarre urges? I can see ad copy now: “Don’t BIID adieu to that finger. You may need it some day. Take LimbLove!”

—Posted by Steve McClellan