Why fish don't get headaches

It's easy to forget, when in the midst of trying to learn all sorts of complicated sciencey stuff, that we actually don't really need to know it.  Sure, the stuff we've been learning is useful to help us learn other stuff, but in the long run I question how much of it really sinks in.

For example, a doctor recently quizzed me about why fish oil is an effective anti-inflammatory.  I said, "Hmm, it's something to do with arachadonic acid and prostaglandin synthesis but I can't quite remember."  He said, "No, it's because the fish live off smaller fish that live off plankton which eat other smaller plankton and so on, and the creatures at the bottom of the food chain synthesize a substance not unlike aspirin and it accumulates in the bodies of all those predators until it becomes concentrated in the fish oil."  Really.

In hindsight it's possible that he was pulling my leg.  It's the kind of thing that I would say to someone.  But this doctor doesn't strike me as a prank-pulling jackanapes like myself.  On the other hand, it's also unlike him to be so wildly inaccurate about something.

I'm spending tomorrow in bed to figure it out.