time. This will help you set realistic goals for yourself in the weeks following surgery. SURGERY www.abta.org 29 WHEN YOUR SURGERY IS OVER Once your pathology report comes back, your neurosurgeon will talk with you about the next part of your treatment plan. For some, surgery may be the only treatment needed, and your healing process now begins. For others, surgery is the first part of a multi-step treatment plan. Make appointments for your follow-up doctor visits or scans and mark them on your calendar. Regardless of where you are in your treatment, your focus now is becoming well again. THE ABTA IS HERE FOR YOU You don’t have to go through this journey alone. The American Brain Tumor Association is here to help. Visit us at www.abta.org to find additional brochures, updates, view free, educational webinar on demand, read about research and treatment updates, connect with a support community, join a local event and more. Following surgery, you will be taken to a special care unit. Peter Black, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts © BlueStar Media, LLP 30 AMERICAN BRAIN TUMOR ASSOCIATION We can help connect patients and caregivers with information and resources that can help support them in the brain tumor journey. Out team of caring professional are available via email at abtacares@abta. org or via our toll-free CareLine at 800-886-ABTA “It’s not rocket science” and “It’s not brain surgery”—“It’s a walk in the park”: prospective comparative study Inga Usher,1,2,3 Peter Hellyer,4,5 Keng Siang Lee,3,6 Robert Leech,7 Adam Hampshire,4 Alexander Alamri,3,8 Aswin Chari,3,9,10 on behalf of Brainbook ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To compare cognitive testing scores in neurosurgeons and aerospace engineers to help settle the age old argument of which phrase—“It’s not brain surgery” or “It’s not rocket science”—is most deserved. DESIGN International prospective comparative study. SETTING United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, and Canada. PARTICIPANTS 748 people (600 aerospace engineers and 148 neurosurgeons). After data cleaning, 401 complete datasets were included in the final analysis (329 aerospace engineers and 72 neurosurgeons). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Validated online test (Cognitron’s Great British Intelligence Test) measuring distinct aspects of cognition, spanning planning and reasoning, working memory, attention, and emotion processing abilities. RESULTS The neurosurgeons showed significantly higher scores than the aerospace engineers in semantic problem solving (difference 0.33, 95% confidence interval 0.13 to 0.52). Aerospace engineers showed significantly higher scores in mental manipulation and attention (−0.29, −0.48 to −0.09). No difference was found between groups in domain scores for memory (−0.18, −0.40 to 0.03), spatial problem solving (−0.19, −0.39 to 0.01), problem solving speed (0.03, −0.20 to 0.25), and memory recall speed (0.12, −0.10 to 0.35). When each group’s scores for the six domains were compared with those in the general population, only two differences were significant: the neurosurgeons’ problem solving speed was quicker (mean z score 0.24, 95% confidence interval 0.07 to 0.41) and their memory recall speed was slower (−0.19, −0.34 to −0.04). CONCLUSIONS In situations that do not require rapid problem solving, it might be more correct to use the phrase “It’s not brain surgery.” It is possible that both neurosurgeons and aerospace engineers are unnecessarily placed on a pedestal and that “It’s a walk in the park” or another phrase unrelated to careers might be more appropriate. Other specialties might deserve to be on that pedestal, and future work should aim to determine the most deserving profession. Introduction “It’s not rocket science” and “It’s not brain surgery” are common phrases that describe concepts or tasks that are easily understood or performed. Other phrases such as “It’s a piece of cake” or “It’s a walk in the park” have similar meanings, but the two related to the aerospace industry and neurosurgery are unique in their association with professions.1-3 The phrase “It’s not rocket science” is thought to have originated in America in the 1950s when German rocket scientists were brought over to support the developing space programme and design of military rockets—both endeavours that were considered intellectually challenging.2 By the 1970s “It’s not rocket science” had become embedded in American culture, when it started to appear in newspaper articles.2 The origin of “It’s not brain surgery” is less clear. It is tempting to speculate that the pioneering techniques of the polymath and neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing captured the attention of the public and promulgated the phrase.4 The interchangeable use of “It’s not rocket science” and “It’s not brain surgery” and their association with professions renders comparison inevitable. In a sketch by UK comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb,5 a boastful neurosurgeon is put in his place by a rocket scientist who says “Brain surgery . . . it’s not exactly rocket science is it?” Although some public debate has occurred as to which pursuit is more difficult,6 7 it seems that the two phrases have not been subjected to rigorous scientific scrutiny. The main purpose of our study was to settle this debate once and for all and to provide rocket