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It's the Brian Laira Show on WNYC.

Good morning, everyone.

Senator Cory Booker is standing by, and we'll join us in a minute, New Jersey Senior Senator.

Having recovered enough from speaking for 25 hours on the Senate floor that he can come on and talk about that.

And what comes next? First,

thanks to Matt Katz, Amina Serna and Bridget Bergen for filling in last week. I was out for

cataract surgery. And for those of you unfamiliar and since it's something many people will

experience, I'll tell you, it's a little miracle of modern medicine. They literally, literally lift the

scales from your eyes, and you pretty much get to choose what vision you have after that,

assuming your eyes are otherwise healthy. It's really amazing. In fact, you know the face ID function?

Some of you have that on your tablets or whatever.

Well, the face ID function on my iPad suddenly didn't recognize me. It made me use a passcode to get in.

Why? I think this week has been the first time anybody didn't see me in glasses since I was about 12 years old.

And besides being happy for myself, you know what

this has made me appreciate even more than before? Something that's under attack right now,

medical research, right? Did you know? I didn't know this until last week when it became

relevant to me. It's believed that the classical

composers, Bach and Handel, who lived in the 18th century, both had failed cataract surgery.

And according to an article about this from the University of Wisconsin School of Public Health

website, in Bach's case, not only did two attempts at cataract surgery fail, but he developed

a painful post-operative infection and was treated with laxatives and the favorite cure of his day

...