Month: March 2018
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Disease mapping: Tracing the urban epidemic
Astrid PrimadhaniJakarta, Indonesia In August 1854 a deadly cholera outbreak struck the Soho neighborhood of London.1 Within thirty-six hours, rapid death ensued as the dense and unsanitary condition of the working-class neighborhood became a haven for the spread of the bacteria. In two weeks, over seven hundred people, 10% of the neighborhood, died.2 Elsewhere around…
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Shackleton’s angel
Paul G. FirthBoston, Massachusetts, United States South Georgia Island is a tortured upheaval of mountain and glacier that falls in chaos to the jagged coastline of the South Atlantic Ocean.1 From thirty miles of this wind-blasted sub-Antarctic wilderness came walking on the afternoon of the 20 May 1916 “a terrible-looking trio of scarecrows,” soaked to…
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Joseph Roth, a visionary poet and victim of European history
Frank WollheimSweden Joseph Roth was born on 2 September 1894 in Brody, then a Galician town in the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, bordering Russia. His parents married in 1892 and like two thirds of the 20,000 inhabitants were Hassidic Jews. His mother Maria came from a family of merchants. His father worked for a timber trading company…
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The human brain: writer of our stories
Jaleed GilaniKarachi, Pakistan “What if I told you that this world around us, this richly textured world, were all just an illusion constructed in your head?” asks eminent neuroscientist David Eagleman in the brilliant documentary The Brain with David Eagleman.1 He then questions, “What if I said that the real world has no smell or taste…
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Surrealist art and the resolution of absurd
Simon WeinPetach Tikvah, Israel Epigram “There must be a clear preoccupation with death—intimations of mortality . . . Tragic art, romantic art, etc., deals with the knowledge of death.” Mark Rothko, 1958, The Pratt Institute, on the function of art The Problem Fear of death permeates medical practice despite our best efforts to modulate serotonin,…
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In the beginning: the Bible’s solution to obesity
Josie HulmeNorth Ogden, Utah, United States One Bible story clearly related to health is that of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had conquered the people of Judah and brought many Israelites back to his own land. To speed the cultural assimilation of his new subjects, he commanded that some of the choicest youth be brought…
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We Love the Garden, It is Heaven, But We Cannot Stay
Karen YousoMinneapolis, Minnesota, United States Below the Mayo Clinic is a maze of tunnels. Not the dark, dank tunnels one might expect, but wide bright hallways. Tall ceilings. Recessed lights. Artwork on the walls and carpet under foot. Miles and miles of pristine carpet. It is called a subway, a pedestrian subway. Along the subways…
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Healing and hedonism: A reevaluation of Hashishian Legends of crime and indulgence
Mahek KhwajaKarachi, Pakistan Analgesic potions containing herbs have long been prescribed to relieve pain and ameliorate suffering. Many such remedies contained alcohol and opium, such as Thomas Sydenham’s recipe of sherry wine, opium, saffron, cinnamon powder, and clove powder. Also widely used was cannabis sativa/cannabis indica, known as bhang, shahdanaj, qinnab, and kif in different parts…
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Where doctors cannot reach: Tales from a British High Street
Suchita ShahOxford, United Kingdom Spring “I wonder if it’s contagious?” In a tiny shop on a middling-sized street in my city, a handful of women and I were immersed in a springtime ritual of beautification and small talk: haircutting. One woman seemed somewhat precious about it. The type, I thought unsympathetically, who would present to…