Category: Science
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Science, wine, and music in Asti
Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel Back in 1993, while spending a sabbatical in Long Island, a few medical colleagues suggested we meet at a special Italian restaurant called Asti. The restaurant was located at 13 E. 12th St. in Greenwich Village, NYC. It was a unique experience. Besides an excellent menu, many of the waiters were…
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The history of eyeglasses
Efforts to improve vision date back to the ancient civilizations of India and China. Greek scholars such as Ptolemy and Euclid endeavored to understand the physics of light refraction, the mechanisms of lenses, and how their properties can enhance vision and literacy. The Romans magnified the letters they were looking at by placing reading stones…
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Emil von Behring and passive antibody therapy
In a March 1929 editorial, the British Medical Journal referred to Emil von Behring (1854–1917) as one of the greatest benefactors of humanity. Recipient of the first-ever Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and awarded a title of nobility, the German physiologist who developed a serum for treating diphtheria and tetanus was showered with orders…
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Snake oil and snake oil salesmen
Jayant Radhakrishnan Chicago, Illinois, United States According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “snake oil” is a noun that refers to “any of various substances or mixtures sold (as by a traveling medicine show) as medicine usually without regard to their medical worth or properties.” They also call it “poppycock, bunkum.”1 “Snake oil salesman” originated as a pejorative…
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The life and science of Pierre Curie (1859–1906)
Pierre Curie was a pioneering physicist whose scientific achievements, notably in collaboration with his wife, Marie Sklodowska-Curie, have had a lasting impact on the field of physics. He was born in 1859, having a doctor as his father and a well-educated woman as his mother. He was homeschooled by his father, who introduced him to…
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Gregor Johann Mendel, father of modern genetics (1822–1884)
Gregor Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who laid the foundation of the science of heredity and genetics. Although his contributions to science were not widely recognized during his life, his work with pea plants in the mid-19th century revolutionized our understanding of how traits are inherited across generations, thus greatly influencing medicine,…
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Gangrene, history, and war
Among the many afflictions that have plagued soldiers in war, gangrene has been one of the most devastating and feared. Caused by the death of tissue because of lack of blood supply or infection, gangrene has haunted military campaigns since antiquity. Hippocrates described the condition, recognizing the blackened, decomposing flesh associated with untreated wounds. In…
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Sir Peter Medawar and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance
At Oxford during World War II, Peter Medawar and his colleagues made the remarkable observation that patients pre-treated in early life with embryotic cells did not reject skin grafts from unrelated donors. This gave rise to the concept of acquired immunological tolerance and revolutionized the field of organ transplantation as well as changed our understanding…
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Alexander von Humboldt, famous scientist and humanist
Born in 1769 into an aristocratic family in Berlin, Alexander von Humboldt was one of the most influential scientists and explorers of the nineteenth century, renowned for his work in geography, natural history, meteorology, and ecology. After first studying at the Universities of Frankfurt on the Oder and at Göttingen, he intended to pursue a…
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Love potions and aphrodisiacs
The ancient gods lived high atop Mount Olympus. They loved, quarreled, and meddled in human affairs. They had amongst them a goddess of love whom the Romans called Venus and the Greeks Aphrodite. In time, these names followed different trajectories. Venereal became what you get after a night with Bacchus and Venus. Mons Veneris, or…