Tag: Nature
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The intricate forest of the neuron
Silvia MainaTorino, Italia Entering the room, I was welcomed by some small and attractive ink drawings. In the first, like a genealogical tree or a medieval miniature, thin branches stretched to fill the frame. In the second, waves of sea anemones wrapped into the algae that populates the sea floor. The exposition, entitled Organisms and…
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Body and soul, balance and the Sibyl of the Rhine: The life and medicine of Saint Hildegard of Bingen
Mariel TishmaChicago, Illinois, United States St. Hildegard of Bingen wrote two medical texts, three books of visions and prophecies, one of the first mystery plays, songs, musical compositions, and letters. She consulted on many matters during her lifetime, including medicine. One episode involved a woman who had “gone insane.” Hildegard recommended the woman find respite…
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Pink and yellow
Govind Krishnan Durham, North Carolina, United States I am wearing pink, I have a rosy glowMy breaths are even, measured, slowThe doctors come and go. Come and go. Come and go.But sometimes they mutter, their heads bowed low. And when they do this, I rest my hands on my growing bellylistening intently, but understanding barely.…
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Origins of the knee jerk
JMS Pearce East Yorks, England Reflex hammers are the icon or hallmark of every neurologist. How important are the reflexes they elicit? What is their mechanism? The advent of modern technology has made it easy to forget how important the skills and means in eliciting physical signs were to clinicians of the nineteenth and early twentieth…
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The tortoise and the hare: a pandemic perspective
Pranita Rao Pune, India “Are you ready to lose again?” smirked the hare, looking down at the tortoise who was warming up for their weekly running challenge. The tortoise spent his days training body and mind to win races against the sporty hare; he was never successful. “I feel different today, my friend,” replied the tortoise…
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The first description of DNA: A six million dollar letter from Francis to Michael Crick
Marshall Lichtman Rochester, New York, United States In the April 25, 1953 issue of the biomedical journal Nature, three articles were published on the structural characteristics of DNA. One was a three-dimensional model of DNA constructed by James Watson and Francis Crick of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, who did no experiments to arrive at their…