The history of anatomy and physiology was written by and about men. Throughout history, women were too busy supporting the human race to study at prestigious medical institutions, perform autopsies, attend lectures, travel throughout Europe, teach at universities, and lend their names to the things they discovered. Oh, and they…

The grizzled old ski patrol guy looked down on me and asked if I could put any weight on it. “No, I said, “no way.” “You sure? You’ll have to go down in the sled then.” This did not make him happy. I got the impression that he thought the…

Griswold CT, 1990. A young boy ran home to show his mother what he’d found digging in the hillside near-by. Much to her surprise, it was a human skull. Archaeologists subsequently uncovered a colonial-era rural community cemetery on the hillside. Most of the graves contained simple wood coffins typical of…

Poor Mary Ellen came into existence in 1864 during the Civil War. She was the child of a happily married couple, Thomas and Fanny Wilson. Thomas had immigrated to the United States from Ireland during the potato famine and Fanny had come from England with an uncle to start a…

May 2022: 92 confirmed cases in 12 countries. July 2022: >4,000 cases in 47 countries. World Health Organization declares a global health emergency. August 2022: >31,000 cases in 75 countries; 10 deaths. U.S. declares public health emergency. It’s not coming. It’s already here. The U.S. has among the highest rates…

In the first year after the fall of Roe v. Wade, it is estimated that an additional 75,000 babies will be born in the U.S. This means that nearly 75,000 more fathers may be looking at child support payments garnished from their paychecks. This, more than anything that’s happened in…

Brain freeze: The pathophysiology of brain freeze, medically known as ‘cold stimulus headache’ is not completely understood. What is known is that, when you eat something cold too quickly, you can induce a sudden sharp frontal-lobe headache that peaks in about 20 seconds and resolves by about 2 minutes. Theories…

Failure: Unintended Pregnancy About 45% of all new U.S. pregnancies are unintended. This rate is much higher than in many other developed countries. The rate varies among groups: if you are between 18 and 24 years old, or living in poverty, or you haven’t completed high school, or you’re Black or Hispanic, or…

The Nurse In 2012, RaDonda Leanne Vaught, 28, enrolled in Western Kentucky University, majoring in Nursing. In 2015, she made the dean’s list, passed her nursing board exams, and began her career as a registered nurse at the prestigious Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in Nashville, TN. RaDonda had no…