Topic

Medicine

A collection of 5 issues

The Living Fossil That Guards Modern Medicine

The horseshoe crab's brilliant blue blood, worth up to $60,000 a gallon, contains a unique compound that acts as a perfect detector for deadly bacterial toxins, making this ancient creature an unwitting gatekeeper for the safety of modern medicine.

Science & Nature Medicine Environment & Climate

The First Cut: How a Surgical Tool for Childbirth Became the Chainsaw

Before its growl echoed through forests, the chainsaw's ancestor was a delicate, hand-cranked instrument invented in the 1780s. Its purpose was not to cut wood, but to aid in desperate childbirths by surgically severing the pelvic bone.

History Inventions & Discoveries Medicine

Not Dead Yet: The Panic That Forced Doctors to Define Death

A 19th-century terror of being buried alive sparked a wave of macabre 'safety coffins' with bells and escape hatches. But the true legacy of this panic was the intense pressure that forced medicine to create the scientific definition of death we rely on today.

History Medicine Oddities & Curiosities

From War Gas to Wonder Drug: The Unlikely Origin of Chemotherapy

Modern chemotherapy began with a grim observation from the World Wars. Noting how mustard gas decimated soldiers' white blood cells, researchers theorized a similar agent could target fast-growing cancer cells. This led to the first successful cancer drug in the 1940s.

Medicine History Wars, Conflict & Heroes

The Living Lens: A Journey into the 'Tooth-in-Eye' Surgery That Restores Sight

An incredible and rare surgery, Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP), offers a last resort for specific types of blindness. The complex procedure implants a patient's own tooth into their eye to hold a synthetic cornea, preventing rejection and restoring sight.

Medicine Technology & Innovation Inventions & Discoveries

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