The Way We Heal – the biology of scar formation

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 4 Comments on The Way We Heal – the biology of scar formation
Science

Humans, we are fragile creatures. We bend and break and tear. Lacking a rigid exoskeleton, dense armored plates, calcium carbonate shells, our skin becomes our first line of defense against a hostile, machete-filled world. Fortunately, while we do break, we can also heal ourselves through a wonderfully complex system of self-repair.

As stated earlier, this is not a medical blog and we have limited experience discussing medicine. For more detailed and experienced medical blogging, please check out two of my favorite medical blogs, Science-based Medicine and White Coat Underground. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be liveblogging my body’s own healing process as I recover from a machete blow to the head.

The physiology of wound healing and scar formation in the human body is a complicated and fascinating.

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Finding Melville’s Whale – Enter Ahab; to him, Stubb (Chapter 29)

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Uncategorized

Chapter 29 of Herman Melville’s classic – Moby Dick. Read along with us and discuss this chapter or the book as a whole in the comments. Visit this page for the complete collection to date: Finding Melville’s Whale. Enter Ahab; to him, Stubb Greybeards – for those who walk the deck at night, the sky is … Read More “Finding Melville’s Whale – Enter Ahab; to him, Stubb (Chapter 29)” »

Watch me heal, day 1 – 4

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 11 Comments on Watch me heal, day 1 – 4
Science

Those of you following me on twitter have probably heard that I had a little accident this weekend. And by “little accident”, I mean I got hit in the head with a machete. And by “got hit in the head” I really mean hit myself in the head while clearing brush. This has afforded me two opportunities: the first was the chance to see my own skull (how often does that happen?) and the second was the chance to document the healing process.

We don’t do a lot of medical blogging, primarily because we’re not in a medical field. There are excellent resources out there if you’re interested in medical blogging – Science-based Medicine and White Coat Underground are my favorite.

Below the fold are some rather tame pictures (but perhaps disturbing if you don’t like a little gore) of my head, post stitches. Sadly I was not in the right mindset to get a good picture of the injury before repair.

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And the winner is…

Posted on By David Shiffman 3 Comments on And the winner is…
Uncategorized

Last week, Andrew asked readers to send us their marine themed Halloween costumes. We are pleased to announce that our winner is Gabriella M! Gabriella, please e-mail us with your mailing address to collect your prize (a Southern Fried Science t-shirt). We will also donate $50 to the Gam Donors Choose Initiative project of your choice, so please let us know which one is your favorite.

Here is Gabriella’s winning entry:

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Great Migrations of the Ocean

Posted on By David Shiffman 3 Comments on Great Migrations of the Ocean
Popular Culture, Science

National Geographic’s Great Migrations, a seven part series which premieres November 7th, calls itself a collection of “the most moving stories on Earth”. It focuses on some amazing animals from around the world and the incredible journeys they take to survive. This series was a massive undertaking, with the National Geographic crew spending 2 years traveling more than 420,000 miles over 20 countries. The end result is visually spectacular,  full of fascinating science and rich in never-before-told stories of animal behavior. The series itself is an great educational resource, and the website has plenty to offer teachers (particularly the Science page and the Teacher Resources page).

While many of the best-known migrations involve land animals or birds, some marine migrations are also pretty darn great.

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Finding Melville’s Whale – Ahab (Chapter 28)

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Uncategorized

Chapter 28 of Herman Melville’s classic – Moby Dick. Read along with us and discuss this chapter or the book as a whole in the comments. Visit this page for the complete collection to date: Finding Melville’s Whale. Ahab It was the knights that ran the ship in those first many days, well-suited to the task. … Read More “Finding Melville’s Whale – Ahab (Chapter 28)” »