February 2012
16 posts
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My Bloody Science Time
Part Eight: Under Pressure
This is the final post in our blood themed blog, but you can view all the images in this strand and more, in our Flickr gallery.
Look out for a fun new strand next week!
This remarkable image is a plastic cast of the blood vessels within the brain of a rat. The larger red vessels are arteries, with the smaller veins and capillaries shown in white. Scientific...
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Wellcome to the Jungle!
Part Eight: Should have gone to a well known chain of high-street opticians.
This is, for the time being at least, the last instalment of Wellcome to the Jungle. Next week will bring something different…but hopefully just as fascinating/eye-catching/inane (delete as appropriate). However if you’re not ready for the end just yet, you can find these images and more over on Flickr.
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Evolution, but not as you know it...
Part Seven: how we got to the coffee pot…
Two things. 1) Not entirely sure what a coffee sister is. A female sibling who enthusiastically makes hot beverages for the rest of her family? Perhaps not. 2) We think the evolved coffee pot looks strikingly similar to Mrs Potts of Beauty and the Beast fame. Legend.
Ruth Milne, Wellcome Images.
Image Credit: Wellcome Library, London.
Copyrighted...
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My Bloody Science Time
Part Seven: Sickle Cell Anaemia
This image shows two red blood cells. The cell in front has a characteristic sickle-shape common to the autosomal recessive genetic disorder of the blood, sickle cell anaemia. The sickling is due to a mutation in the haemoglobin gene, causing a decrease in cell flexibility and affecting the red blood cell’s oxygen transport function.
Interestingly, this...
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Wellcome to the Jungle!
Part Seven: Wild Goose Chase.
If you’re reading this chances are that you might also be enjoying Ruth’s alternative take on evolution. Teapots morphing into herons and kippers into old men; it’s fun, but clearly mad. Surely no one would think it could actually happen?
Well, as per this early 17th Century depiction of the life-cycle of the barnacle goose (Branta...
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Obstetrics and Treats
The final image in our midwifery themed strand is a selection of tools used in childbirth, made in 1851-1900. The bag of instruments belonged to an obstetric physician or ‘man-midwife’, who were called to births when the lives of the mother and baby were at risk.
The tool kit includes obstetric forceps, perforators, a blunt hook, a crotchet, a trocar and a pair of bone...
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Evolution, but not as you know it...
Part Six: things are getting fishy…
Development of the kipper. From old hunched man.
Ruth Milne, Wellcome Images.
Image Credit: Wellcome Library, London.
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons by-nc 2.0 UK: England & Wales, see http://images.wellcome.ac.uk/indexplus/page/Prices.html.
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My Bloody Science Time
Part Six: Take that, Sucker!
What have these obscure tubes got to do with blood, I hear you say? Well, these are in fact glass leech tubes used to transport the blood-sucking worm and may have been used to apply them to the body….ewww!
Leeches were used in medical practice up to the late 19th century for bloodletting, a cure intended to balance the four humours. Leeches are still used...
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Obstetrics and Treats
The caption for this images reads: “An obese midwife on her way to a labour in the early hours of the morning.”
Not sure who the scamp is in the background, but he looks suspiciously like a thief in the night… Watch out obese midwife!
Ruth Milne, Wellcome Images
Image Credit: Wellcome Library, London.
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons by-nc 2.0 UK: England...
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Wellcome to the Jungle!
Part Five: A Missing Link?
I appreciate that historical scientific drawings aren’t always perfect representations of their subjects, but even considering this, the above 17th Century engraving of an orang-utan is a little disconcerting. Distinctly more human in form and posture, could this be a case of mistaken identity?
On the island of Sumatra there have long been stories of another ape, dubbed...
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Evolution, but not as you know it...
Part Five: Elephant to Mosquito. Really?
You bet. The natural progression of ear to wing and tusk to antenna is glaringly obvious in the illustration above. That’s mammal to insect explained then.
Ruth Milne, Wellcome Images.
Image Credit: Wellcome Library, London.
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons by-nc 2.0 UK: England & Wales,...
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My Bloody Science Time
Part Five: Ladies that Lunch
This image shows a mosquito (Anopheles stephensi) in flight with its abdomen full of blood. Did you know that only the female insects feed on your blood? Female mosquitoes have specialised mouth parts perfectly adapted to pierce the skin and obtain their blood meal, containing proteins and lipids essential for egg development. In contrast, the males are quite happy...
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Wellcome to the Jungle!
Part Five: Crouching Horse, (not so) Hidden Organs.
I don’t really want to go all Rolf Harris, but did you guess what it is yet? It’s not instantly recognisable as Black Beauty, but I can confirm it to be an 18th Century anatomical diagram of a horse.
Thought to based upon the drawings of human anatomy compiled by Manṣūr ibn Ilyās, the 14th Century Persian physician, it details the...
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Obstetrics and Treats
This image shows a box of ampoules or ‘Brisettes’ containing chloroform. You may be surprised to learn that chloroform was used as an anaesthetic during childbirth in the 19th century. The glass capsules were crushed to release the vapour, which was inhaled from the surrounding gauze.
Chloroform was rapidly abandoned following the discovery of its toxicity. A fatal dose may be as...
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Evolution, but not as you know it...
Part Four: Dove of Peace (or Friedenstaube in German)
How a dove evolves from a Russian pointed helmet, as illustrated above.
What’s a Pickelhaube I hear you say? A fine piece of armoury, that’s what: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickelhaube.
The direct translation of “pickel” and “haube” is pimple hood – brilliant.
Ruth Milne, Wellcome Images.
Image Credit: Wellcome Library,...
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My Bloody Science Time
Part Four: Fighting your Battles
Making up 1% of the blood are the white blood cells or leukocytes. As a crucial part of the immune system, leukocytes circulate the body in the blood and target sites of infection. There are different types of white blood cells that carry out specific roles within the immune response. Neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, lymphocytes and monocytes all work...
