Does a skull a day keep the doctor away? Ask Virginia-based artist Noah Skalin, who has been making a skull-inspired sculpture every day for the past year. One of his most recent works was a skull made from several hundred preserved brain slices from the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. Cool! See Noah assemble it in the above video.
Archive for the ‘anatomy’ Category
Brains Behind the Skull
Posted: Wednesday, September 1st, 2010Two Better Than One?
Posted: Monday, August 30th, 2010
Why do we have two kidneys, but just one heart? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have extras of everything in case something goes wrong? Why can’t we be like the lowly earthworm, with five different hearts? Or those girls with two bladders and two uteruses? Or that other girl with four kidneys? Some extras make sense — for example, having two eyeballs gives us better, binocular, vision. The heart and brain have two parts each, of course, but each side has a different function. One chamber of the heart pumps out oxygenated blood, the other pumps in deoxygenated blood; and each lobe of the brain is responsible for different functions and operations. The liver regenerates, so need for two of those, and you can live without the spleen and gallbladder. But as for the double kidneys, we’re not sure why one wouldn’t suffice to clean the bloodstream, and why do we need two lungs? Rutgers University anthropologist Susan Cachel told Discovery Health the one heart/two lung system started about 300 million years ago, when we emerged from the muck onto land. For whatever reason, that’s what we needed to survive on land, and it’s remained the same ever since. Not a very satisfying answer, if you ask me, but there you go.
Dear Body…
Posted: Friday, August 27th, 2010
My dear friend Tiffany snapped this photo of people’s notes to their body parts at the Actual Cafe in Oakland, California. I can’t decide which I like better: “Dear Pancreas, I used to be really mad at you for giving up, but I forgive you now.” or “Dear Lungs, It’s okay to just relax.”
Urine My Heart
Posted: Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
Will you take this kidney to be your lawfully wedded wife? I do! Rick White and Kelley Agard, both of Iowa, were married on Monday and Kelley’s donating her kidney to Rick — who has polycystic kidney disease — today. What a fabulous bride!
Pimp My Prostate
Posted: Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
I imagine that going in for a prostate exam ranks low on any man’s to-do list, but how about when it’s combined with a vintage car show? Sound better? A number of classic car shows across the country and now including free prostate screenings along with the chrome bumpers and candy-colored automobiles. Last weekend’s 6th Annual Classic Aircraft and Car Show/Prostate Cancer Awareness Day was hosted by the Urology Center of Colorado, and the 11th annual Cruisin’ for a Cure Car Show is going on at the Orange County Fair & Event Center this weekend. There’s more in Texas, Utah and one on New York’s Long Island. So if you love someone who loves cars and needs to pay better attention to his prostate, check out one of these events near you!
Bloody Hell
Posted: Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Much like our own Black Heart, but probably much gorier — Saw in 3D. Eccch. {via Street Anatomy}
Heart to Heart
Posted: Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Another reason I’d love to go to Osaka, but will instead visit the internet — Like Atmosphere’s shop has some gorgeous anatomy-inspired pendants, including a brass coccyx, silver pelvis and this here pink silver heart, which can be engraved with whatever you want. {Thanks, Chuv!}
Jelly Brains
Posted: Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Just when you thought you couldn’t take another earnest medical drama, along comes Adult Swim’s new series “Children’s Hospital,” a fabulously demented and sick (in a good way) parody of the doctor drama genre. Don’t let the blood-stained scrubs on that clown and Henry Winkler cameo fool you — it’s not kid-friendly.
Print Me a Liver
Posted: Monday, August 9th, 2010
So they can print blood vessels now — but how about hearts? It could be coming sooner than you think. Wired magazine has a great photo essay covering company Organo’s fascinating bioprinting business. The printed veins will soon undergo testing in animals, and later, clinical trials in humans. Amazing stuff! Photo by Dave Bullock/Wired.com.
Popping Pills
Posted: Monday, August 9th, 2010
These pill heads could pass for pharmaceutical swag, but they are actually collectible figurines called Zee, made by Swiss artist PIX in conjunction with URFabulous and Character Station. Just slap “Merck” or “Hoffman-LaRoche” on it and you’re done. We haven’t been able to determine if these things actually serve as containers for pills, but that sure would be swell.
