Aug 14, 2025 | Discoveries & Breakthroughs
On January 29th, 1951, a young African-American woman named Henrietta Lacks presented to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She had been experiencing discomfort in her abdomen, which she described as a “knot” in her womb. Four and a half months earlier, she had...
Dec 19, 2022 | Discoveries & Breakthroughs
What on earth do pregnancy tests have to do with frogs, you might be asking? Nowadays, it is a very straightforward task to do a home pregnancy test. Anyone can simply walk into a chemist and buy one over the counter. They are simple to use, can be done at home, and...
Jun 23, 2020 | Discoveries & Breakthroughs
In the 14 years or so that I worked as a doctor, I placed my lips on hers many thousands of times during resus training and teaching days. Resusci Annie has been called the most-kissed face in history, and it has been estimated that she has helped to save over 2...
Aug 11, 2019 | Discoveries & Breakthroughs
Medicine wasn’t always as we know it now in its current refined form. There weren’t always processed pills and syrups, and there weren’t any complicated procedures to help the injured heal and recover. But one thing that has always existed is the common goal which...
Apr 11, 2019 | Discoveries & Breakthroughs
In the 14 years or so that I worked in the Emergency Department, I ordered literally thousands of X-rays. X-rays have a wide range of applications varying from the diagnosis of simple bone fractures, through to the investigation of complex heart conditions and the...
Nov 20, 2018 | Discoveries & Breakthroughs
I first heard the story of Phineas Gage in 1998, during my second year at Medical School. Neuroanatomy was not my strongest suit, and I spent most of the lectures scribbling notes in a frantic haze of confusion, desperately hoping that I would be able to decipher them...
