Bodyology: The Curious Science of Our Bodies

by Rose George, Rhodri Marsden, Cynthia Graber

Ever wondered what it's like to be hit by lightning or to lose your sense of smell? Heard about the woman saved by bee stings — or the window cleaner who survived a 400ft fall?Originally written for the Wellcome charity, 16 stories by leading science writers explore the mysteries of the human body. Learn about everything from diets to allergies, hair colour to rare blood, and from allergies to remote surgery.ContentsWhat's it like to be struck by lightning? - Charlotte HuffWhy do we colour hair? - Rebecca GuenardThe man with the golden blood - Penny BaileyWhy dieters can't rely on calories - Cynthia Graber3D printers can now make body parts - Ian BirrellHow to fall from a skyscraper and live to tell the tale - Neil SteinbergThe quest to explain miscarriages - Holly CaveCan the power of thought outwit ageing? - Jo MarchantSeeking a 'cure' for male baldness - Rhodri MarsdenHow bee stings saved a woman's life - Christie WilcoxThe global trend for 'kangaroo' babies - Lena CornerWhat it means to lose your sense of smell - Emma YoungThe doctor aiming to end eye pain - Bryn NelsonCould allergies be a defence against noxious chemicals? - Carl ZimmerWhy pharma may be going slow on the male pill - Andy ExtanceHow virtual reality headsets aid remote surgery - Jo MarchantShhh! What exactly is the menopause? - Rose GeorgeExtractWhat it's like to be struck by lightning?Sometimes they'll keep the clothing, the strips of shirt or trousers that weren't cut away and discarded by the doctors and nurses. They'll tell and retell their story at family gatherings and online, sharing pictures and news reports of survivals like their own or far bigger tragedies. The video of a tourist hit on a Brazilian beach or the Texan struck dead while out running. The 65 people killed during four stormy days in Bangladesh.Only by piecing together the bystander reports, the singed clothing and the burnt skin can survivors start to construct their own picture of the possible trajectory of the electrical current, one that can approach 200 million volts and travel at one-third of the speed of light.In this way, Jaime Santana's family have stitched together some of what happened that Saturday afternoon in April 2016, through his injuries, burnt clothing and, most of all, his shredded broad-brimmed straw hat. "It looks like somebody threw a cannonball through it," says Sydney Vail, a trauma surgeon in Phoenix, Arizona, who helped care for Jaime after he arrived by ambulance, his heart having been shocked several times along the way as paramedics struggled to stabilise its rhythm.Jaime had been horse-riding with his brother-in-law and two others in the mountains behind his brother-in-law's home outside Phoenix, a frequent weekend pastime. Dark clouds had formed, heading in their direction, so the group had started back.They had nearly reached the house when it happened, says Alejandro Torres, Jaime's brother-in-law. He paces out the area involved, the landscape dotted with small creosote bushes just behind his acre of property. In the distance, the desert mountains rise, rippled chocolate-brown peaks against the horizon.

Reviews

[Thea’s Reading World 💛 · Rating 4 out of 5]

#43 in 2023

3.5 stars

I don't know who will find this review, but if you needed it here you go.

Med student over here and I really liked the articles in this book. Some were pretty easily accessible information wise, everything was laid out clearly and it went into much more detail than I thought. I learnt a thing or two from every article.

Some were boring to me ( did not particularly care about the subject) and some were super interesting (like the rare blood types one), but almost all of them were done really well. Some opened my eyes to things I've never considered before and others reminded me of things I knew.

If you are not in the medical field and you love random medical knowledge that is easy to understand and pretty well explained, try this one. I never regretted it.