I had a disturbing discussion with a doctor who was training interns. Some of them had great difficulty learning how to sew up cuts because they had never used scissors. Dr. Maria Siemionow, a transplant surgeon at the University of Illinois, has trained many surgeons. She credits their dexterity to hands-on activities in their early years. But lots of kids no longer have experience working with their hands. Dr. Siemionow crocheted as a child. She also used scissors to create elaborate collages from pictures cut out of magazines. New York Times reporter Kate Murphy profiled a brain surgeon
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