Who discovered Ebola? || Dr. Jean Jacques Muyembe

Google "Who discovered Ebola?" and you get a bunch of names — all of them white Western males. Dr. Jean Jacques Muyembe has been written out of history.

"Yes, but it is ..." he pauses. He takes a breath and laughs.

"It is not correct," he says. https://t.co/Nqt6atDANn

— Ryan Brown (@ryanlenorabrown) November 4, 2019

3D Printed Middle Ear Transplant || Prof. Mashudu Tshifularo

via Carte Blanche

From middle ear problems caused by congenital birth defects, to infection, trauma or metabolic diseases – hearing loss can have a devastating impact on a person’s quality of life. Now, in a world first, South African Professor Mashudu Tshifularo from the University of Pretoria and a team of 3D printing and design specialists, have pioneered the first artificial middle ear transplant prosthesis. Carte Blanche heads into theatre to witness this remarkable medical procedure.

Detailed images of baby heart inside the womb || BBC

By James Gallagher


Researchers have produced unprecedented images of a baby's heart while it is still inside the womb.

Pregnant women were scanned in an MRI machine and powerful computers built 3D models of the tiny beating hearts inside their unborn children. 

The team at King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas's says it will improve the care of babies with congenital heart disease. 

The researchers say their approach could easily be adopted by hospitals.

…

A series of 2D pictures of the heart are taken from different angles using an MRI machine. 

But the foetal heart is tiny, beats incredibly quickly, and the baby moves around inside the womb so the images of the heart look like a fuzzy blur.

But then comes the really clever bit. 

Sophisticated computer software pieces the images together, adjusts for the beating of the heart and then builds an unprecedented 3D image of the heart.

It gives doctors a clear view of the abnormality.

…

Congenital heart diseases affect up to eight in every 1,000 babies born in the UK.

They can be caused by infections and some medicines, and can run in families.

…

Not being snarky ...
I know people who will quibble - … It was with the grace of God almighty!
Not thinking that if it was the case, the same God waited too much long to help.

Origins Of Inequality || Angus Deaton

• Angus Deaton

Paul Krugman:

… a passage in which he explains why we should care about the concentration of wealth at the top:

[T]here is a danger that the rapid growth of top incomes can become self-reinforcing through the political access that money can bring. Rules are set not in the public interest but in the interest of the rich, who use those rules to become yet richer and more influential.

…

To worry about these consequences of extreme inequality has nothing to do with being envious of the rich and everything to do with the fear that rapidly growing top incomes are a threat to the wellbeing of everyone else.

…

Why Do We Have Blood Types? || Carl Zimmer

mosaicscienceDOTcom

More than a century after their discovery, we still don’t really know what blood types are for. Do they really matter? Carl Zimmer investigates.

via theLoop