Browsing: Health/Medicine

A Brief History On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court handed down a blockbuster ruling that would become a major bragging point for then former President Donald Trump, the overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion a right all across the United States. Digging Deeper The case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization found that abortion was not a right guaranteed by the US Constitution, a 6-3 decision in which the three Trump appointees to the Supreme Court made a major difference in making that decision. Reveling in the victory of overturning Roe v.…

A Brief History On April 15, 1923, the hormone insulin became widely available for the treatment of diabetes.  Prior to the discovery of insulin and its adaptation for medical use, diabetes was an often-fatal disease of the inability of the body to process glucose. Digging Deeper Even today, diabetes claims millions of lives per year, as well as causing a variety of related maladies such as kidney failure, blindness, and nerve damage.  Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas, and was discovered in 1921 by Frederick Banting of Canada, a Nobel Prize winning discovery. By 1923, insulin became available…

A Brief History On February 9, 1996, the synthetic element, Copernicium, was discovered by a research team at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany, named after the famous Polish astronomer and polymath, Nicolaus Copernicus (Mikołaj Kopernik in Polish), 10 days after the discovery, on the 537th anniversary of Copernicus’s birth. Digging Deeper Some of the other elements named after people include Curium, Fermium, Mendelevium, Nobelium, Einsteinium, Bohrium, Roentgenium, Lawrencium, and others.  Perhaps you recognize some or most of these names as major historical scientists. You might not appreciate a disease or disorder being named after you,…

A Brief History On January 17, 1977, an otherwise unremarkable murderer, Gary Gilmore, became famous when he was executed by firing squad by the State of Utah.  Gilmore, born Faye Robert Coffman, was the first person executed in the United States after nearly a decade long hiatus mandated by the US Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia in 1972 that held capital punishment as practiced in the US was “cruel and unusual.” Digging Deeper Gilmore was notable for insisting on being executed, and for demanding that he face a firing squad of five police officers armed with 30-30 caliber…

A Brief History On January 12, 2023, Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, died at the age of 54, one of the many early deaths of those related to Elvis. Digging Deeper Lisa Marie died of cardiac failure due to complications of bariatric surgery she had undergone.  Her death at a premature age is only one such tragedy associated with Elvis.  Of course, the King himself died at the age of 42 in 1977, also of cardiac arrest and not of complications of his extensive prescription drug regimen. Elvis was touched…