Browsing: Health/Medicine

A Brief History On November 1, 1951, the U.S. military conducted Operation Buster-Jangle in which U.S. soldiers were exposed to atomic explosions in Nevada so that the effects could be studied.  Nobody asked the soldiers for consent, and many of them were probably draftees as well.  6,500 of these unfortunate men were used in 7 separate explosions, 5 of which were above ground (atmospheric), and the remaining 2 were underground (“cratering”).  Of course, the men were lied to about the “safety” of these tests, and they were exposed to harmful radiation from inhaling radioactive dust and marching on irradiated ground. Over the years, the U.S.…

A Brief History On October 4, 2010, the Ajka alumina plant in Hungary lost control of 35 million cubic feet of alumina sludge that ended up killing nine people and polluting the Danube and Marcal Rivers.  Yes, it was inevitable that someone alone the line would die in alumina sludge.  As Murphy’s Law states, if it can happen, it will happen.  But it is unlikely that anyone actually wakes up thinking “today this will happen to me.”  People are inventive and creative, and throughout history they have come up with new products, machines and techniques that also accidentally killed them.…

A Brief History On October 3, 1964, the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York first served Buffalo Wings.  Most people, like many of us here at History and Headlines, celebrate this day as one of the greatest days in Food History, and some of us even made a pilgrimage to the Anchor Bar to eat the original hot wings.  Of course, there are also people who refuse to believe that others eat Buffalo Wings, especially the extra extra hot ones.  Just as with art, one person’s likes and preferences are not necessarily shared by the next person. Back on July 5, 2014,…

A Brief History Today, on October 1st, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities, begins. A partnership between the American Cancer Society and the pharmaceutical division of Imperial Chemical Industries (now part of AstraZeneca, producer of several anti-breast cancer drugs) founded NBCAM in 1985 to promote mammography as the most effective weapon in the fight against breast cancer.  This move follows the even earlier activities of October 1983 when the Race for the Cure, now the world’s largest fundraising event for breast cancer, was held for the first time in Dallas, Texas.  This article is dedicated to the many…

A Brief History On September 13, 1848, a Vermont railroad worker suffered a bizarre injury when a 3-foot metal rod went right through his head and proceeded to land 80 feet away.  Digging Deeper Phineas Gage was 25-years old at the time and had been using 13-pound iron rod to tamp explosives into holes that had been bored in rock in order to blast a path for a railway.  An unexpected explosion occurred, and the rod penetrated the left side of his face and exited out the top of his head, passing behind his left eye.  Although much of Gage’s frontal brain lobe was damaged…