tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33576461567092503852011-07-08T00:28:12.298-05:00A blog about science, medicine, the arts and other interests of a modern day Medical Illustrator.Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.comBlogger231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-89807776728102029502010-05-19T10:48:00.000-05:002010-05-19T10:48:26.761-05:00

Here's a link to the NY Times article. A DNA sample as a "unifying experience for freshman"? Riiiggght....Rather than assigning incoming students to read a particular book the University of California, Berkeley has decided to distribute cotton swabs and collect DNA samples from all new freshmen - well, it's voluntary so students don't have to participate if they don't want to - to analyze for

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-10491475554676740242010-05-17T15:21:00.002-05:002010-05-17T15:22:49.366-05:00

In a strange mix of taxidermy and art these pieces represent a unique compilation of modern creations. I particularly like the skull made out of cockroach pieces - I know, sounds really gross - but the end result is strangely beautiful (below). It's also nice to see an anatomically correct skull in modern art.....take a look at the other pieces here: Art That Was Once Alive "The Impossibility of

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-47946798342728398152010-04-28T17:17:00.001-05:002010-04-28T17:20:01.670-05:00

This is just incredible....Born the size of a human baby at only 7 pounds and standing around 14 inches tall, little Einstein is just about the cutest thing ever! He was carried full term so his small size is not due to being born premature, and according to the experts he is entirely proportionate in terms of normal horse measurements and does not reflect any signs of dwarfism. He's just a

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-86822645513456248492010-04-21T19:15:00.000-05:002010-04-21T19:15:30.969-05:00

UIC's Biomedical Visualization program was in the news today! CBS did an evening special highlighting our program here in Chicago and the unique things we are able to do with a background in art, science and technology. Check it out here: http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=70335@wbbm.dayport.com By the way, that is our own program director, Scott Barrows, in the picture talking about the many

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-14825953656379104532010-04-21T09:50:00.002-05:002010-04-21T09:51:47.104-05:00

A few days ago the New York Times published an interesting article about the enormous effects a simple thing like light can have on our Circadian rhythms. I've already been aware of studies that link light with depression - or our "night owl" tendencies with the fact that we have so much artificial light in our modern lives that we are tricking our bodies into not knowing when it is nighttime -

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-57498098060252549872010-04-12T12:01:00.000-05:002010-04-13T16:37:39.004-05:00

Add this one to my must-see list: Animal Body worlds. Gunther von Hagens, creator of the human version of Body Worlds, has done it again this time using animals in a plastination exhibit opening in Germany. I thoroughly enjoyed the human version - in fact I got to see it twice, both here in the States and while overseas in Ireland - and as an animal and medical enthusiast I really can't wait for

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-88574844729991009392010-04-12T11:53:00.000-05:002010-04-12T11:53:31.723-05:00

Now here's a twist on an old past time: instead of painting on a canvas to make something look 3D, Alexa Meade paints real people to look like flat oil paintings! I still can't wrap my head around it; I mean I understand the idea and process but to see the images my brain just has a hard time reconciling it, especially when photographs are taken of her "masterpieces" out in the real world. Simply

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-38371510207212779252010-03-26T19:11:00.000-05:002010-04-13T16:37:30.356-05:00

This is kinda creepy...but kinda cool, in a morbid sort of way: Dead Horse Lives In the late 1920s, during the height of the great age of American horse racing, Phar Lap was one of the biggest celebrities with four legs. Winning 37 of his 51 races and becoming renowned throughout his home country of Australia as well as here in America he inspired many people and gave them hope during the

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-39379044651741426562010-03-25T08:53:00.002-05:002010-04-13T16:36:28.446-05:00

As I turned on the TV this morning the Today show was featuring a story about a little girl named Cameron Mott. Cameron was born perfectly healthy but began having serious seizures when she was three and a half years old which increased in severity and frequency to the point where she was having up to 10 seizures a day and had to wear a helmet to protect her head. After many incorrect diagnoses

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-1504492842087635302010-02-05T17:29:00.001-06:002010-02-05T17:30:05.265-06:00

As I was working on my website today I found the need to get rid of all the white space in one of my illustrations in order to use it as a background image. I knew that saving it as a png, rather than a jpg, would allow for transparency, and that by using the magic wand I could select the white background and simply hit delete. Unfortunately the image I was working with has a ton of tiny little

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-22709633649787748602010-02-03T10:10:00.000-06:002010-04-13T16:36:28.446-05:00

A study by Boston Children's Hospital published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association seems to have found a correlation between serotonin levels and SIDS. Babies who have died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome appear to have lower than normal levels of serotonin in their brains. Since serotonin regulates many processes within the body, including sleep and wakefulness, a

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-38759210852769983432010-02-02T13:34:00.000-06:002010-04-13T16:36:28.446-05:00

Breaking medical news today as the Lancet - the medical journal that originally published the 1998 study linking the MMR vaccine with autism - retracted the paper and accepted the claims as false. While the reason for retraction was the study's unethical conduction of research (conflict of interest, non-randomized participants, etc.), this points to flaws within the experimental design itself

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-59357787098587698722010-02-01T12:41:00.002-06:002010-04-13T16:37:07.936-05:00

This is a great video clip highlighting Alexander Tsiaras and his work creating beautiful educational videos and interactives from real medical data. Beginning with a New York based company called Anatomical Travelogue, Tsiaras now has branched off and created TheVisualMD, an online database of interactives and articles for the medical education of the general public. He has also published

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-26302886050219638882010-01-28T22:02:00.000-06:002010-01-28T22:02:55.391-06:00

Last week Fox's hit edge-of-real-science show Fringe featured a virus that was able to manipulate its host's behavior to ensure it's own survival and dispersal among other individuals. For example, the virus was able to realize when it was being contained and could "think" it's way out of the quarantine by directing it's host to jump out of a window or kill other individuals in an attempt to

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-49662202133416589952010-01-25T22:00:00.000-06:002010-01-25T22:01:06.911-06:00

Don't worry about not being able to understand the French. Just watch this video for a minute or so and you will see one of the most incredible horse jumps ever. This fence was set at 2.28 m (nearly 7.5 ft)! If you go to 2:25 minutes in you will see a view from the opposite side of the fence as the horse approaches and you really get a sense for how tall this thing is as the horse and rider

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-18078852539587661422010-01-22T16:42:00.002-06:002010-01-22T16:59:30.740-06:00

What amazing equine art! The show is called "War Horse" and is based on a book of the same name by Michael Morpurgo which tells the story of WWI through a horse's eyes, a horse who was raised on a private farm, got recruited for the British Cavalry and then was captured by the Germans. The way they created these horses for the stage is really incredible; I can't believe all the coordination

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-65520711290899615422010-01-22T10:17:00.000-06:002010-01-22T10:17:43.707-06:00

Yesterday I went riding for the first time in a week and a half. I actually can't believe it's only been that long, it feels like so much longer. It was only me and Agnes (who was working in the office at the time) so I was free to ride the horses on my own for a few hours and I can honestly say that after only 5 minutes I could feel myself relaxing and feeling much happier. It's amazing what a

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-43474900049565894562010-01-20T20:03:00.000-06:002010-01-20T20:03:00.521-06:00

In mid-February Chicago's Goose Island Brewery is introducing a new green beer, and no I don't mean color. It's called Green Line Pale Ale and its goal is to raise awareness about making our planet more "green" and reducing Goose Island's own carbon footprint. I'll be anxious to try the "bright and citrusy" ale, even if it means taking another brewery tour since it is likely this beer will take

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-21011779495186070442010-01-20T15:01:00.002-06:002010-01-20T15:28:17.366-06:00

Ok, so this is a bit off topic but as I was waiting for my cup of tea and sandwich at Barista today and skimming through the local paper when I came across an interesting headline: Man bit off cop's nipple. Hmmm. I've heard of the infamous Mike Tyson incident and about irate women who bit off their husbands' penises, but nipples are a new one. As it turns out there wasn't much more to this story

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-86137878717593250322010-01-19T14:39:00.001-06:002010-01-19T14:44:22.552-06:00

Leonardo DaVinci is one of my favorite men in history and I am continually amazed at his contributions and achievements in science and art. The Mona Lisa, perhaps one of his most famous pieces, has been the subject of countless investigations and debates over the years and still remains the center of many unanswered questions. However, one question about her peculiarly enigmatic smile has

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-54974869107705698072010-01-16T13:32:00.001-06:002010-01-16T13:39:22.229-06:00

In an attempt to find an article on horse anatomy and conformation that I had read a few months ago, I happened to stumble across these illustrations by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins by accident. They come from a book entitled A Comparative view of the Human and Animal Frame which was published in 1860 and which has now been scanned into a web collection by the University of Wisconsin. I was most

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-15780073272360983422010-01-15T09:57:00.001-06:002010-01-15T19:46:54.901-06:00

According to a new study by scientists at the University College London, retinal cells may be able to offer an early peek at Alzheimer's disease. Since the retina is a direct extension of the brain these scientists believe that by visualizing dying cells in the retina they may be able to extrapolate what's going on in terms of cell death within the brain. It is an interesting idea, although I'm

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3357646156709250385.post-14100929462724718512010-01-14T18:47:00.006-06:002010-04-13T16:38:39.084-05:00

Well I've done it. Like becoming a member of the now ubiquitous Facebook (which I was able to successfully ignore, if only for the first six months of it's existence) I have joined the masses and decided to start a blog. Why did I wait so long (and cringe when anyone would bring it up)? A) I didn't want a diary. B) Anti-Peer Pressure. If that's a word. Definitely not one of those to join simply

Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15266542116386439088noreply@blogger.com0