A man who is born into a family of physicians tends to have a great opportunity to become a specialist of the human body. This is what happened for Andreas Vesalius, an individual who is remembered...
A study of the University of Cambridge anatomy collection dating from the 1700s and 1800s shows how the bodies of stillborn foetuses and babies were a “prized source of knowledge” and were dissected...
The development of antibiotics and other antimicrobial therapies is arguably the greatest achievement of modern medicine. However, overuse and misuse of antimicrobial therapy predictably leads to...
There is much more to archaeology than just learning about our past. The study of the ancient world has also led to astounding discoveries that may have real utility in the modern day. As well as...
Rich city dwellers in medieval northern Europe had elevated lead and mercury levels that probably caused them serious health problems. Fewer rural people, who were poorer, had elevated heavy metals...
The discovery that won the latest Nobel Prize for Medicine wouldn’t have been much of a revelation to doctors in ancient China. Pharmaceutical chemist Tu Youyou established that the compound...
The fear and stigma attached to the terrible disease of leprosy has endured for millennia. Answers have long been sought regarding this mysterious ancient ailment, and now archaeologists have...
Russian neurosurgeons, anthropologists, and archaeologists are working together to reconstruct the way in which ancient nomads from the Pazyryk tribe in the Altai Mountains of Siberia managed to...
The Ben Cao Gang Mu is an encyclopaedic compendium written by LI Shi-zhen (1518-1593), a Chinese doctor who lived during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). This compendium is said to be the most complete...
Several days ago we reported on the discovery of 920 bamboo strips at an archaeological site in China containing recipes for treating ailments that date back 2,000 years. Archaeologists speculated...
Last year, archaeologists excavating burial caves in the south-central Andean province of Andahuaylas in Peru discovered the remains of 32 individuals dating back between 750 and 1000 years and,...
According to legend, twelve thousand years ago in western China the Sons of Reflected light came down from the skies. They were a strange race said to be seven feet tall and wearing clothing like...