How Rabies Works

Rabies is an awful virus that doesn't work the way most viruses do. Once the symptoms start, it's fatal, and it's a particularly unpleasant death. You lose the ability to swallow, which is why the phrases "foaming at the mouth" and "hydrophobia" are associated with rabies. That's because the virus spreads through saliva, and successful viruses cause symptoms that enable them to spread to new hosts. The good news is that you can be vaccinated for rabies after exposure, and MinuteEarth will explain why that's so. 

You might think, well, why don't we just vaccinate everyone against rabies? Dr. Dolittle had to be vaccinated. It cost her $900. That's cheap compared to the cost of treatment after exposure. But for some reason, we can get our dogs and cats vaccinated for $30 or so. And that's turned out to be the best way to keep rabies under control in the modern world. 

Season-Ending Knee Surgery

(via Bad Newspaper)

Goat Cure

From 1923. (via Undine)

Just Another Day at Work

I liked this photo since I first saw it, so you should indulge a proud mama for a moment. Dr. Dolittle is on the left, performing surgery in Ecuador while instructing a veterinary student. Such excursions are set up to spay and neuter animals in underserved areas and give students real-world experience, while offering a foreign trip at discount prices. She was quite proud of climbing a volcano (while further injuring a sprained ankle). But I am more proud and frankly gobsmacked that my kid can cut into a living body without harm, plus teach that skill to others.

We Don't Know How Tylenol Works

Tylenol has been sold since 1955, but its history goes back much further. The underlying medicine's fever-reducing talent was discovered purely by accident, and I mean an accident at a pharmacy that could have been much, much worse. But it worked, not only to reduce fever, but to squelch pain as well. Testing has deemed it safe and effective, but scientists still don't know the exact mechanism of that effectiveness. It's possible that we might never know, because there are much more important problems than the exact mechanism of a drug that's already safe and effective. This video from Half as Interesting is a minute shorter than it looks, because that last part is an ad.    

Cough Syrup

(via reddit)

How a Broken Bone Heals

How much do you know about the skeleton inside of you? We know bones are hard, but they take a lot of punishment, too, so about half of us break a bone at some time in our lives. But they can heal, and how they do it is much more complicated than just getting a cast and not putting weight on it for however long the doctor tells you . There's a lot going on inside that we can't see.

I have a friend currently recovering from a knee replacement, and this video helped me understand why she has so much inflammation and yet no infection. It's part of the healing process. I've also seen what a crushed hip can do to an older person, and that's why I take my calcium supplements and walk around the neighborhood every day. Take it from Dr. Skeleton. 

Oh No!

[image or embed]

— M Dv-us (@drdvus.bsky.social) March 1, 2026 at 5:03 PM

Murder Over Pancreatic Research

Ancient anatomists knew about the pancreas. Still, they didn't know what the organ was for- maybe it was just padding between other organs. German anatomist Johann Wirsung made a discovery about the inner workings of the pancreas, and he was shot and killed for his efforts! 

But that was not the last of the violence involving research on the pancreas. As medical science advanced, we learned that the pancreas secreted digestive fluids that contained insulin, necessary for regulating carbohydrates in the body. Could we make insulin ourselves to help people with diabetes? Yes, but it would take a team of great minds to accomplish that, and those minds did not get along. Over hundreds of years, scientists studying the pancreas fought over who would get credit for medical breakthrough, leaving the pancreas with a soap opera of human egos surrounding it.  

Infusing Donuts

(via Bits and Pieces)

Patient Awakes from Anesthesia, Proposes to Nurse

Paris Ferguson had a car wreck and broke her arm. They gave her some good drugs at the hospital, since they didn't know what other injuries she had. As she came out of surgery and woke up, all her inhibitions fell away, and she proposed to the cute nurse, Luke, who was tending to her. Luke alternated between laughing and blushing. Paris later made a video telling the whole story, which is pretty long. (via Digg)

Healthcare

(via reddit)

Wall Art at the Medical Lab

(via reddit)

The Science of Depression

Depression is a horrible malady that's often hard to pin down. Situational depression is when you feel awful with a reason, like personal loss, trauma, or the world is falling apart, and clinical depression is a mental illness, but these lie on a spectrum and it's hard to determine where the line is. Medical science has some standards for diagnosis, but they can be subjective. There are no biological injuries that point out clinical depression, and treatments vary in effectiveness from person to person. 

Adding to that, the very symptoms of depression make it hard to seek help. Then there's the stigma and expense attached to treatment. But it's very important to recognize the symptoms and seek help if you or someone you know is suffering from depression. (via Geeks Are Sexy) 

Intern

(via Pleated-Jeans)

The Real Reason American Health Care is So Expensive

Health expenditures in America dwarf those of every other developed country, because we are the only country that makes it into a profit-driven business. Canadians and Europeans don't understand why we put up with it. Or how.

Like He Cares

(via Bad Newspaper)

How to Lengthen Your Legs

You may have heard about elective surgery some people have to lengthen their legs in order to be taller. That's the kind of story that makes it into the news. But medical intervention to lengthen bones is not new, and it's sometimes necessary for health. If one leg is longer than the other, that can lead to other bones being misaligned, or a curved backbone. And lots of pain. 

Leg lengthening relies on the way our bones heal by themselves when broken. The real trick is to keep it perfectly straight and healing properly. Developments in this kind of surgery over the past century have made it possible for more people to finally have aligned legs to walk on.

Thermometer

(Thanks, WTM!)

Waiting Room

(via reddit)