(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) However much you dislike going to the dentist now, you’ve got it good. Like surgery, this is a field that has benefited immeasurably from the widespread use of anaesthetic. Imagine … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) Somewhere along the road from “East African plains ape” to “anatomically modern Homo sapiens,” we shed most of our hair. It does linger in places, though, the most noticeable of … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) It isn’t just enough to get the dirt off your skin. Since time immemorial, we’ve sought to make our skin perfect: unmarred, unwrinkled, paler or darker depending on the fashions … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) “People in the past never bathed!” You hear this one a lot. Is it true? In the sense it’s usually meant (“ewww, people in the past didn’t understand basic hygiene”), … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) Worldbuilding is hard work. But you know what’s even harder than worldbuilding? Doing it multiple times for a single story. And yet, that’s what we see in many novels. While … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) Given that the last essay discussed medical interventions like amputation, it seems like a suitable time to take a look at the devices we’ve developed to help people deal with … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) It wasn’t long ago that the last thing you would want to do in the entire world was come under the knife of a surgeon. Having been through multiple surgeries … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) You can’t effectively fix what’s wrong with a body if you don’t have a good understanding of the body itself. But depending on when and where you lived, getting that … Continue reading
(This month’s medical essays will largely be focused on matters of anatomy or surgery, but this first one is going to talk more broadly about diagnosis of both injuries and illness. If you’re feeling too stressed out by covid, don’t … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) Not all holidays involve parades, and not all parades happen because of a holiday. But there’s enough overlap for this to seem like a suitable place to take a look … Continue reading
