MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'biomed'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:10:45 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181870&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F09%2F02%2Fthe-final-program-for-the-artefacts-meeting-in-leiden%2F Eventually, the final program for the annual Artefacts meeting (this year in Leiden), has just been sent out. Three of us here at Medical Museion (Louise Whiteley, Niels Vilstrup and myself) are going — here are Louise’s and my abstracts: Louise Whiteley: Preserving the material culture of functional neuroimaging: Objects of process Functional neuroimaging research aims to reveal the physical basis of the mind. Since the late 1980s, functional neuroimaging has been a prominent player in contemporary neuroscience, and its strong public profile and invocation in policy contexts also argue for the importance of preserving and engaging with its material culture. Yet brain scanners are not natural museum objects; huge, heavy, and expensive, their most salient sensory qualities deriv... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181870 Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:20:16 +0100 5181870 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028386&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F07%2F12%2Fbrain-gear-a-conference-on-neurodevices%2F I am repeatedly thrilled by news of events arranged by the European Neuroscience & Society Network (ENSN). If it does not clash too much with my planned research stay at BIOS in London in September, I will definitely find my way to Groningen for this conference as it fits very nicely with the next part of my ph.d.-project. See the conference description below. In a museum context, I am also curious to see what kinds of objects the conference will contain. I have been thinking that it is very difficult to make neuroscience tangible, but maybe this will give some clues as to how it might be done. Neurodevices could be seen as very powerful objects in the sense that they literally touch upon (or mess with) the merging of self and materiality. Interesting stuff! BRAIN GEAR – Discuss... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028386 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:17:19 +0100 5028386 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934278&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F06%2F16%2Fthe-untouchable-and-the-unseeable%2F How to display artefacts that cannot be touched or sometimes even seen, is an issue that has cropped up frequently in museums, particularly in medical museums wanting to exhibit molecular, chemical and genomic items. Thinking about this was part of the inspiration for the Sensuous Object Workshop in September here at Medical Museion. So it was good timing that in the space of one day I received two emails. The first was about The Museum of Non-Visible Art and the second was a call to submit work for an exhibition at the Manifest Gallery called Go Ahead…Touch Me! Both events are held in New York City: The Museum of Non-Visible Art (MONA) comprises of artworks that are not visible but only conceptualized. The work is in the form of ideas that are described. It is through the description a... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934278 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:04:59 +0100 4934278 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4911549&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F06%2F07%2Fmolecular-being-philosophy-between-genes-and-proteins%2F I have had a paper accepted for the annual joint conference of the Society for European Philosophy and Forum for European Philosophy. Here is the abstract: Molecular being – philosophy between genes and proteins In this paper, I will attempt to connect the sparking wires of post-genomic molecular biology and new materialist philosophy, particularly the so-called object-oriented ontology. Life is changing. The gene has, as historian of science Evelyn Fox Keller wrote some years ago, “had a glorious run in the twentieth century.” Since the publication of the working draft of the human genome in 2000 and the completed genome in 2003, however, it seems that the life sciences are at a juncture, requiring new concepts, terms and metaphors to grasp life in productive ways. It is increasingl... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4911549 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:06:38 +0100 4911549 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893523&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F06%2F03%2Fgenomic-jewellery-an-illumina-beadchip-necklace%2F We’ve just produced this simple piece of genomic jewellery — a necklace made by a gene chip in a thin silver chain (see larger image below). This particular gene chip (BeadChip) is produced by the San Diego-based company Illumina, which develops and manufactures platforms for the analysis of genetic variation and biological function for the rapidly growing sequencing, genotyping and gene expression markets. First, here’s some technical description of the Illumina BeadChip (based on what our senior curator Daniel Noesgaard has found out): A BeadChip is a ~30 x100 mm silica slide containing twenty-four arrays, each allowing for genotyping of a single biological sample. Each array contains a very large number of microscopic microwells etched into the surface of the... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893523 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 08:00:22 +0100 4893523 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4876410&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F05%2F28%2Fengaging-with-the-unfamiliar%2F I have just had a proposal accepted by Nordisk Sommeruniversitet who will be holding their Summer Symposium in Falsterbo, Sweden, July 30th - August 7th, 2011. NSU is organized by a Swedish non-profit organization sponsored by the Nordic Council of Ministers. It focuses on fostering cross-disciplinary research networks in the Nordic countries There are eight study circles and I will be doing a practical workshop in study circle #7, Artistic research – strategies for embodiment. The study circle will invite distinguished researchers and artists in the field, who have contributed to this emerging discipline. Building on the experiences from the upcoming anthology of the previous study circle 7, the new study circle will end with a new publication. This publication will focus on sharing me... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4876410 Sat, 28 May 2011 15:10:40 +0100 4876410 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4852919&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F05%2F23%2Fhorace-judson-pioneer-historian-of-molecular-biology-dies-at-80%2F Two weeks ago, friends and colleagues alerted me to Horace Judson’s recent death. I was amazed to hear he had already reached the age of 80. But then again, 20 years have gone since we first met in 1991-92. Horace had received a major grant from the Mellon Foundation to write a history of immunology, and advertised for postdocs to do the basic research. I had finished my PhD a few years earlier and had just begun the preliminary archival work and interviews for my biography of Niels K. Jerne. What an opportunity to spend a year at Stanford doing research for my next book! I applied for the job and went to Baltimore in July 1991 for an interview at Horace’s homeplace. I was duly impressed, both of the fact he had won a MacArthur Fellowship a few years earlier and of... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4852919 Mon, 23 May 2011 08:00:40 +0100 4852919 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813338&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F05%2F10%2Fworkshop-on-the-sensuous-object-smell-and-touch-ambience-aesthetic-visual-thinking-tacit-knowledge-sound-and-seduction-29-30-september%2F Our own Lucy Lyons and Anette Stenslund are organising a two-day workshop titled ‘The Sensuous Object’ here at Medical Museion, September 29-30. ‘The Sensuous Object’ is an interdisciplinary, participatory workshop concerned with ways we actually engage with objects and aimed at researchers in all disciplines interested in the materiality of actual artefacts and ways of understanding objects through the senses. How we experience and understand objects as sensuous objects that have been realized, produced, consumed through and by our senses, and how they impact on us and how we impact on them, are just a few of the expected discussion topics. By inviting participants to choose actual objects and use them as central to their presentations, the aim is to challenge esta... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813338 Tue, 10 May 2011 14:28:07 +0100 4813338 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734160&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F04%2F19%2Fwhat-is-biomedicine-2%2F Sometimes I’m asked what ‘biomedicine’ means. It’s rarely medical people that ask, but people from the humanities often do. I use to answer that ‘biomedicine’ is the emerging amalgamation throughout the 20th century of the life sciences and medical research, but I haven’t had an authoritative history of the term to refer to. Now there is one, however. In a recent article (“Biomedizin‘ in sozial- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Beiträgen: Eine Begriffskarriere zwischen Analyse und Polemik”) in NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin (vol. 18: 497-522), Walter Bruchhausen analyses the trajectory of the term ‘biomedicine’ during the last half century in the social science literature. Not unexpect... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734160 Tue, 19 Apr 2011 05:59:36 +0100 4734160 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4658408&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F03%2F30%2Fwhat-intellectual-and-practical-approaches-should-be-developed-to-document-and-preserve-the-history-of-recent-science-and-technology%2F Actual and potential readers of this blog — that is, everyone with an interest in contemporary medical science and technology in museums — might be interested in this year’s meeting in the Artefacts series on the theme ‘Conceptualizing, Collecting and Presenting Recent Science and Technology’, to take place 25-27 September, 2011, in the Museum Boerhaave, Leiden. The central questions for the meeting are: What intellectual and practical approaches should be developed to document and preserve the history of recent science and technology?: How can museums and academic communities develop an overview of the breadth and diversity of material culture associated with recent science and technology created at a variety of sites (universities, industry, government, and... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4658408 Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:00:32 +0100 4658408 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4622281&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F03%2F22%2Fgenomic-enlightenment-the-video-behind-the-installation%2F The installation Genomic Enlightenment, which was pre-showed last night for a specially invited scentific audience interested in “deep sequencing” , has involved a lot of work. This is a movie about the skills, joy and team-work that went into making and putting up the beautiful, glimmering wave of microarrays. The installation can be seen in the entrance hall of Medical Museion from Wednesday 23 March. Stay atuned for news about the official opening. Tweet (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4622281 Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:00:46 +0100 4622281 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4525046&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F02%2F26%2Fnew-web-technologies-of-biomedical-self-presentation%2F Like biography, autobiography has always been an important genre for science communication — like Francis Crick’s autobiography What Mad Pursuit (1988). A couple of decades ago, only a tiny scientific elite had, in practice, access to present themselves autobiographically in the form of book-length memoirs and interviews in newspaper and magazines. Science communication through self-presentation was thus largely restricted to famous life scientists, medical doctors and their famous patients. Now, thanks to the web, and especially social web technologies, public self-presentation has become an opportunity for the global biotechnoscientific multitude. Medical and nursing students, life science PhD students, and all kinds of ordinary patients are blogging, facebooking and t... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4525046 Sat, 26 Feb 2011 14:08:29 +0100 4525046 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4501623&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F02%2F20%2Fare-bioart-works-ever-finished%2F A lot of people on Facebook have recently been excited about art critic and historian James Elkins’ analysis, in a recent Huffington Post chronicle (“Exploring Famous Unfinished Paintings in Google Art Project”), of what it means to ‘finish’ an artwork. It’s a well-written and beautifully illustrated piece, but it’s not unproblematic if you think in terms of other creative genres than art. “How does an artist know when a painting is finished?”, Elkins asks. I’m not sure I really understand what the problem is. When I write an scholarly article, it’s by definition finished when I send the proofs back to the publisher. That doesn’t mean my thinking is finished; the article will most probably be followed by another... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4501623 Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:00:48 +0100 4501623 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4489715&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F02%2F16%2Fa-manifesto-for-creating-science-technology-and-medicine-exhibitions%2F Two weeks ago I mentioned that the Museums Journal had published Ken Arnolds and my Dogme 95-style manifesto for creating science, technology and medicine exhibitions, first presented last September at a conference organised by Medical Museion in Copenhagen. We have now received the journal’s permission to publish the full version of the manifesto. Enjoy and/or criticize! Just over 15 years ago, Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg spearheaded Dogme 95, a manifesto to purify the art of film-making. The aim was to engage audiences more profoundly and make sure they weren’t distracted by over-production. The Dogme manifesto ruled out special effects, post-production changes and other tricks in order to focus on the story and the performances. Since then, writer... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4489715 Wed, 16 Feb 2011 21:43:31 +0100 4489715 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4361049&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F01%2F17%2Fdrawing-experiences-of-ageing-lotte-residential-care-home-copenhagen%2F Upon arrival at Lotte residential care home on 7th December, I was greeted with the trappings of a party. The dining room had been recently decorated with candles and baubles for Christmas and the tables were set with Danish flags and napkins in honour of a resident’s birthday. A chair was placed for me at a table. I sat next to Ingrid and opposite Inge and Nis. I had met Nis the previous week but he had no memory of me. He was very pleased to talk and introduced Inge to me as his fiancée.  Ingrid remembered me but did not recollect that I had drawn her. She seemed very pleased to see the drawing of herself when I showed it to her. After eating together, I chose to depict Inge and Nis sitting next to each other in one drawing. Inge was very elegant and beautiful. Her silver hair still ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4361049 Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:00:13 +0100 4361049 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4275349&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F12%2F20%2Fthe-intensive-care-unit-on-display%2F One of my favourite fellow bloggers, medical photographer Øystein Horgmo, has just written about how he was recently invited to document a family taking farewell of a young father in an intensive care unit. It’s a moving story. But what actually caught my interest was this painting (by medical doctor Joseph Dwaihy and artist Sara Dykstra), which Øystein uses the illustrate the story. Based on a photograph from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Centre’s first intensive care unit, circa 1955 (read more here), the painting is reminiscient of Norman Rockwell-realism. Like Rockwell, Dwaihy and Dykstra portray people in mundane situations. It’s people who play the primary role. The instruments are background props. Compare Dwaihy and Dykstra’s painting... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4275349 Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:04:10 +0100 4275349 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4245339&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F12%2F09%2Fwe-have-cake-and-talk-about-diabetes%2F I had coffee and cake with our new PhD Adrian Bertoli the other day. Adrian is going to work with the relationship between type-2-diabetes and patient identity throughout the last 50 years, with Thomas as supervisor. Adrian’s project is financed by the cross-disciplinary Center for Healthy Ageing at Copenhagen University. Knowledge about an illness is traditionally communicated directly from the doctor (the source) to the patient (the receiver). Adrian told me that he will look into how contemporary patient groups and social media on the internet make this kind of knowledge more accessible. Knowledge is, seen from this angle, no longer something you receive from a single authoritative source but something that grows and gets its authority from its multiple authors. Knowledge is not som... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4245339 Thu, 09 Dec 2010 12:30:04 +0100 4245339 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4241754&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F12%2F08%2F6596%2F The NIH Office of History has just announced a new batch of Stetten Fellowship for postdoctoral historical research on the biomedical sciences and technology since 1945. The stipends are ~$45,000 per year, include health insurance and office accommodation, computer and phone, and can be renewable to a maximum of 24 months. Application deadline is 31 December 2010. Full announcement here. (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4241754 Wed, 08 Dec 2010 09:00:20 +0100 4241754 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4225362&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F12%2F03%2Fthe-end-of-the-medical-museum%2F In the last session of the conference in September, Thomas Schnalke from Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum made an allegory on the situation of the medical museums today, suggesting that these kinds of museums might be conceived as patients suffering from a molecular medicine and virtual reality virus. He went on to put forward that art and artists, if they are willing and allowed to be specific, can be the cure that enables the medical museums to handle the challenge of representing contemporary and future biomedicine. Read Thomas’ full abstract here. The discussion afterwards focused on whether the space constructed by artists, museum curators and the museum building together can or should be conceived as a narrative, as telling a story or whether there is a danger of the narrative... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4225362 Fri, 03 Dec 2010 09:00:37 +0100 4225362 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4219778&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F12%2F02%2Fdrawing-experiences-of-ageing-lotte-residential-care-home-copenhagen-24-november-2010%2F Visiting Lotte residential care home is always an experience. The first thing you notice upon entering is there are no signs warning you of something or pictograms and ideograms giving instructions. The next thing you notice is the lack of plastic. No carers in wipe down aprons, no wipe clean table clothes, plastic beakers or bibs. The tables have tablecloths, the residents have lunch as anyone would, using normal cutlery and china plates and they have beer or wine with their meals. This is not an institutionalized feeling care home. My first session of drawing there was on November 24th. After sitting and speaking with the delightful Nis who was an architect responsible for the main design around Rådhuspladsen, I sat next to Ingrid as we all played Bingo (Danish: Banko). Ingrid is 96. I ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4219778 Thu, 02 Dec 2010 09:00:13 +0100 4219778 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4207324&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F11%2F29%2Fintroduction-to-the-chemistry-of-life-exhibition%2F We’ve just opened our new exhibition, ‘The Chemistry of Life’, in our satellite exhibition area in the main building of the Faculty of Health Sciences (the Panum Building). For the record, here’s the talk I gave at the opening (for images from the opening, see here): The occasion for Medical Museion’s new exhibition, ’The Chemistry of Life’, is the new Center for Basic Metabolic Research here at the Faculty of Health Sciences. But the Center is only the occasion. What you will see in a few minutes is not an exhibition about any of the aspects of metabolism—diabetes, or obesity, or insulin resistance, or the metabolic syndrome—which the Center will be focus on in the years to come. Instead, we have chosen to take a look at the long research tradit... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4207324 Mon, 29 Nov 2010 09:00:47 +0100 4207324 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4203181&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F11%2F26%2Fwhat-metaphors-are-we-molecularising-by%2F Drew Berry, the outstanding molecular animator at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, says (according to Science Roll): Scientists have always done pictures to explain their ideas, but now we’re discovering the molecular world and able to express and show what it’s like down there I know Melbourne, Australia, in ‘down under’. But is the molecular world ‘down there’? Is ‘going down’ the best metaphor for going from the macroworld of the anatomical body to the microworld of the molecular body? Is it a vertical movement that comes first to mind? Are we going ‘deeper’ into the body, as if we were entering a deep mine? My intuition is that we move ‘into’ the molecular world rather than &#8216... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4203181 Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:00:02 +0100 4203181 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4197123&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F11%2F24%2Fart-in-museums%2F This session at the conference in September circled around the role of art in the museum, and how museums and artists can and should work together. The first speaker, Karen Ingham, emphasized that the concept of art in museums essentially refers to interdisciplinary happenings and should always be a product of dialogue. She talked about how museum- and other spaces speak to us, and how the space can function as a creative catalyst and a link between museums and artists. Read Karen’s full abstract here. Silvia Casini explained how her work with the aesthetics of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) led her to undergo several scannings herself and how she in the end became an artist, video-maker, and curator in order to represent these very personal and yet elusive images. Read Silvia’s full... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4197123 Wed, 24 Nov 2010 12:13:11 +0100 4197123 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4183323&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F11%2F19%2Fviews-of-ageing-rollator-drawings-part-2%2F Rollator drawings, 30th September – 4th October 2010: Continuing my appreciation of the aesthetics of seemingly ugly and mundane artefacts we associate with ageing, I investigated a second rollator. This was a contemporary model. It had a clear plastic tray, a wire shopping basket and four wheels rather than three for extra stability. It was squatter, sturdier and in some ways even uglier than the earlier three wheel model. The hidden complexities and detailing within the design meant it took much longer to draw than I had anticipated.  I intentionally drew it from the position someone would see it if they were approaching it to use it. The moulded plastic on the handles had been textured for extra grip and had an organic quality. The bolts and connections remained evident but were mor... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4183323 Fri, 19 Nov 2010 09:00:41 +0100 4183323 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4175749&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F11%2F17%2Fviews-of-ageing-rollator-drawings-part-1%2F Rollator drawings  27th–28th, 28th–29th September 2010: When I began drawing the rollator I asked myself why I was drawing something that was so boring, so ugly with no interesting features. I was reminded of the talk Nurin Veis, Deputy Head Sciences – Science Communication and Senior Curator of Human Biology and Medicine at Museum Victoria, Australia, gave at the EAMHMS conference. In her talk about issues in displaying the cochlear implant, Nurin stated that the problem lies with our insistence in seeing the ‘black box’ item as ugly and not suitable as a museum artefact. Rather than trying to avoid it, rewrite it change or replace it with something explaining something about it, she asked why couldn’t we just accept it and learn to appreciate it? Maybe it is our job to see... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4175749 Wed, 17 Nov 2010 09:18:41 +0100 4175749 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4167996&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F11%2F15%2Fnew-centre-for-medical-science-and-technology-studies-at-the-university-of-copenhagen-opens-on-2-december%2F On Thursday 2 December, a new Centre for Medical Science and Technology Studies at the University of Copenhagen is inaugurated with talks by Sarah Franklin and Ken Arnold. Sarah Franklin will speak about “Life After the In Vitro Fertilisation: Biology Has Become a Technology?”. Sarah Franklin is well-known for his studies of in vitro fertilisation, cloning, embryo research and stem cell research. Her latest book is about the cloned sheep, Dolly. Since 2004 she has been a professor at the London School of Economics, where she has led the BIOS Centre together with Nicholas Rose. Ken Arnold, who will speak about “Art and Communication of Medical Science”, is Head of Public Programmes at the Wellcome Trust, where, among others things, he has been responsible for th... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4167996 Mon, 15 Nov 2010 09:00:10 +0100 4167996 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4162949&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F11%2F13%2Fbuilding-new-museums%2F When a new museum is established, it is formed both by ideas of what the role of the medical history museum in society is, and by the context out of which that specific museum comes. The challenge of building new museums was approached from three very different angles at the Copenhagen conference in September. Kerstin Hulter Åsberg shared her vision of exhibiting the contemporary part of the history of medical sciences in the research centers where it happened and is happening. As it is the researchers and students who are at the same time the audience for the historical exhibitions and the makers of the future of medical science, they should be involved in the making of the museum from the very beginning. Read Kerstin’s full abstract here. Wendy Atkinson expressed that for her the miss... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4162949 Sat, 13 Nov 2010 09:00:38 +0100 4162949 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4155258&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F11%2F11%2Fcollecting-contemporary-medicine%2F One of the sessions at the September conference dealt with the problems and challenges in collecting contemporary medicine. Judy M. Chelnick presented the challenges of collecting today as being mainly lack of space, and the difficulty in trying to guess what objects will be historically valuable to your collections in the future. Read Judy’s full abstract here. James Edmonson went on to talk about the importance of collecting the advertising and marketing strategies of contemporary medicine as well as the products themselves, because money plays such a major role in the medical industry of today. Read James’ full abstract here. The last speaker of the session John Durant suggested the need to further develop our relationships with researchers and scientists, who despite their commitm... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4155258 Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:27:09 +0100 4155258 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4139278&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F11%2F05%2Fperforming-fetal-bodies%2F The challenge of how to display fetal bodies was attacked from very different angles at the September conference. Morten Skydsgaard introduced us to the exhibition The incomplete child, in which the idea was to show the deviant body in its own right. He emphasized the importance, especially in controversial displays, of giving the visitors time and space for reflection afterwards. Read Morten’s full abstract here. The next speaker, Sniff Andersen Nexø, talked about the meeting between research and exhibition making, as a desirable but not unproblematic way of curating an exhibition. She pointed out that it’s a great challenge to translate the theoretically informed academic research process into a display of physical objects and a minimum of words. Read Sniff’s full abstract here. S... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4139278 Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:55:29 +0100 4139278 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133799&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F11%2F04%2Fbiomediation-in-museums%2F At the conference in September, Kim Sawchuk talked about why, in this micro-molecular age, we are still hanging on to the fantasy of travelling inside the anatomical spaces of our own bodies. Kim admits that she herself has become what she calls a ‘biotourist’, a person who visits medical museums in order to experience the sublime and grotesque landscapes of her own body. Kim pointed out that museums are part of the reproduction of this narrative of fictional travels through the body. She analyzed the fictions offered to the visitor through vectors in terms of their scale; how we are asked to mentally enlarge objects or shrink ourselves in order to understand the different levels of the biology of our bodies, or space; how the visitor’s movement through the exhibition affects her und... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133799 Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:24:56 +0100 4133799 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133800&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F11%2F02%2Fseduction-of-the-flesh%2F Ugh! Last week I visited New York. What really spoke to my senses and touched my emotions in a provocative and morbid way was a toe-curling exhibition of works by the American artist Paul Thek (1933-1988) at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art. To be honest the works on display managed to freak me out a bit and that’s always a good indication of the effectiveness of an exhibition. Even though I was quite disappointed about the architectural arrangement and the setting, which in general seemed a bit unfinished, I really enjoyed the display of works made by Thek. Especially the untitled pieces of meat from the series Technological Reliquaries made out of wax, hair, metal, wood, plaster, cord and paint presented in acrylic glass vitrines! My first reaction: Ugh, dramatic and vulgar! Secondly... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133800 Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:39:15 +0100 4133800 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4119029&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F10%2F29%2Fthe-patient-perspective-in-collecting%2F At last month’s conference, Jan-Eric Olsén talked about the tendency in contemporary medicine and society in general to constantly monitor our own health. Jan-Eric pointed to the fact that there is a fine line between monitoring and surveillance, and that patients should be aware of that before uncritically embracing these new technologies. Read Jan-Eric’s full abstract here. In the discussion afterwards it was pointed out that some patients can actually gain personal freedom from a smart textile t-shirt taking over the constant monitoring of their vital signs. One person said that she wouldn’t have been able to attend the conference, if it hadn’t been for these very technologies helping her monitor her diabetic child over a great distance. On the other hand, many of these produc... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4119029 Fri, 29 Oct 2010 17:11:18 +0100 4119029 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4105741&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F10%2F25%2Ftelling-stories-about-medical-instruments%2F “How do we display artifacts which are neither sexy nor beautiful?” asked Yves Thomas in his presentation at last month’s conference in Copenhagen. His own answer to the question was to bring a human dimension to these objects by adding virtual elements such as interviews with the researchers or video clips of the object in use. Read Yves’ full abstract here. Nurin Veis addressed much the same issue in her talk, focusing on changing our idea about what is aesthetically pleasing instead of trying to sex-up the object. Considering the physical nature of the visitor’s presence in the museum space, we should use that space in a theatrical way to give a full experience of the objects in a historical and scientific context. By asking the visitors to use their bodies in ways they don�... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4105741 Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:09:37 +0100 4105741 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4098027&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F10%2F22%2Fbio-engineering-in-museums%2F Most medical museums live in the safe past. Exhibitions rooms are filled with beautiful 19th and 20th century medical instruments and scary pathological body parts in formaldehyde. The present and the future body and its instruments are hardly visible in medical museums. How, for example, shall medical museums handle the fusion of bodies and instruments made possible by bio-engineering and human enhancement: Living bacteria with artificial DNA, supercomputers designed to function like a real human brain or robots showing human-like emotions. Biology is increasingly engineered in much the same way as technology, while technology is becoming more and more life-like. These two engineering trends intensify current debates about the desirability and acceptability of genetic engineering and hu... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4098027 Fri, 22 Oct 2010 11:48:21 +0100 4098027 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4082125&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F10%2F19%2Fart-and-communicating-medicine%2F At the conference “Contemporary medical science and technology as a challenge to museums” in Copenhagen last month, one of the very hot topics was art. What contributions can art make to exhibitions of contemporary medicine? The first speaker of this session, Yin Chung Au from Taipei, pointed out that we should move away from displaying the frozen end product of medical science, and show objects in use instead. Visitors don’t get their experiences from being awed by the wondrous possibilities of contemporary science, but from personal experiences with the objects. MedArt can help us display the processes of medical science and allow people to engage with it. At the same time it can blur the boundaries of traditional medical ways of thinking, and expose scientific discourse as normat... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4082125 Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:00:16 +0100 4082125 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4077304&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F10%2F18%2Fmalaria-parasite-as-glass-sculpture%2F Luke Jerram has just finished a new glass sculpture of a Plasmodium falciparum merozoite just after it has entered a red blood cell. The artwork is to be auctioned in New York to raise money for the charity Malaria No More. See the sculpture in Jerram’s microbiology artworks collection and a YouTube clip of the newly completed sculpture. (From the Luke Jerram Newsletter, October 2010) (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4077304 Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:00:39 +0100 4077304 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4074122&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F10%2F15%2Fcurious-collections-and-exhibitions%2F This session at the conference “Contemporary medical science and technology as a challenge to museums” in Copenhagen last month circled around the concept of the Renaissance Wunderkammer, and how we might use techniques of curiosity and wonder to engage people with scientific and historical objects. Joanna Ebenstein —who writes the blog Morbid Anatomy— talked about how we can use the feelings an object or a collection of objects evoke to make the museum visit a personal and interesting journey. Joanna suggested we display artefacts in a way that appeal to the visitors’ curiosity. Better let people be inspired to investigate objects and their history for themselves, instead of presenting them with an educational fact sheet. Curiosity cabinets don’t tell straight fo... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4074122 Fri, 15 Oct 2010 10:10:56 +0100 4074122 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4055769&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F10%2F11%2Fthe-molecular-in-the-museum%2F The implication of the theme — ‘Contemporary medicine and technology as a challenge to museums’ — for this year’s biannual EAMHMS conference in Copenhagen last month is that it is difficult to exhibit the molecular level of the recent medical understanding of the body. How can we display such molecular and other tiny structures? And what metaphors and discourses do we use to describe a molecular understanding of the body? The session “The molecular in the museum” discussed this problem. Jim Garretts, senior curator at the Thackray Museum in Leeds, suggested in his presentation that we work more closely together with researchers and research institutions, so as to allow the visitors to get an insight into practical medical science today. That way our abstract idea of ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4055769 Mon, 11 Oct 2010 13:55:16 +0100 4055769 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045136&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F10%2F08%2Fresume-of-the-conference-contemporary-medical-science-and-technology-as-a-challenge-to-museums%2F I’ve totally forgotten to mention the fact that Danny Birchall, web editor at the Wellcome Collection in London, has written a very valuable and eminently readable personal resumé of the conference “Contemporary medical science and technology as a challenge to museums” in Copenhagen last month. Thanks for the good work, Danny! (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045136 Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:52:08 +0100 4045136 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4040603&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F10%2F07%2Fvideo-glimpses-from-the-copenhagen-conference-on-contemporary-medicine-and-technology-as-a-challenge-to-museums%2F During the European Association of Museums for the History of Medical Sciences’s conference (on the theme of contemporary medicine and technology as a challenge to museums) held here at Medical Museion in mid-September, I was very busy video-recording all the presentations and the following discussions. The result was 15 hours of raw footage.  Instead of despairing, I called in my friend Amalie Smith Sørensen, and after two weeks of night and day work, we are now ready to present 17 video collages á 5 minutes from the sessions on Medical Museion’s Youtube channel.             Each 5 minute clip will cover a thematic session at the conference. It will not bring everything that was said during the session, however; the clip is only an appetizer, giving you some of th... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4040603 Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:16:34 +0100 4040603 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4031288&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F10%2F05%2Fan-ageing-world-a-science-design-installation-about-global-demography%2F We’ve just set up the installation ‘An Ageing World’ in the main lobby of the Faculty of Health Sciences here in Copenhagen. The installation has been made to mark the IARU-conference on Ageing, Longevity and Health that takes place 5-7 October, organised by the Center for Healthy Ageing. The simple idea was to make a commentary on the rapidly changing demographic of the human population: Protruding from a round earth disc, soaring a couple of feet above the floor, are age structure diagrams (histograms) from seven countries around the world (Denmark, China, Japan, United States, Bolivia, Malawi and Papua New Guinea) for the years of 1950, 2000 and 2050. The histogram protrusions are illuminated from below by means of fiber optics in contrast to the dark-blue earth disc. ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4031288 Tue, 05 Oct 2010 08:00:57 +0100 4031288 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4027201&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F10%2F03%2Fthe-splitsplice-exhibition-at-medical-museion-receives-the-dibner-award-for-excellence-in-museum-exhibits-2010%2F Last night, the curatorial team behind the exhibition Split+Splice: Fragments From the Age of Biomedicine received the Dibner Award for Excellence in Museum Exhibits 2010 for ”outstanding museum work”. The award was announced at the banquet of the annual meeting of The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), which is ending today in Tacoma, Wa. ‘The Dibner’ has been awarded since 1987. Earlier recipients include exhibitions from the National Museum of American History and National Air and Space Museum (Smithsonian, Washington DC), Powerhouse Museum (Sidney), Museum of Science and Industry (Manchester), and Museum of London. This is the first time the Dibner Award has been given to an exhibition produced by a museum in the Nordic countries — and also the fir... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4027201 Sun, 03 Oct 2010 11:30:56 +0100 4027201 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4002961&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F09%2F26%2Fweltwissen%2F Cannot wait to see the new exhibition WeltWissen (World Knowledge) which opened yesterday at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin. Organised by the Humboldt University, the Charité Hospital, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of the Sciences and Humanities and the Max Planck Society, it is announced as the highlight of the Berlin Year of Science with more than 3,200 square meters exhibition space containing 1,500 original things, installations and media stations crossing time periods, institutional and disciplinary boundaries. One of the highlights is yet another of Mark Dion’s typical installations that “highlights the system behind scientific activity as well as its fragmentary nature” — a 500 square metre shelf structure with objects Dion collected “wh... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4002961 Sun, 26 Sep 2010 18:17:42 +0100 4002961 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3961838&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F09%2F13%2Fdavid-goodsells-cell-art%2F The covers of most major scientific journals are plastered with beautiful, realistic pictures taken with the latest advances in microscope technology. This month’s Nature Medicine is no exception. Few of these images, however, have the qualities of David Goodsell’s works of art. Goodsell, based at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, creates hyperrealist paintings that render the molecular world not as an abstract, diagrammatical space as we know it from biochemistry textbooks, but as a teeming, chaotic, dense and beautiful mess. They are simple, yet they portray the complexity and distinct organization of subcellular life in a way that no ‘real image’ can. For example, Goodsell’s pseudocolor depiction of HIV — shown here in cross-se... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3961838 Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:00:22 +0100 3961838 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3880905&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F08%2F18%2Fmetaphors-that-both-scientists-and-artists-draw-on%2F Immanuel Kant didn’t like metaphorical thinking in science — and his rebuke of this ambiguous way of investigating the natural world is one of the pillars for the modern separation of art and science. However, in a statement article published yesterday in an issue about art and science in the German journal Gegenworte  (#23, 2010), art historian Ingeborg Reichle and cell biologist Frank Rösl suggest that the arts and humanities can inform a new approach to, for example, cancer research, “because not only artists but also scientists work with images, symbols and metaphors, draw on their intuition and make use of coincidence”: System theory, non-linearity, dissipation and emergence are today research concepts with which one attempts to understand living cells as mu... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3880905 Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:53:46 +0100 3880905 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3858197&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F08%2F12%2Fbeyond-the-magic-bullet-reframing-the-history-of-antibiotics%2F Christoph Gradmann and Flurin Condrau of the ESF network Drug Standards, Standard Drugs are planning a workshop on the theme ‘Beyond the Magic Bullet: Reframing the History of Antibiotics’, to take place in Oslo, 17-19 March 2011. Antibiotics have been celebrated as a medical success story around the globe from their first distribution at the end of WWII to the present day [...] As agents of a medical revolution which shifted borders between health and disease and created new spaces for therapy, antibiotics have become one of the most popular scientific success stories of the twentieth century. [This] workshop will focus on recent and current research into the histories of antibiotics, which has started to move beyond the initial stories of the discovery of penicillin and the r... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3858197 Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:00:11 +0100 3858197 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3808693&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F08%2F02%2Fken-arnold-appointed-visiting-professor-in-medical-science-communication-and-museology-at-medical-museion%2F Today, Ken Arnold is starting his temporary appointment as Visiting Professor in Medical Science Communication and Museology at Medical Museion. When he is not visiting Medical Museion, Ken Arnold heads the Public Programmes team at the Wellcome Trust, where his role is to creatively direct Wellcome Collection — a very successful public venue in London that seeks to explore the connections between medicine, art and life. It has received very positive press attention throughout the world, attracted over 300,000 visits per year since 2007, and has been nominated for the Museum of the Year and European Museum of the Year awards. The Wellcome Collection has emerged as the culmination of 15 years of innovative public work at the Trust, where Ken Arnold has run a variety of arts and e... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3808693 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:00:53 +0100 3808693 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3658987&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F06%2F14%2Fthe-activity-of-looking-what%25e2%2580%2599s-in-a-name%2F Being invited to join a drawing workshop usually elicits one of two reactions. Either enthusiasm because the person likes to draw or they think the idea sounds interesting or different. The other response is to dismiss the idea completely. This reaction seems to be prompted by two main preconceptions about drawing. The first is that it is arty or simplistic, a bit of fun so would have no relevance to other more serious research activities. The other preconception seems to stem surprisingly from fear. ‘But I can’t draw’ or ‘I haven’t drawn for years’ come the plaintiff explanations for foregoing the chance to partake in any workshops. The fear of being seen to be unaccomplished at the seemingly simple yet daunting task of drawing has caused a surprising lack of takers to partici... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3658987 Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:02:25 +0100 3658987 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3648572&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F06%2F10%2Falzheimer-opera-at-the-royal-opera-london-in-july-art-biomedicine-and-public-engagement-with-science%2F Here’s another new example of a apparently fruitfull collaboration between art and biomedicine – an opera called The Lion’s Face exploring Altzheimer’s disease and dementia. This time even with a public engagement with science twist. As Felicity Callard – who were involved in the production of the opera, and who just advertised it on the Neuroscience and Society mailing list – describes: Fundamental to the development of the opera was the sustained involvement of patients, healthcare staff, family members, as well as basic & clinical researchers. The librettist & composer visited the biomarkers labs, talked extensively to the various stakeholders and witnessed various practices of dementia care. The opera premiered at the Brighton Festival in May... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3648572 Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:35:13 +0100 3648572 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3515425&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F04%2F29%2Fthe-historiography-of-the-interaction-between-science-and-medical-practice-conflict-or-coop%2F I’m not sure I understand which historians of contemporary medicine Steve Sturdy is arguing against in this talk next Wednesday: Recent accounts of the role of science in the development of medical practice have tended to concentrate on instances of tension between scientists and practitioners. This paper revisits the historiography, and suggests that historians have often inadvertently adopted essentialised accounts of scientific and clinical culture, and assumed that those cultures necessarily exist in tension with one another. Historians have reinforced these assumptions by seeking out instances of conflict, while neglecting the many ways in which science and medicine have developed in concert with one another. In so doing, they have restricted their own ability to comment on the... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3515425 Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:00:18 +0100 3515425 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3408415&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F03%2F25%2Fdrawing-medical-museum-artefacts-second-workshop-at-medical-museion%2F On Monday 22nd March we held the second group drawing workshop at Medical Museion. I was joined by five others to draw one of the artefacts from the ‘6 ting og sager’ exhibition. The specimen is the skeleton of a young child who had suffered with Rickets or ’English disease’ as it is known here. What was most noticable about the morning was the intense silence. We are used to sitting for a couple of hours at the cinema or in front of the tv. but it is rare to be amongst a group of people who spent two hours staring at a single, static object. The drawing session allowed those who had already seen the specimen to re-see it in a new way and offered a new experience for those who had never seen it before. All found they saw more and more detail the longer they spent looking ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3408415 Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:37:04 +0100 3408415 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3378521&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F03%2F18%2Fdrawing-medical-museum-artefacts%2F We have had our first drawing workshop here at Medical Museion. Three staff members — Anni, Camilla and Nanna — participated in a group drawing workshop. The specimen we drew is an example of bones of the middle ear mounted in a magnifying glass and placed on a small wooden plinth. It comes from the Ibsen-Mackesprangske collection made between 1824 and 1836 and was taken from a collection made of inner ear bones of 55 deaf people at the Danish Deaf Institute. This object forms part of the collection chosen for the ‘6 ting og sager’ exhibition, which opened last Friday (see presentation in Danish here). The object was placed in the centre of the table. Anni and Camilla sat on one side and Nanna and I sat opposite. All three drew more than two or three drawings on o... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3378521 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:00:42 +0100 3378521 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3374163&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F03%2F17%2Fis-this-the-death-of-the-sciencemedical-museum-collections-as-we-know-them%2F Nanowerk reports that researchers at the Micro and Nanosystems Department, Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona have recently demonstrated that it is possible to produce and place small silicon chips inside living HeLa cells by means of different techniques, like lipofection, phagocytosis or microinjection. 90% of the cells remained alive and healthy for a week. We’re talking about quite ordinary (but extraordinarily small) silicon chips that are made of a normal semiconductor material and produced by usual manufacturing methods. The chips that can be used as intracellular sensors and the possibilites are endless — for example, characterization, quantification and IRT monitoring of molecular processes at the single cell level. This sounds like a promising route ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3374163 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:00:46 +0100 3374163 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3339654&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F03%2F06%2Fbacteria-drawing-at-the-hybrid-art-science-exhibition-in-sheffield%2F The Hybrid Art Science Networking Association, which is led by Leeds-based artist Paul Digby and Sheffield-based scientist and artist Lizz Tuckerman, enables artists and scientists of all disciplines to meet, and encourages cross-disciplinary interaction. It is supported by Arts Council England, Yorkshire. The Hybrid Art and Science Exhibition was held in various locations around Sheffield. My drawing was part of a collection of work on display at the Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery. The piece selected for the exhibition is called ‘Bacteria Drawing’ and was made in May 2009. The drawing is a collaborative piece and is constructed from 22 drawings which form one large piece. It is about 170 cm in height, approximately150 cm approx wide and spreads about 170 cm along the floo... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3339654 Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:12:11 +0100 3339654 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3326999&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F03%2F02%2Fbios-lingo%2F A recent call for submissions to the journal Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies makes me think (again and again and again) about the unfathomable gulf between on the one hand biomedical practice and on the other hand literary and cultural studies about biomedicine. Concentric asks for papers for an issue on ‘bios’ — i.e., the old Greek word for ‘life course’ which has been used by post-thinkers since Foucault (Agamben, Hardt, Negri and others): How then are we now to rethink human life in terms of our increasingly intimate relations with machines, perhaps even our posthumanity? How are we to evaluate our “prosthetic life”? How are we now to define, interpret, understand concepts of law and polis (government, nation-state), state power, capitalism an... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3326999 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:48:26 +0100 3326999 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3322392&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F03%2F02%2Fconversations-between-surgery-pathology-the-humanities-and-the-arts%2F Association for Medical Humanities 8th Annual Conference Mon 5th – Wed 7th July 2010: Truro and Tate St Ives, UK Humanities at the Cutting Edge: Conversations between surgery, pathology, the humanities and the arts This looks like it could be an interesting conference where invited speakers range from surgeons to artists and parallel sessions will be running workshops, conference papers and art exhibitions/performances. There is a provisional programme and the deadline for abstracts has been extended to 31 March 2010 Please include Title and name: Institutional affiliation: Address for correspondence: Email: Telephone contact: Title of proposed presentation: Abstract (maximum 250 words): Please return to: petrina.bradbrook@pms.ac.uk Copy to: alan.bleakley@pms.ac.uk  and robert.marsh... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3322392 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:09:52 +0100 3322392 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3314644&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F02%2F27%2Fsaving-the-papers-of-21st-century-science-for-future-historians%2F Besides the preservation and display of the contemporary medical heritage, one of my major research interests is the methodology of writing the history of contemporary science (see, e.g., The Historiography of Contemporary Science and Technology (1997) and The Historiography of Contemporary Science, Technology and Medicine: Writing Recent Science (with Ron Doel, 2006)). Now I am beginning to think about a third volume in the ’series’ to catch up with new trends in science historiography. One of the most interesting issues — both from a museological and historiographical point of view — is how historians should deal with the growing avalanche of scientific digital documents. I.e., how to preserve, utilise, and make sense of the enormous output of digital... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3314644 Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:00:01 +0100 3314644 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3294626&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F02%2F22%2Fhybrids-between-science-visual-art-poetry-and-theatre%2F The Thackray Museum in Leeds is hosting an interesting meeting organised by artist Paul Digby on Saturday 20 March. Titled ‘Hybrid’ it gathers a group of interesting thinkers and practicioners on the interface between art and science: Siân Ede (Arts Director at the UK Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and author of Strange and Charmed: Science and the Contemporary Visual Arts) will talk about ‘Light echoes in art and science’: A light echo is a phenomenon observed in astronomy and is produced when a sudden burst of light is reflected off a source, arriving at the viewer some time after the initial flash. Investigative approaches in art and science have little in common but co-exist in the same human context and may unwittingly reflect each other’s th... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3294626 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:32:08 +0100 3294626 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3283563&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F02%2F18%2Fcontemporary-bodies-new-technologies-new-collections%2F A few months ago, I advertised the meeting ‘KörperGegenwart, neue Technologien, neue Sammlungen’ to be held at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden, 22-24 April. Now the program has been finalised — and it looks very good! After a plenary discussion on ‘Schauplätze der Schönheit: Klinik, Kunst, Medien und Museen’ on Thursday evening, there follows two days of presentations, most of which seem to be very relevant for the future of medical and science museums: ‘Körperspuren im Deutschen Hygiene-Museum. Strategien und Objekte’ (Susanne Roeßiger, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden) ‘Auf Biegen und Brechen. Zur (In)Formierung des Körpers’ (Stefan Rieger, Ruhr-Universität Bochum) ‘Der Körper und seine Teile. Vom Präparat ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3283563 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:00:30 +0100 3283563 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3259008&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F02%2F09%2Fgreat-expectations-neuroscience-in-the-21st-century-and-beyond%2F As mentioned in a previous blogpost, I’m currently doing a ph.d.-project here at Medical Museion concerning the history of the concept of successful aging in neuroscience and its relation to ideas on cognitive enhancement. Part of my work, therefore, is going to conferences like this one, held in Copenhagen last week: The conference was arranged by the Danish research center GNOSIS, and featured both neuroscientists and philosophers – as an attempt to bridge the disciplinary boundaries and maybe produce some kind of synergy. The first day especially had that feeling. Themed under the headline ‘Brain Plasticity’ and featuring, among others, the English philosophical-minded neuroscientist Steven Rose, German phenomenological philosopher and psychiatrist Thomas Fuchs, and Danish bio... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3259008 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:13:22 +0100 3259008 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3231543&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F02%2F02%2Flow-budget-gift-wrapping-ribbon-model-of-the-gpcr-receptor%2F As Bente writes on our Danish blog (Museionblog), we thought at first that Sven Erik Hansen (former consultant rheumatologist, now guest researcher here at Medical Museion) had a fit of belated Xmas nostalgia when he hanged this ’thing’ made of coloured gift wrappage ribbons in our lunch room earlier today. But it’s actually more museum-related than we first thought. Turned out it’s a play on one of the central images involved in the preparation phase we’re in right now for the next show in our external exhibition area in the main building of the Faculty of Health Sciences.  We — i.e. Sven Erik, Adam Bencard, Bente Vinge Pedersen and myself — have decided that the exhibition (to be opened in October) shall be a reflection on some... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3231543 Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:30:40 +0100 3231543 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3208425&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F01%2F26%2Frepomen-a-fictional-study-in-organ-circulation%2F Can’t wait to avoid seeing Repomen when it is released in a theatre near me later in the spring. The trailer shows Jude Law, Forest Whitaker and a lot of lesser known stars running around killing each other in a near future when artificial organs can be bought on credit and some people can’t afford to make the payments on hearts, livers and kidneys they’ve purchased. Probably says more about the cultural expectations around the new transplantation future than about medical research. The dramaturgy doesn’t look particularly inspiring. (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3208425 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:57:22 +0100 3208425 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3197696&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F01%2F22%2Fa-genealogical-study-of-the-concept-of-successful-aging-iii-%25e2%2580%2599successful-aging%25e2%2580%2599-in-the-neurosciences-and-the-link-to-cognitive-enhancement%2F This is the last part of my project description for the Ph.D.-project called “A genealogical study of the concept of ’successful aging’ and its relation to the idea of ‘human enhancement”. See the first two parts here and here.  ’Successful aging’ in the neurosciences and the link to ‘cognitive enhancement’ In order to narrow the problem field, the project will look closely at how the notion of ‘successful aging’ has been understood and defined in the field of neuroscience in the last decades, and how ‘successful cognitive aging’ has played together with discussions — both in the scientific literature, in science policy documents and in general public discourse — about the possibility for so called ‘cognitive enhancement’ (‘neuro... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3197696 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:00:42 +0100 3197696 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3189178&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F01%2F20%2Fa-genealogical-study-of-the-concept-of-successful-aging-ii-the-relation-between-%25e2%2580%2599successful-aging%25e2%2580%2599-and-%25e2%2580%2598human-enhancement%25e2%2580%2599%2F This is the second part of my project description for the Ph.D.-project called ‘A genealogical study of the concept of ’successful aging’ and its relation to the idea of ‘human enhancement’. See the first part here. The relation between ’successful aging’ and ‘human enhancement’ The project will particularly focus on an analysis of the possible connection between ideas about the prevention and treatment of age-related diseases, on the one hand, and the current merging discourse on ‘human enhancement’, on the other. Like ‘successful aging’, the notion of ‘human enhancement’ — including a large variety of different ideas about the future possibilities for technological improvements of human bodies — became widely spread in the 1980’s and... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3189178 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:00:10 +0100 3189178 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3182201&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F01%2F18%2Fa-genealogical-study-of-the-concept-of-successful-aging-i%2F I’ve just begun my ph.d.-project here at Medical Museion. Titled ”A genealogical study of the concept of successful aging and its relation to the idea of human enhancement”, the project is financed by the new Center for Healthy Aging at the Faculty of Health Sciences. Below is the first part of the project description concerning the notion of successful aging. In two following parts I will first introduce the possible relation between successful aging and human enhancement, and then my attempt to narrow the project to cognitive aspects of ageing and cognitive enhancement. Comments to one or all three parts are much appreciated. The genealogy of the notion of ’successful aging’ At present there is much focus on the notion of successful aging (healthy aging, opti... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3182201 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:00:39 +0100 3182201 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3175913&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F01%2F14%2Fnew-exhibition-healthy-aging-opens-monday-8-february%2F We thought our storage facilities were warm enough to work in, even in the winter. But the current Arctic spell — which is a proof of the simple fact that global warming isn’t evenly distributed around the world — has forced one of our external designers, Mikael Thorsted, to wear winter cloths when inspecting artefacts for our new exhibition: . What is going on? Well, ‘Primary Substances‘ — the first exhibition in our brand new extramural temporary exhibit area in the main building of the Faculty of Health Sciences — is closing tomorrow. It will be followed by ’Healthy Aging’, which approaches the major global challenge of ageing (sic!, see disclaimer below) in three different ways — through science, art, and cultu... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3175913 Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:15:23 +0100 3175913 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3171932&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F01%2F14%2Fnew-exhibition-healthy-aging-opens-monday-8-february%2F We thought our storage facilities were warm enough to work in, even in the winter. But the current Arctic spell — which is a proof of the simple fact that global warming isn’t evenly distributed around the world — has forced one of our external designers, Mikael Thorsted, to wear winter cloths when inspecting artefacts for our new exhibition: . What is going on? Well, ‘Primary Substances‘ — the first exhibition in our brand new extramural temporary exhibit area in the main building of the Faculty of Health Sciences — is closing tomorrow. It will be followed by ’Healthy Aging’, which approaches the major global challenge of ageing (sic!, see disclaimer below) in three different ways — through science, art, and cultu... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3171932 Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:15:23 +0100 3171932 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3159768&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2010%2F01%2F10%2Fmedical-history-objects-art-objects%2F The Mori Art Museum in Tokyo is currently showing an exhibition called ‘Medicine and Art: Imagining a Future for Life and Love’, showcasing 150 works of art — some are installations designed by artists, other are historical medical artefacts that are contextually transmogrified into art objects by being situated in the art museum space, like these: From Boing Boing. Adds to my general impression that the identity of a medical artefact — as a historical museum artefact, as a clinical tool, as an art object, etc — is all about context. Framing means everything. (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3159768 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:57:13 +0100 3159768 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3111445&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F12%2F22%2Fbiomedical-molecules-as-jewelry%2F Four years ago, San Francisco-based biochemist Raven Hanna quit protein sequencing and began designing silver necklaces and earrings in the shape of molecules instead. Today she sells more than 2000 pieces a year:  neurotransmitter earrings, endorphin necklace, amino acid jewelry, serotonin cufflinks, and so forth. For details and order form, see her website, Made with Molecules: See also interview in San Francisco Chronicle online. She could have been part of our Design4Science exhibition last spring. (Thanks to Jessica for the tip) (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3111445 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:00:05 +0100 3111445 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3079370&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F12%2F11%2Fhave-you-ever-seen-a-molecule-art-science-and-visual-communication%2F In late March, Rikke Schmidt Kjærgaard (which several of us here at Medical Museion met when she gave a seminar here a couple of years ago and who is now working at the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge) is organising a meeting of great relevance for anyone interested in biomedicine on display, whether in museums or on the screen. Titled ‘Have you ever seen a molecule? Art, science and visual communication’, the two-day meeting at the Cambridge Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), 25-26 March, concentrates on the correlation between art/design and molecular biology, in particular structural biology, and on the impact of the arts and artistic practices on scientific culture. Current molecular biological research is ve... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3079370 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:20:15 +0100 3079370 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3075538&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F12%2F09%2Fcontemporary-medical-science-and-technology-as-a-challenge-for-museums-copenhagen-16-19-september-2010%2F Here’s the announcement for a conference to be held here at Medical Museion next September: Contemporary medical science and technology as a challenge for museums Copenhagen, 16-19 September, 2010 The 15th biannual conference of the European Association of Museums for the History of Medical Sciences (EAMHMS) will be held at Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Thursday 16 – Saturday 19 September, 2010. The image of medicine that emerges from most museum galleries and exhibitions is still dominated by pre-modern and modern understandings of an anatomical and physiological body, and by the diagnostic and therapeutical methods and instruments used to intervene with the body at the ‘molar’ and tangible level — limbs, organs, tissues, etc. The rapid transition i... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3075538 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:03:49 +0100 3075538 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3071195&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F12%2F09%2Fcontemporary-medical-science-and-technology-as-a-challenge-for-museums-copenhagen-16-19-september-2010%2F Here’s the announcement for a conference to be held here at Medical Museion next September: Contemporary medical science and technology as a challenge for museums Copenhagen, 16-19 September, 2010 The 15th biannual conference of the European Association of Museums for the History of Medical Sciences (EAMHMS) will be held at Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Thursday 16 – Saturday 19 September, 2010. The image of medicine that emerges from most museum galleries and exhibitions is still dominated by pre-modern and modern understandings of an anatomical and physiological body, and by the diagnostic and therapeutical methods and instruments used to intervene with the body at the ‘molar’ and tangible level — limbs, organs, tissues, etc. The rapid transition i... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3071195 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:03:49 +0100 3071195 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3063280&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F12%2F07%2Fthe-recent-history-of-medical-technology-piecing-it-together-from-memoirs-and-reminiscences%2F One of the challenges for a museum of medicine intent on collecting recent and contemporary medical artefacts is to get an overview of the historical development of medical instruments, medical technological systems and the medical device industry. Trade shows and their catalogues (published or online) are excellent sources. But memoirs and reminiscences of people who have been engaged in the trade show business can also be useful —  they add a more personal perspective to the dry historical data, they are more fun to read than catalogues, and you can probably construct a useful picture of trends by piecing their more or less idiosyncratic stories together. Take for example Wolfgang Albath, a pioneer in laboratory medicine and one of the founding organisers of the world`s larg... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3063280 Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:00:31 +0100 3063280 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3059739&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F12%2F05%2Fway-too-neat-lab-bench%2F Seed is running a series of monthly portraits of workbenches of interesting people (like Oliver Sacks, a renowned bat expert, an industrial designer, etc.) The latest portrait, published in yesterday’s online issue, is the lab bench of Martin Chalfie, one of the three who won a medical Nobel last year for the discovery of green fluorescent protein (GFP). The image on seedmagazine.com is interactive (of course) — that is, you can blow up details with accompanying texts. Nifty, but …. what struck me when I first saw the image was that Chalfie’s lab bench doesn’t look authentic. Take a look at the magnified version below — it is way too neat and tidy! It looks like the photographer has cleaned up and arranged everything in orderly fashion before sh... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3059739 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:00:08 +0100 3059739 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3035905&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F11%2F28%2Fis-biomedicine-making-the-body-invisible-and-immaterial-and-uncollectable%2F Is it really the case that almost all museum exhibitions dealing with medical themes these days are displaying DNA-images and colourful neuroscanning pictures? Well, at least this is what the organisers of a meeting in Dresden next April seem to be suggesting. I think they are exaggerating a bit :-). But that said, the theme of the meeting — KörperGegenwart, neue Technologien, neue Sammlungen [contemporary bodies, new technologies, new collections] — is right on the spot. The point of departure for the meeting — jointly organised by Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung in Berlin and Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden — is that the colonisation of the body by means of the life sciences has resulted in a gradual retreat from the immediately visible and materi... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3035905 Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:34:13 +0100 3035905 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3033606&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F11%2F27%2Fcuratorial-and-artistic-techniques-in-investigating-and-presenting-biomedical-bodies%2F We are of course not the only museum that struggles with how to juggle art, science, materiality and medicine in our exhibitions. Next Friday, 4 December, the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at University of Cambridge is organising a most interesting afternoon symposium titled ‘Assembling Bodies: Art, Science & Imagination’. Curators and artistic contributors to MAA’s current experimental exhibition with the same name will explore techniques of investigation and presentation — including relationships between the body and material things, the potential of exhibitions as research projects, incorporating different sensory engagements in museum display, and accommodating multiple audiences. After an opportunity to see the current exhibition there will be four p... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3033606 Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:00:30 +0100 3033606 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3003798&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F11%2F18%2Fbetween-meaning-culture-and-presence-effects-contemporary-biomedical-objects-as-a-challenge-to-museums%2F An online-version of Adam’s, Camilla’s and my essay ”Between meaning culture and presence effects: contemporary biomedical objects as a challenge to museums” is now available on the website of Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Here’s the abstract of the paper: The acquisition and display of material artefacts is the raison d’être of museums. But what constitutes a museum artefact? Contemporary medicine (biomedicine) is increasingly producing artefacts that do not fit the traditional museological understanding of what constitutes a material, tangible artefact. Museums today are therefore caught in a paradox. On the one hand, medical science and technologies are having an increasing pervasive impact on the way contemporary life is lived and un... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3003798 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:00:51 +0100 3003798 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3003799&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F11%2F17%2Fbiomedical-visualisation-and-society%2F Curators in medical museums that plan to get involved with the powerful practices of contemporary biomedical visualization (we all do, don’t we?) might learn something from the announced ‘Biomedical Visualisations and Society’ seminar and workshop series at the University of Warwick Medical School next spring with the aim  to critically explore the social and political implications of biomedical imaging to gain technical knowledge of visualisation to foster collaboration and networking between early-career researchers Each of the four two-day workshop will combine a key-note lecture, time for discussion and an opportunity to engage with visualisation in practice. What distingushes this seminar series from many others is exactly the combination of theory and practi... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3003799 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:51:39 +0100 3003799 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2954538&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F11%2F03%2Fcontested-categories-2%2F Two years ago, in January 2007, our own Susanne Bauer co-organised a meeting titled ‘Contested Categories’ here at Medical Museion. Now, a proceedings volume with the same title, co-edited by Susanne and Ayo Wahlberg (formerly BIOS, LSE), has been published by Ashgate. From the back cover: Contested Categories presents a series of empirical studies that engage with the often shifting and day-to-day realities of life sciences categories. In doing so, it shows how such categories remain contested and dynamic, and that the boundaries they create are subject to negotiation as well as re-configuration and re-stabilization processes. Organized around the themes of biological substances and objects, personhood and the genomic body and the creation and dispersion of knowledge, each of ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2954538 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:00:26 +0100 2954538 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2934742&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F10%2F28%2Fpill-camera-live-show%2F Here are some images from last month’s show with Phillip Warnell swallowing a pill camera in Medical Museion’s anatomical theatre: See more images here (the event was originally announced here). (thanks to Bente who published the images on our Danish blog the other day) (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2934742 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:00:40 +0100 2934742 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2931010&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F10%2F27%2Flab-toys-on-display-please%2F Laboratory equipment for rats or mice have begun to fascinate me more and more. Not in the way the rat guillotine was fascinating, but more in the way of how lab equipment can show so many things about biomedical practices, contexts and knowledge production. The picture above is from an article in the October issue of The Scientist, which Thomas has referred me to, called ‘Lab Toys – How does cage enrichment affect rodents?’. It is a really interesting article (as he knew I would think) about, well, lab toys – and their consequences for lab practices. For instance the article illustrates one of the aspects about the use of laboratory animals that you seldom think about: the everyday life in the lab where humans and animals interact. Rats, for example, are not only i... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2931010 Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:00:45 +0100 2931010 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2920220&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F10%2F23%2Fthe-menstrual-cycle-on-display%2F Here’s an innovative way of putting biomedicine on display:   As Vanessa (Street Anatomy) says, the menstrual cycle has never looked so exciting! [...] Perfect for explaining the menstrual cycle for the first time to a young girl … or to a 26-year-old.  I had no idea I went through a luteal lunacy! Created by I Heart Guts!, “the brainchild of an anatomically obsessed illustrator who loves internal organs and all they do”. Maybe the next generation of the classic biochemical pathways wall charts could learn a lesson or two — or better, I Heart Guts could make a version of: (click here for a larger version) (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2920220 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:00:19 +0100 2920220 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2912222&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F10%2F21%2Fmedical-museums-and-the-janus-faced-future-of-synthetic-biology%2F Part of the fun of being involved in a medical museum these days is that the notion of ‘biomedicine’ is so much broader than traditional medicine and health care taught in faculties of medicine and health science. As a university institution for biomedical science communication we are, by default as it were, confronted with some of the most fundamental issues in the world today. Financial crisis, atomic weapon threats and global warming  aside — the rapid technical development in biology and biomedicine raises some pretty hefty social, political and ethical questions which we, as a museum, can hardly avoid dealing with if we want to stay just minimally atuned to the world around us. Take the issue of synthetic biology. Forget about the potentials benefits ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2912222 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:40:19 +0100 2912222 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2883039&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F10%2F12%2Fyet-another-postdoc-wanted-for-research-into-the-history-of-nih%2F In the last two years, the Office of History at the National Institutes of Health has grown and changed into one of the major players in studies of contemporary history of biomedicine. In 2007 the Office got a new director, Robert Martensen who has a combined medical and historical background; last year, historian of 20th century cancer research, David Cantor, was recruited as Deputy Director and Senior Research Historian; and not long time ago they launched a new website (pretty NIH’ish look, but fills the necessary informative function well). Martensen and Cantor are also expanding the postdoc programme. Currently, seven postdocs are associated with the Office — Eric Boyle (history of alternative and complementary medicine at NIH); Todd Olszewski (history of risk factors in ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2883039 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:00:51 +0100 2883039 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2862515&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F10%2F05%2Fprotein-sculpture-in-the-making%2F In continuation of last week’s post about protein art — here is a (somewhat dated) YouTube-movie about the making of such a beast: It’s an interview with German physicist-turned-artist Julian Voss-Andreae working on his antibody sculpture ‘Angel of the West’, now placed in front of the Scripps Research Institute in Florida. Voss-Andreae comments in Leonardo, vol. 38: pp. 41-45, 2005: The main idea underlying these sculptures is the analogy between the technique of mitered cuts and protein folding. The sculptures offer a sensual experience of a world that is usually accessible only through the intellect. (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2862515 Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:30:23 +0100 2862515 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2858653&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F10%2F04%2Fnih-stimulus-grant-to-virtual-library-of-cell-images%2F As some of you may have noticed, the online Image & Video Library of The American Society for Cell Biology has been closed since February, and nobody knew whether it would be opened again. Last Thursday the ACSB announced, however, that the site will be re-opened and developed further by means of a $2,5 million ’stimulus grant’ from the NIH (one of the consequences of the new Obama administration). According to ACSB’s press release, the present image and video collection will be turned into “a comprehensive, international digital library” and furthermore, by “developing a systematic protocol for acquiring, reviewing, annotating, and uploading the images”, the ASCB will create “an efficient platform for building the library at a rapid rat... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2858653 Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:20:32 +0100 2858653 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2857432&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F10%2F03%2Fon-the-boundary-of-visual-and-performative-arts-and-biomedicine%2F Ever noticed that the uniform resource locator (a.k.a. url) of this blog is www.corporeality.net/museion? I’ve just realised there is a url-alike in the same business as ours, namely www.CORPOrealities.org. CORPOrealities is the website of a research project “situated on the very boundary of visual and performative arts and biomedicine”, which free-lance Viennese sociologist and artist Christina Lammer has carried out together with a team of visual artists, curators, historians and caregivers at the Medizinische Universität Wien (MUW) during the last five years. The project is interesting in a ‘Biomedicine-on-display’-perspective because Lammer and her co-workers have used video as an ethnographic method for translating human experiences of illness and suffe... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2857432 Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:00:15 +0100 2857432 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2855612&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F10%2F02%2Fwaiting-for-the-2009-celldance-winners%2F The art of animation of cellular and molecular processes has developed immensely in the last decade. One of the interesting trends is the increasingly sophisticated practice of mixing scientific footage with animation procedures. A nice example is ‘The Golgi apparatus’ movie (Sougrat R. The Golgi apparatus. ASCB Image & Video Library. 2008;VID-142) that was awarded 1st Place Public Outreach Video at Celldance 2008, the annual cell film and image contest for members of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), organised “to open the eyes of the world to the best in visually stunning videos and images that illuminate cell biology”. See it here: http://cellimages.ascb.org/  The Golgi movie animation takes you inside a mammalian cell where you can see th... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2855612 Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:00:09 +0100 2855612 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2846399&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F09%2F30%2Fprotein-sculpturing%2F In the last ten years or so, in the wake of the renewed interest in protein research and proteomics after genomics, we have seen more and more artists making protein sculptures. See, for example, Graphic Thought Facility’s neon protein artwork, or Colin Rennies glass sculpture of ATP synthase, or Julian Voss-Andreae’s wood and steel sculpures of proteins, just to mention a few. Here’s another recent example. Herwig Turk sent me these images from his current exhibition gaps (with Paulo Pereira and Johannes Hoffmann) at the Museu da Ciência, Coimbra, Portugal (the museum of the Universidade de Coimbra): Made by ropes and epoxy and coloured with red ship paint, gaps is based on a 3D-model of connexin43 drawn by PhD-student Steve Catarino at Universidade de Coimb... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2846399 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:36:11 +0100 2846399 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2832192&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F09%2F25%2F2067%2F Later today, the art exhibition SK-INTERFACES — originally displayed in Liverpool in 2008 (see earlier post here) — opens in “extended continuation” form (what others would call perpetual beta :-) at Casino Luxembourg in Luxembourg. The opening event features Kira O’Reilly (inthewrongplaceness), Yann Marussich (Bleu Remix), Paul Vanouse (Relative Velocity Inscription Device) and Jun Takita (Light, only light!). The show, which is curated by Jens Hauser, is running until January 10, 2010. Contributing artists include: Art Orienté objet, Maurice Benayoun, Zane Berzina, Critical Art Ensemble, Wim Delvoye, Olivier Goulet, Eduardo Kac, Antal Lakner, Yann Marussich, Kira O’Reilly, Zbigniew Oksiuta, ORLAN, Philippe Rahm, Julia Reodica, Stelarc, Jun Takita, The Office ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2832192 Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:00:09 +0100 2832192 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2803950&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F09%2F16%2Fmaintaining-split-and-splice-fragments-from-the-age-of-biomedicine%2F From left to right: Kirsten Rosenmay Jacobsen, Camilla Schumacher-Petersen, Splice and yours truly Maintaining an exhibition like ‘Split and Splice: Fragments from the age of biomedicine’ is quite a job. Not many of us who frequently visit museums consider the time and effort put into maintaining the shows that we visit. We kind of take it for granted that the display cases are polished and we properly rarely think about it – unless the general maintenance is lacking. Admittedly maintaining a show can sometimes be a tedious job but never the less it is extremely important. Changing light bulbs and keeping the dust levels down are some of the more mundane tasks but as Split and Splice is a special exhibition – it also requires special maintenance. Especially the two sta... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2803950 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:42:37 +0100 2803950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2796469&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F09%2F15%2F100-years-with-ph%2F 2009 is the 100th anniversary of the notion of pH, proposed by the Danish chemist S.P.L. Sørensen. Shortly after having been appointed head of the Chemical Department at the Carlsberg Laboratory in 1901, Sørensen started an extensive research programme on amino acids and proteins. One of his projects was the kinetics of enzyme dissociation; among other things, he found out that the degree of dissociation is dependent not only on temperature but also on hydrogen ion activity. Summing up his enzyme investigations in 1909, Sørensen proposed the first logarithmic scale for hydrogen ion activity (pH) which is still in use: 0 is very acidic, 14 is very basic, and 7 is neutral (distilled water). The letter ‘H’ obviously stands for ‘Hydrogen’, but historians are still discussing what S�... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2796469 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:00:44 +0100 2796469 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2785950&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F09%2F11%2Fexplaining-splitsplice-on-danish-tv%2F The theme of this year’s Golden Days festival in Copenhagen is ’Body Performance: corsets, champions and cialis’. Medical Museion takes active part with the Split+Splice-exhibition and Phillip Warnell’s ENDO-ECTO-performance on Sunday. As a prelude to the festival, the Copenhagen local TV-channel Lorry aired a short feature about three current body-exhibitions in Copenhagen, including Split+Splice. See here how the guest curator of the exhibition, Martha Fleming, explain some of the basic ideas behind the show (3 mins 15 secs into the programme). (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2785950 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:00:25 +0100 2785950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2782043&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F09%2F10%2Fstories-between-art-and-science-and-the-history-of-the-ribbon-diagram-of-protein-structure%2F I was supposed to give a presentation at the one-day meeting ‘Stories Between Art and Science’ in Oporto, Portugal, next week but had to decline because I’m on paternal leave with my youngest daughter in September and October. Anyway, the programme has just been distributed and it looks tantalising. Speakers include: * Michael Punt: Provisional Connection * Monique Sicard: Between Painters and Scientists/The Paradox of the Concomitant Emergence of Pictorial Abstraction and Photographic Realism * Shirley Wheeler: Tracing the Invisible * Maria Esteva: Endless Possibilities: Digital Collections as Crossroads between the Humanities and the Sciences * Len Massey: Drawing the Invisible * Jane S. Richardson: Drawing 3D Protein Structures * Laura Salisbury: A Neurological Moderni... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2782043 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:00:59 +0100 2782043 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2778454&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F09%2F09%2Fsee-phillop-warnell-swallow-a-pill-camera-in-copenhagen-next-sunday%2F Bente and her crew are right now making the last preparations for the next public event here at Medical Museion, viz. Phillip Warnell’s performance ENDO-ECTO on Sunday, 13 September, at 2pm. In front of the audience in the old anatomical theatre, Phillip will swallow a  pill camera — and gastroenterologist Simon Anderson, London, will be our guide on the camera’s journey through Phillip’s gastrointestinal tract. The event is an extension of the theme in one of the rooms in our current temporary exhibition ‘Split+Splice: Fragments From the Age of Biomedicine’, which opened in June. This ’scopic’ part of the exhibition builds mainly on Jan Eric Olsén’s research work on the history of endoscopic technologies, and therefore Jan ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2778454 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:00:46 +0100 2778454 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2702347&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F08%2F14%2Fbeyond-postmodern-bioart%2F Yesterday, Vancouver-based writer and curator Robin Laurence wrote a persuasive plaidoyer for post-postmodern art, which I believe has some implications for the understanding of bioart in museums (I’ve been musing about bioart in sci/tech/med museums before). Laurence identifies a movement of “emerging and established artists who are working with found and salvaged materials, discarded objects and even detritus in what could be seen as a ’shabby’ or ‘garbage’ aesthetic” which draws attention to “everyday waste and overconsumption”: British artist John Isaacs employs not scrap lumber or old paint cans, but wax and epoxy resin to create highly realistic sculptures. Often grisly and unsettling, they reflect the profound anxieties of our ag... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2702347 Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:15:44 +0100 2702347 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2695418&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F08%2F13%2Fendoscopic-art-performance%2F Come to Copenhagen and watch UK-based artist Phillip Warnell’s intestines from the inside on Sunday 13 September. The performance will take place in the old anatomical theatre at Medical Museion at 2 pm. Phillip will swallow a pill camera that is going to send images to a screen — allowing you to follow its way through his intestinal system. London-based consultant gastroentorologist Simon Anderson will be commentator. Art historian Rune Gade, body historian Adam Bencard and historian of ideas Jan Eric Olsén will set the performance in perspective with references to the status of contemporary performance art, historical understandings of the body and the historical background for today’s endoscopic diagnostics. The event is organised by Bente Vinge Pedersen an... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2695418 Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:00:02 +0100 2695418 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2685232&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F08%2F10%2Fdo-europeans-not-produce-any-interesting-medical-technologies%2F Medgadget believes there is a good reason why their blog mainly covers medical devices and technologies coming from the United States, namely the great American healthcare system, “equipped with the latest technologies, smart doctors and clean hospitals … a system that delivers unbelievable technologies to help patients day in and day out”. “There must be a reason”, they add, “why we almost never see anything interesting coming out of France, Greece, Spain, Italy, or most other European countries (Germany being the clear exception)”. Medgadget asks this rhetorical question as an argument against the Obama administration’s health care plan. But besides the pros and cons of Obamacare, I wonder if the claim is really true. Is the US reall... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2685232 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:02:06 +0100 2685232 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2657701&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F07%2F31%2Fzombies-and-neurobiology%2F Sometimes it’s amazing what turns up, when you use the web. I’m currently doing some research for a Ph.D-application concerning neuroscience (among other things) and stumbled upon this online article: A Harvard Psychiatrist Explains Zombie Neurobiology The article does what it promises – it discusses zombie neurobiology and refers to a Havard psychiatrist who appearently is also a zombie movie fan and therefore has made zombies his specialty: “the world’s leading authority on the neurobiology of the living dead”. Aside from being one of the many examples of the pervasive prescence of neuroscience in all aspect of western culture, this hybrid case of science and fiction also could (with only a little intellectualizing) point to the discussion about the ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2657701 Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:30:34 +0100 2657701 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2613892&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F07%2F17%2Forgan-donors-chinese-edition%2F Excellent comment on the alleged Chinese ‘tradition’ for organ trafficking: Organ Donor Dolls by David Foox, who created these designer vinyl toys in order to bring awareness to the issue of organ transplant and donation. Currently China undertakes around 10,000 organ transplants per year (about the same as the US). (Thanks to Vanessa for the tip) (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2613892 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:42:09 +0100 2613892 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2602037&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F07%2F14%2Fmore-on-small-animal-guillotines-an-invisible-practice%2F I distributed my memory of being a biochemistry student swinging rats by their tails through the air so the neck landed on a bench edge (no blood, just a momentarily broken neck) to the rete list, adding: It took some training to land it exactly on the edge, though; some less manually skilled students smashed the rat’s back on the table, which only paralysed it. I must confess that I sort of liked this swinging procedure, to the great admiration and horror of some of the other (female) students. Sublime! Gothic biochemistry, to paraphrase Bruce Sterling. This provoked another round of comments, which I take the liberty to quote from (they are publicly accessible in rete’s online archive), because they throw some additional light on the rat guillotine phenomenon. Frank Manasek (c... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2602037 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:51:21 +0100 2602037 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2561305&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F07%2F01%2Fsplit-splice%2F , Del + Hel, is about the inter-relations between the culture of biomedicine and the enormous complexities of 21st century living.  The exhibition explores these complexities through the material culture, objects and instruments used by biomedical practitioners in research and in clinical activities. Much as biomedicine itself, Split + Splice is an innovative hybridisation of complex practices.  It is not exactly science communication; it will not teach you comprehensively about the field of biomedicine.  It is not exactly old-fashioned history of science; it will not show you a triumphalist progression of miraculous discovery.  It is not exactly an art exhibition; it will not leave you with a sense that you have seen inside a solo mind. Investigation, intervention, inquiry, analysis... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2561305 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:02:25 +0100 2561305 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2561493&cid=t_126567_133_f&fid=35130&url=http%3A%2F%2Fautisticbfh.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F06%2Fanother-resignation-at-autism-speaks.html From Dr. Eric London.Dr. Eric London has announced his resignation from the Autism Speaks Scientific Affairs Committee. London is the Director of the Autism Treatment Laboratory at the New York State Insitute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities. He is also Director of the New York State Autism Consortium and a member of the Autism Science Foundation's Scientific Advisory Board. He is the co-founder of the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR).Dr. London's letter of resignation is below:After three years of great hopes for Autism Speaks being the optimal vehicle to advance autism science and treatment, I regretfully and sadly must announce my dissociation from this organization, including resignation from the Scientific Affairs Committee.Despite the very excellent work t... Whose Planet Is It Anyway? blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2561493 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:30:00 +0100 2561493 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2553072&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F06%2F29%2Fsomeone-interested-in-medical-archives-and-collections-in-a-design-history-perspective%2F Interesting initiative — I am thinking of the launch of the Archives, Collections and Curatorship section of the Journal of Design History, which could be useful for those of us who work with the history of medical technological artefacts. The journal section wants authors to evaluate the relevance of an archive or collection as a resource for design historical research — for example, by taking more critical perspectives or reflecting on the practice of collecting, archiving and doing research in archives or collections. They include all kinds of archives and collections held by museums, libraries, businesses, educational institutions, etc. (digital or physical), and they expect all sorts of authors: historians, archivists, museum professionals, curators, designers, stud... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2553072 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:00:00 +0100 2553072 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2550244&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F06%2F28%2Fvisible-and-invisible-radiation%2F When New York-based artist Joan Linder passed by Medical Museion a late afternoon a few weeks ago, we took a tour around the collections. We came into the X ray collection room right after 5 PM, at the rare moment when a lonely sunray found its way between the adjacent buildings at the exactly right angle and hit one of the displayed delicate x-ray vacuum tubes by the window. The effect was electric — I have never seen these vacuum tubes like this before. It was like a visible radiation coming from the outside commenting on the invisible radiation from within the tube. Joan grabbed her camera and shot an image before the sunray disappeared again: (photo: Joan Linder) (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2550244 Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:20:24 +0100 2550244 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2510985&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F06%2F20%2F15th-congress-of-european-association-of-museums-for-the-history-of-medical-sciences-in-copenhagen-september-2010%2F Make a note in your 2010 calendar already — for the 15th Congress of the European Association of Museums of the History of Medical Sciences (EAMHMS), which will be held here at Medical Museion in Copenhagen, 17-19 September 2010. The congress theme revolves around the question: How can medical history museums contribute to the popular engagement in contemporary medicine and health science? Medicine is in rapid transition. The last fifty years have witnessed tremendous changes in medical science and the health system. Molecular biology has introduced entirely new methods for diagnostics and specific therapeutical regimes, and has boosted a flourishing biotech industry. The digital revolution has given rise to whole new areas of medical technology and medical device industries. Th... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2510985 Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:06:55 +0100 2510985 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2512469&cid=t_126567_133_f&fid=35130&url=http%3A%2F%2Fautisticbfh.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F06%2Frethinking-autism-in-vanity-fair.html Vanity Fair has a short article about a new website, Rethinking Autism, which can briefly be described as a satirical pro-neurodiversity site featuring sexy videos that mock celebrity endorsements related to autism. These clever videos are a perfectly targeted and totally hilarious send-up of a certain former Playboy bunny's autism profiteering, and they had me rolling on the floor laughing. I've reposted one of them below. Jenny, you've met your match this time. (Source: Whose Planet Is It Anyway?) Whose Planet Is It Anyway? blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2512469 Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:38:00 +0100 2512469 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2510986&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F06%2F19%2Ffrom-the-opening-of-split-and-splice%2F Here are some pictures from the opening of Split and Splice last Thursday, 11 June — parts of the audience, the opening speakers and lots of invited guests in the exhibition rooms and the reception tent afterwards:                                                            We’ll be back with more images from the exhbition itself. (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2510986 Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:34:47 +0100 2510986 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2510988&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F06%2F16%2Feye-catchers-and-swagger-images-a-new-exhibition-about-scientific-posters%2F In addition to Split and Splice, we have recently opened another and smaller exhibition in the reception hall — Eye Catchers and Swagger Images: Research in Poster Format (Danish: Blikfang og blærebilleder: forskning i posterformat) — with a selection of our collection of scientific posters, from the mid-1980s to the present. The idea behind the exhibition goes back to August 2007, when we had a specialist workshop on Biomedicine and Aesthetics in a Museum Context here at Medical Museion, followed by a conference on Biomedicine and Art. One of the speakers at the Biomedicine and Art conference was James Elkins (the Art Institute of Chicago), who spoke about the new impulses for art theory and visual studies presented by science, technology and medicine. Rikke Vindberg,... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2510988 Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:00:08 +0100 2510988 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2510990&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F06%2F14%2Fsplit-and-splice-fragments-from-the-age-of-biomedicine-new-exhibition-at-medical-museion%2F Last Thursday, we opened our new temporary exhibition Split and Splice: Fragments From the Age of Biomedicine (Danish: Del and Hel: Brudstykker fra biomedicinens tid) here at Medical Museion. In the next couple of days, we will hopefully be able to upload some images from the opening (depends on when Benny has sorted out the hundreds of pictures he took). Until then — why did we make this particular exhibition? The decision actually goes back five years in time, to the spring of 2004, when we were beginning to restructure the old medical-historical museum here in Copenhagen — a task we were thinking of in three ways: First, we wanted to integrate the practice of a museum (cultural heritage and exhibition making) with the logic of the university (which is research and teaching),... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2510990 Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:17:49 +0100 2510990 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2416956&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F05%2F17%2Fthe-morbid-wunderkammer%2F Joanna Ebenstein’s exhibition ”Morbid Anatomy Cabinet or Gallery as Wunderkammer” has just opened at the Barrister’s Gallery in New Orleans. Find out more about the show on her blog here. Excellent images! (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2416956 Sun, 17 May 2009 09:07:49 +0100 2416956 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2414868&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F05%2F16%2Fgenomic-art-is-so-much-last-year%2F Last night, I had a couple of beers with an American bioartist and some of his friends. I have always been somewhat sceptical about what is going on in so called genomic art, and after my first pint of Herslev Pale Ale, I suddenly found myself saying: ‘Genomic art is so much last year’. My guest protested vigorously, probably because some of his own recent work can be designated ’genomic art’. How could I mean that? Before he had the chance to refer to the many great works that have been produced in the last 10 years, I continued my argument. Genomic art grew up in the wake of the immense public interest in the human genome project in the 1990s and early 2000s. It was an oblique response to the importance attached to the genome among scientists, funding ag... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2414868 Sat, 16 May 2009 15:52:02 +0100 2414868 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2405414&cid=t_126567_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2009%2F05%2F13%2Fextended-periods-of-sunlight-might-act-as-suicide-trigger%2F Midweek Mental Greening People often associate becoming depressed during dark winter months with Seasonal Affective Disorder (or, SAD). SAD can actually affect people during any season, including the bright and sunny days during spring and summer months; however, according to a recent Swedish study, regardless of the similar symptoms, SAD doesn’t seem to be the culprit when it comes to the high number of suicides happening in places that experience extended sunlight like Sweden and Greenland. The researchers speculated that light-generated imbalances in serotonin — the brain chemical linked to mood — may lead to increased impulsiveness that in combination with a lack of sleep drives people to kill themselves. “We found that suicides were almost exclusively violent and incre... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2405414 Wed, 13 May 2009 17:54:56 +0100 2405414 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2405343&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F05%2F12%2Fworking-on-split-splice%2F We are a little more than two weeks into our installing period for Split+Splice (Del+Hel), the exhibition about the culture of biomedicine that is opening 11 June at the Medicinsk Museion.  The thrill of seeing ideas materialise into meaning through the juxtaposition of objects of many different kinds is palpable in the team. The other day, some Supermen from 3×34 delivered among other things a Supercomputer which we have on loan from the Dansk Datahistorisk Forening (a museum that no other museum interested in the 20th century can do without: www.datamuseum.dk).  In short order it became part of the beginning of what will be our Data Avalanche – an experience most scientific researchers will know only too well. In the same room there is another high-object density display of me... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2405343 Tue, 12 May 2009 06:38:12 +0100 2405343 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2405344&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F05%2F11%2Fsartoblot-ii-s-the-whereabouts%2F As I told in an earlier post, we are working on an exhibition about the history of proteins, which will open at the faculty of Health Sciences in early September. I visited the medical history museum in Uppsala, Sweden, a few months ago to see their astounding collections of clinical chemical artefacts. Here I found, among other things, an electrophoresis apparatus  made by the laboratory device company Sartorius — a so called Sartoblot II-S — a wonderfully coloured box which seems to have been standard equipment in biomedical laboratories in the 1980’s and 1990’s: you can still buy used specimens on the web from second hand dealers.   The problem is that I don’t know how, when and where this kind of apparatus was used in daily practice. Does anybody ha... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2405344 Mon, 11 May 2009 13:11:10 +0100 2405344 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2386932&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F05%2F04%2Fhow-to-depict-life-itself%2F Just to let you know, on 12 May art historian Robert Zwijnenberg is giving a talk at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Berlin about “How to Depict Life. A Short History of the Imagination of Human Interiority”. Here is the exciting abstract: From 14th-century pictorial efforts to the images produced by visualization technologies, such as fMRT, the depiction of human interiority has always also been a struggle to depict and understand life itself. But how to depict interiority in such a way that life itself becomes understandable? This question was as much a problem for the anatomist of early modern times as it is for the 21st-century molecular bioscientist. The talk will take place at 7.30 pm in the Akademiegebäude am Gendarmenmarkt, Leibniz-Saal M... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2386932 Mon, 04 May 2009 14:52:37 +0100 2386932 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2312713&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F03%2F27%2Fobserving-the-others-watching-over-oneself%2F This article explores two instances of medical surveillance that illustrate post-panoptic views of the body in biomedicine, from the patient to the population. Techniques of surveillance and monitoring are part of medical diagnostics, epidemiological studies, aetiologic research, health care management; they also co-shape individual engagements with illness. In medicine, surveillance data come as digital anatomies for educational purposes and clinical diagnostics that subject the body to imaging techniques, but also as databases of patient collectives that are established in large-scale, at times nationwide, epidemiological studies. We will show that techniques of medical surveillance now include more bottom-up and less-centralized modes as well: with web 2.0 applications, one encounters e... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2312713 Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:17:42 +0100 2312713 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2312714&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F03%2F26%2Fhuman-animal-relationship-opportunity-for-research-at-the-phd-level%2F Research animals in the history of 20th century biomedicine has received quite a lot of attention in recent years. And what animal is more interesting than the pig! Our colleagues in Health Services Research Unit here in Copenhagen are announcing a three-year position as PhD-student in a new research project, headed by Lene Koch, called “Modelling pigs and humans: Understanding human/animal connections in translational research”. The general aim of the project is to “investigate the moral, socio-material, technical and organisational work that is needed in order to establish the pig as locus of producing knowledge about human life and disease”. The PhD student they are looking for right now is expected to work on a subproject titled “Extending life: The use of t... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2312714 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:09:58 +0100 2312714 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2286207&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F03%2F21%2Fvisualizations-of-viruses-ii%2F Continuing our series of visualizations of viruses (see earlier posts here and here) — these beautiful glass sculptures by Luke Jerram just arrived in the mailbox. “Smallpox, HIV & Flu, which together form an installation called ‘Past, Present and Future’”. (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2286207 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:17:14 +0100 2286207 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2284192&cid=t_126567_86_f&fid=34445&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwomenshealthnews.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F03%2F17%2Fat-our-bodies-our-blog-public-and-open-access%2F At Our Bodies Our Blog, I have a bit about NIH’s public access policy, info on open access, and links to open access journals in BioMed Central that may be of interest to readers. Posted in Access, Rights, & Choice, Libraryland, Web Resources (Source: Women's Health News) Women's Health News blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2284192 Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:58:09 +0100 2284192 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2257956&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F03%2F09%2Fthe-research-physician%2F The status of research physicians, i.e., biomedical researchers who are trained as medical doctors (MD), is an interesting issue in the history of contemporary biomedicine. What makes research physicians so interesting is how their contributions to research compares with scientists who have received 8-10 years of research-oriented training in the BSc - MSc - PhD track, for example in molecular biology, physiology or some other medically relevant subject area. “The MD-PhD wars”, as one blogger (Kristi) puts it: As an undergraduate and graduate student this was a popular water cooler topic of conversation. Who receives better training, who make better scientists? The argument against research physicians is that even though they have received a long training to learn h... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2257956 Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:00:23 +0100 2257956 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2232638&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F03%2F04%2Fbiodigital-lives-making-consuming-and-archiving-the-lives-of-technoscience%2F One of the potentially most interesting workshop titles I’ve seen announced so far this year is ’Biodigital lives: making, consuming and archiving the lives of technoscience’. The meeting — convened by Kate O’Riordan (Sussex) and Adrian Mackenzie (Lancaster) and hosted by the Centre for the Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (CESAGen), the Centre for Material Digital Culture and the Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research at the University of Sussex on 14 July — will “examine issues and questions about digital and biodigital life, lives and identities framed by biosciences, contemporary media and biopolitical cultures”: From the lives of scientists to the technologisation of life, ‘Biodigital lives’ will ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2232638 Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:38:12 +0100 2232638 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2222286&cid=t_126567_86_f&fid=34461&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdigicmb.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F02%2Fmycroft-project-plugins-opensearch.html Sometimes I forget that the Compose editor of Blogger is really cool for simpy copy&paste stuff from webpages. I have often used it to have a peek into the source code of all kinds of embedded multimedia in websites. But now I want to share some new OpenSearch plugins I created via the MyCroft Project. You can see the (still small) list of my plugins, but I also just paste the list here, and see how it looks! Mycroft uses a script to hide the direct access to the plugin. So you will have to fill in the number of the plugin (via Mouseover!) in the search option to see the actual script. Education - Journals BioMed Central (Groningen Proxy) (proxy-ub.rug.nl) by Digicmb [Review] Education - Universities Institutional Repository University of Groningen (ir.ub.rug.nl) by Digicmb [Rev... DigiCMB blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2222286 Sat, 28 Feb 2009 09:09:00 +0100 2222286 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2222567&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F02%2F27%2Fexhibition-on-the-history-of-protein-research-call-for-artefacts%2F We are currently preparing a small exhibit on the culture and history of proteins and protein research, which is planned to open Friday 4 september in connection with the official opening of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research. The aim of the exhibition — which shall be placed in the main hall of the Faculty of Health Sciences’s Panum building on U Copenhagen North Campus (right at the entrance to the new eco-friendly and health-promoting canteen) — is to give a historical and cultural perspective on the current focus on proteins in biomedicine and biotechnology. We want to create an object-rich exhbition, and therefore we would like to get in contact with laboratory and clinical scientists on the Øresund area who may provide us with ob... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2222567 Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:15:42 +0100 2222567 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2216603&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F02%2F25%2Fa-crush-on-pipettes%2F No biomedical lab could function without pipettes — the ‘containment of precision-measured transfer of liquids between containers’, as I use to think of them. Everyone who has a crush on pipettes (and I tell you, there are many of us, as you can see in this Eppendorf video) will just love the new blog Labtutorials in biology. Created by Bálint Bálint (a junior lecturer at the University of Debrecen), this blog is meant to become a teaching aid for basic biochemical and molecular biology lab practices. The first post was on water, the second is about (YES!) pipettes. All sorts of them. Scroll down the post, and more and more different kinds of pipettes, in still images and videos, appear. Bálint’s next post will be about serological pipettes. ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2216603 Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:00:43 +0100 2216603 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2200568&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F02%2F19%2Fsmallpox-virus-glass-sculpture-the-problem-of-use-of-pseudocolours-in-public-engagement-with-science%2F Apropos Colin Rennie’s glass sculpture of ATP synthase: visual artist Luke Jerram and glassblower Brian Jones have created these two non-coloured glass sculptures of the smallpox virus. The artwork is based on a number of scientific representations of the virus, and is made in consultation with virologist Andrew Davidson at the University of Bristol. (top right image from here, below from here) Luke Jerram’s artwork coincides with the 30th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, which was once one of the most dreaded epidemic diseases but which is now an ‘extinct’ species (except for some live virus strains in ‘virological gardens’). There is a more interesting aspect to these sculptures than mere memorialization, however. Luke, who d... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2200568 Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:00:40 +0100 2200568 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2194907&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F02%2F18%2Flaboratory-life-by-suzanne-anker-in-berlin%2F The Institute for Cultural Inquiry/Kulturlabor and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin are opening the exhibition ‘Hothouse Archives’ by visual artist and theorist Suzanne Anker tomorrow at 7pm. In one of the photo suites, “Laboratory Life”, several layers of images are superimposed on top of one another in the form of a palimpsest. Images garnered from scientific laboratories form the technological base layer. An image of a transparent garden is then transferred as a top layer. The chance provokes questions concerning our enchantment with both nature and technology. The show is open until 6 March 2008 in the library of the Institute for Cultural Inquiry on Christinenstrasse 18/19. More info here. (thanks to Ingeborg for the tip) (Sour... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2194907 Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:00:18 +0100 2194907 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2190610&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F02%2F16%2Fassembling-a-glass-sculpture-of-atp-synthase%2F One of the great attractions here at Medical Museion right now is Colin Rennie’s glass sculpture of ATP-synthase. We have placed it in the basement area to the left of the main entrance — we didn’t dare put it on the ground floor because we were afraid the 18th century wooden floor construction would collapse under the 900 kilograms of assembled glass plates. It’s lit by a single spotlight which gives the small and dark room a crypt-like ambience, and increases the presence of the sculpture. An object of secular awe. Below Colin is polishing one of the 30 glass plates measuring 1×1 meter. You can see how the structure of the sculpture is made out of nothing, i.e., holes in the glass plates made by a water jet stream cutter:   And below Colin and ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2190610 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:00:33 +0100 2190610 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2182665&cid=t_126567_133_f&fid=35130&url=http%3A%2F%2Fautisticbfh.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F02%2Fpoof-vaccine-lawsuit.html My curebie graveyard now has a new resident—the vaccine lawsuit, along with the profiteering quacks who spawned it:For the occasion, I've composed a new version of "Puff, the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul & Mary. Enjoy.[Chorus:]Poof! The vaccine lawsuitLacked all sanityDeluded schemers dreamed of lootIn the land of fantasy.Without a shred of scienceThe rascals spewed out guffTied up with strings and sealing waxAnd other fancy stuff.[Chorus]Together they would travelIn search of easy marksTo conferences and parent groupsJust like so many sharks.Autism societiesWould bow to their brash claimsPublishers would print their trashWhen the editors saw their names.[Chorus]Some urban legends live foreverBut not so greedy quacksWhose marketing plan was nothing butJunk science and nasty attacks.O... Whose Planet Is It Anyway? blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2182665 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:37:00 +0100 2182665 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2172933&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F02%2F10%2Fnanoscale-science-under-investigation-new-issue-of-spontaneous-generations%2F A new issue of Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science is out — with, among other things, a thematic section about science at the nanoscale edited by Isaac Record. For example, Joachim Schummer points out that science can be popularized by its ethics (engineering ethics is often propaganda for emerging technology); Joe Pitt explores the rhetorical and heuristic role of metaphor in nanotechnology (e.g., the information system and the machine metaphors); and Natasha Myers discusses how the metaphoricity of life is shifting from computer programme to machine metaphors. Other interesting contributions to the nano-theme inlude Otávio Bueno’s paper on the visual evidence at the nanoscale and Eric Winsberg’s piece on nanoscale mo... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2172933 Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:30:48 +0100 2172933 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2131328&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F01%2F24%2Fphillip-warnells-current-artresearch-work-at-medical-museion%2F Artist Phillip Warnell (see earlier posts about his movie ‘The Girl With X-Ray Eyes’ and his pill camera installation) is just now visiting Medical Museion, where he is researching possibilities for a number of visually and conceptually driven projects. Firstly, Phillip is guest-editing an issue of The Performance Research Journal on the theme ‘Transplantations’ (see more here). As well as inviting contributions from an interdisciplinary group of academics, artists, biomedical researchers etc, the plan is to have a photo-editorial series of inserts, with images corresponding to broad notions of transplantation. Phillip is therefore working with Medical Museion’s collections on visual research forms, sourcing material that can be appropriate for pub... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2131328 Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:49:59 +0100 2131328 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2128922&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F01%2F23%2Fmuseum-visitor-feedback-video-system%2F Wow! Click on this museum visitor feedback video system software, developed by the Dutch web service company Skipintro (used here for visitors to Amsterdam Rijksmuseum’s hyped Damien Hirst diamond skull show). Wonder what it costs? Nina is right: it’s not ‘museum 2.0′. But it’s a pretty nice visitor feedback system. This particular design (human faces circling around Hirst’s diamond skull) makes it especially attractive, of course. The best is actually the background sound of pooled voices — a constant murmuring in Dutch and occasionally English. (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2128922 Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:09:55 +0100 2128922 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2125323&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F01%2F22%2Fkroppenusynlig-verden-the-bodyinvisible-world-opens-next-friday-at-the-norwegian-technical-museum%2F Our colleagues at the Norwegian Technical Museum in Oslo are opening a new exhibition, Kroppen/Usynlig Verden (The Body/Invisible World) next Friday. Looks like it’s worth a travel! We may be back with a review (or if someone else writes a review, let us know). (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2125323 Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:55:33 +0100 2125323 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2110628&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F01%2F16%2Four-new-muscle-man%2F To satisfy those of our readers (such as our colleagues at Street Anatomy) who are hungry for more classical, anatomical stuff, we’re making this short interruption in the steady flow of contemporary biomedicine-on-display material. Today we acquired a new anatomy-related art object — a plaster of Paris copy of a full-sized male ecorché (representing a flogged muscle man), originally made in 1869 by the Danish sculpturer Theobald Stein (1829-1901) and later cast in bronze. Placed in the entrance hall of Medical Museion, the muscle man is not only a major attraction in itself — it also symbolizes our interest in connecting art and medicine in all possible ways, not only the contemporary art-biomedicine arena, but also in its classical (or in this case neo-neocla... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2110628 Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:18:53 +0100 2110628 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2107744&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F01%2F15%2Fthe-design4science-poster%2F Today, the poster for Design4Science got in place in our external showcases. It’s made by the exhibition designer, Shirley Wheeler (see earlier posts). If you are interested in buying a poster, please write to our outreach officer, Bente Vinge Pedersen (bvpn[atsigntoavoidawfulspamrobots]sund.ku.dk). (more photos here)  (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2107744 Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:58:17 +0100 2107744 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2097903&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2009%2F01%2F12%2Fdesign4science-and-medical-museion%2F Our next temporary exhibition is on its way. Today Shirley Wheeler arrived with her team from Sunderland (UK) to set up Design4Science, which will open next Tuesday. It’s an exhbition about the interface between design and science, more precisely how design has interacted with molecular biology in the last 50 years. How the invisible biomolecular world has been represented, modelled and visualized in co-operation with artists and designers. And, vice versa, how designers and artists have been inspired by research in molecular biology. Design4Science will be on display in our temporary exhibition venue in Bredgade, Copenhagen, until 12 April. Stay tuned — Bente will follow Shirley and her team while they install during this week and the following weekend. Here are some of Be... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2097903 Tue, 13 Jan 2009 06:54:33 +0100 2097903 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2052746&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2008%2F12%2F18%2Fmaterial-beliefs%2F I’ve just learnt about a new interesting project called Material Beliefs, which takes emerging biomedical and cybernetic technology out of the laboratories and into public spaces.  Material Beliefs focuses on technologies that blur the boundaries between the body and materials. They are also interested in how design can be used to stimulate discussion about the value of body-material hybridity. Rather than focusing on the outcomes of science and technology, they wisely see them as unfinished and ongoing practices. Sounds like a project that we might be able to learn from. Material Beliefs is based in the Department of Design at Goldsmiths (University of London) and is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in the UK. See much more on their int... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2052746 Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:22:27 +0100 2052746 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2035616&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2008%2F12%2F15%2Fthe-medical-avatar%2F Just a comment triggered by the announcement for the 3rd annual graduate student conference at the Department of Comparative Literature, Stanford University, 10-11 April 2009 on the theme avatars, personae, heteronyms and pseudonyms. The organisers take the Sanskrit word avatāra as their point of departure (in Hindu theology, an avatar is a deity that descends into a lower realm, i.e., what Xians call an incarnation): ”How do we make ourselves visible, or readable, to the world at large? How do we portray or define ourselves­ to ourselves?”: The virtualization of certain areas of our societies has provided new fora for experimenting with and reflecting on the images we construct and project, the personae we mimic and adopt, and the ways in which we interact with e... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2035616 Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:09:19 +0100 2035616 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2033151&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2008%2F12%2F11%2Ffurther-training-opportunity-for-health-communication-bloggers%2F Here’s an interesting opportunity for bloggers specializing in medical and health communication. The NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research is organizing a three-day course on ”Medicine in the Media: The Challenge of Reporting on Medical Research“ in Bethesda next June — free registration, meals and lodging are provided (but you have to pay for your travel). There are only 50 spots and competition for these courses use to be formidable. Course agenda here, application form here. Deadline is 30 January! (thanks to Jessica for the tip) (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2033151 Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:43:49 +0100 2033151 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2027034&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2008%2F12%2F10%2Fwho%25e2%2580%2599s-afraid-of-software-anymore%2F Yesterday, December 9, I joined the 40th Anniversary Celebration of ‘Engelbart and The Dawn of Interactive Computing’ at Stanford University to celebrate what has been called the ‘mother of all demos’. On that day in 1968, 40 years ago, at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco, Engelbart and his team in Stanford Research Institute’s Augmentation Research Center (ARC) debuted numerous—and now ubiquitous—technology innovations, including hypertext linking, multiple windows with flexible view control, real-time on-screen text editing, shared-screen teleconferencing, and the computer mouse. Engelbart and his colleague William English, the engineer who designed the first mouse, conducted a real-time demonstration in San Francisco with co-workers connected... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2027034 Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:42:58 +0100 2027034 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2027036&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2008%2F12%2F09%2Ffrom-wax-moulages-to-dough-moulages%2F Like so many others, I’m intrigued by a YouTube movie that shows Thai artist Kittiwat Unarrom’s body bakery shop (see the movie below). Mr. Unarrom uses ordinary baking dough (plus cashew nuts, chocolate and raisins) to make bread in the shape of body parts. It’s all perfectly edible (well, I guess cannibals would find real body-parts perfectly edible too :-) Mr. Unarrom is said to have been inspired by reading anatomy books and visiting pathology museums. What nobody seems to have suggested, however, is that he may have also been inspired by watching or reading about wax moulages. Because what Mr. Unarrom is doing with dough is what dermatologists and artists a century ago were doing with wax. Medical wax moulages were used as documentation and teaching ai... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2027036 Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:50:32 +0100 2027036 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2021463&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fspeechificationaudio.s3.amazonaws.com%2FBBC_R3_Hearts_lungs_and_minds_21062008.mp3 In continuation of our former post on the auditory space of contemporary medicine —  listen here to sound artist John Wynne’s recordings of the medical soundscape at Harefield heart hospital, aired in BBC3’s Between the Ears slot in June. I guess the idea of the programme was to use the medical sounds as background illustrations to the interviews with the patients in the clinic. As such they do their work well. But I would also like to see a reversal of front and backstage — that is, bringing medical sounds to the forefront, analogous to the way, for example Jacob Kirkegaard creates musical compositions out of ‘natural’ biomedical sounds. (thanks to Gustav and Speechification for the tip) (Source: Biomedicine on Display) Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2021463 Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:33:46 +0100 2021463 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2005786&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2008%2F12%2F02%2Fnew-paper-from-our-research-team-susanne-bauer-on-epidemiology-as-a-practice-of-collecting%2F Just to let you know that postdoc Susanne Bauer in our ‘Biomedicine on Display’ research group has published a new paper on data mining in epidemiology. “Mining data, gathering variables and recombining information: the flexible architecture of epidemiological studies” is available in the December issue of the journal Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, vol. 39 (4): 415-428 (2008). Here’s the opening paragraph of the conclusion: This paper has approached epidemiology as a practice of collecting and traced selected data trajectories of a large-scale cohort study. The analysis of two re-assemblages of data from the Østerbro study—in aetiological studies of breast cance... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2005786 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:08:58 +0100 2005786 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2005787&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2008%2F12%2F01%2Fvisualization-in-biomedicine-last-issue-of-die-gegenwort%2F If you are interested in visualization in biomedicine (and read German) you might want to take a look at the autumn 2008 issue of the journal Die Gegenwort that focuses on visualization in science. Some articles look relevant for medical museum curators, for example: “Was heißt ‘Iconic/Visual Turn’?”, in which Doris Bachmann-Medick asks if the iconic/visual is opposed to words. “Visuelle Evidenz in der Biomedizin”, in which Frank Rösl takes a look at the Western Blot “Unter Beobachtung”, in which Ingeborg Reichle looks into the laboratory “‘Nature’ über ‘Pictures’”, in which Horst Bredekamp takes a close look at Nature magazine’s piictures. More here: http://www.gegenworte.org/heft-20/heft20... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2005787 Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:06:34 +0100 2005787 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1984868&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2008%2F11%2F24%2Fthe-journal-performance-research-invites-contributions-to-thematic-issue-about-the-stretching-rendering-and-formation-of-the-decentred-displaced-denatured-or-amalgamated-body%2F The journal Performance Research is planning a thematic issue (vol. 14, issue 4, 2009) on ”notions and practices that correlate with ideas on the … formation of bodies, their somatic dimensions and constitution”. Issue guest editors Ric Allsop and Phillip Warnell are looking for contributions along the following lines: Guest/ host relationships; the possessed body - disguise and ventriloquism in performance; intimate distances or the distance of intimacy; implanted objects and technologically augmented functionality; ingestion and extraordinary forms of eating; psychic and physical fragmentation - the séance as a place of travel and channel: of departure, arrival, spectacle, transmission and reception between beings and worlds; archival extraction and mobilization (in... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1984868 Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:00:04 +0100 1984868 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1984869&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2008%2F11%2F23%2Fconference-give-aways-as-medical-ephemera%2F Øystein Horgmo (The Sterile Eye) reports from a medical conference that he attended the other day. How, instead of listening to yet another lecture on laparoscopy, he walked around the industrial exhibition area scooping up a variety of freebies. “What is knowledge compared to all the free stuff I bagged from the pharmaceutical company stands?!”, he says. The foray resulted in an LED flashlight, a wireless PC mouse, two teddy mooses, a laser pointer, a magnetic clip, several notepads, some toothpaste, and the usual: chewing gum, small juice packages, mints, lip balm, key chains — and pens, pens, pens, and again pens. From a museological point of view, Øystein has just established a new subcategory of medical artefacts, namely medical conference ephe... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1984869 Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:51:21 +0100 1984869 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1975094&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2008%2F11%2F19%2Fthe-hidden-meaning-in-a-microarray-image%2F This blog uses a microarray pattern as background wallpaper — as a symbol of the new postgenomic challenge to the public engagement with medicine in general and to medical history museums in particular. And so we take every opportunity to display microarray images. Like this pic which flew in my face this morning when I opened an RSS feed from Medgadget (vigilant as usual). It’s not an ‘authentic’ microarray pattern, though, but a cryptogram in the form of a pastel painting made by Peter C. Johnson, CEO of the Raleigh-based biomedical technology consultancy company Scintellix. It’s called ’MicroArray’ (very creative :-) — and you can win $1500 if you decipher it. Read more here. This is the first image in a planned series that wil... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1975094 Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:00:58 +0100 1975094 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1963958&cid=t_126567_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2008%2F11%2F17%2Fcurating-medical-artifacts-with-an-eye-to-the-future%2F The acquisition of medical museum artifacts is usually seen as a job for specialists (curators) with historical training. To curate a collected artifact for later use in exhibitions, you are supposed to know where it came from, how it was produced and used, what meanings were attributed to it, what role it played in medical practice, how it related to other things, and so forth. In other words, curating museum artifacts is, as a rule, always already a historical practice. The future doesn’t seem to be of any immediate interest for the curator. Yet the future creeps into the equation, whether the curator wants it or not. When curators handle artifacts from the past, the future of these past times is an integral part of the curatorial practice. The description of, say, ... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1963958 Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:00:01 +0100 1963958