How med school differs from grad school...

Graduate school is not about classwork, it's about research. And physics is different from biology. In physics, you can think about a problem, and if you know a few principles, say, the uncertainty principle and energy conservation, you can make headway. In biology, not so much. Physics graduate school is about the forest, research is about the twigs, and medical school is about the trees, with a picture of the forest in mind.

Donate your body to science!

I've told everyone that the first day of class, we started cadaver dissection. The cadavers come from NM donors, people who decided to donate their bodies for our medical education. We are very grateful to all of our donors, and after we finish our coursework, their bodies are cremated, and we have a memorial service for them with their families.

The dissection is rather beautiful and everyone is very respectful. Generally, older people are used because the families of younger people who die often request autopsies, and perhaps younger people more often have their organs harvested. If I find myself to be older and medical school still use bodies, I may donate my body.

For more information on anatomy and cadaver dissection, visit the famous Michigan anatomy site here.

I will write more on medical school in the future, because that's basically my entire life now.

the Nervous System

Medical school. It's as hard as everyone says. Many mnemonics exist for learning anatomy. This famous phrase deals with the nervous system: "Sympathetic, fight or flight, parasympathetic, rest and digest." These two divisions are part of the autonomic or visceral system, involuntary parts that regulate your internal organs, sweat glands, and arrector pili muscles which make your hair stand on end. Regarding the mnemonic, how do you make sense of erections? Erections are handled by the parasympathetic system, and ejaculation by the sympathetic system. I believe this means that if you had an erection, and a bear charged at you from the forest, you would ejaculate, but as I have no experience with this situation, I may be wrong.


If this bear happened upon you, he may ask if you would like tea. And let's keep our forests and hiking trails erection-free and do more of the rest and digest thing rather than test crass musings.

Mamma Mia, what a terrific movie!

I'm late, I know, but I saw Mama Mia several weeks ago, and it was terrific! Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan were both excellent, as well as the lovely young actress from Mean Girls, who sings well. Pierce Brosnan doesn't sing well but is endearing. Don't miss him dancing in ABBA ice capades glory at the end of the movie. The Greek island setting has lovely shades of blue, and the movie is uplifting, silly, and full of heart and life. By all means, go see it, even if you don't like ABBA. You too will be singing, dancing, and using trite phrases to describe your feelings.


This is sciencebird light, but ya'll know I just started medical school. My first week we plunged right into cadaver dissection, and I failed a quiz! Anyone who loves me can mail me the Mammia Mia DVD when it comes out, or line dance in flippers for me. On my vacation time, I'm going to that Greek island.