Medical Reality
There are a few good medical television reality shows with health care workers playing the main roles. I think these shows are excellent and not just because of their great production or because they are fun to watch, but because I believe there is a lot one can learn from them. This is true for both patients and medical stuff. By watching these shows patients can better understand how the hospitals work, their doctor’s position, better prepare for their stay in the hospital or doctor’s visit, know what to expect and so on. On the other hand, people who chose to devote their lives to medicine, especially students and young health care workers can get a better taste of what is waiting for them if they chose a certain direction in their career, and most importantly they can learn a lot about medicine.
These are my current top 3 shows, so if you gotta watch TV, watch this.
1. Hopkins
I already wrote about this excellent ABC show. Until now seven episodes have been shot and each follows a few characters, both health care workers and patients, and their stories. You can watch the show at the ABC or buy and download better quality video from the iTunes store.
2. Real ER: The Bronx
This is a Discovery Home & Health show shot in the ER at one of New York’s busiest hospitals – St Barnabas in the city’s south Bronx. It is action packed and some times almost too real. You can watch in on Discovery Channel, but for now I haven’t found any way to download it or buy it.
3. Trauma: Life in the E.R.
This medical-based television reality show has first appeared in 1997 and now runs frequently on Discovery Health Channel. Trauma: Life in the E.R. has almost a cult status since it was one of the first such programs to be shot almost entirely on hand-held MiniDV camcorders. Many shows which came later borrowed a lot from it. You can buy and download 5 complete seasons from the iTunes store.
im bored colgate
Google updated their iPhone app to include voice recognition. You simply tap a button, speak up keywords you want to use to search the web, the software recognizes what you said and gives you back your search results.
When I tried pronouncing my name, Ivor Kovic, Google app recognized it as “im bored colgate”. This made me laugh hysterically and realize two thing, I need to improve my accent and Google needs to improve its software. On the other hand, the app works flawlessly most of the times and it offers the best voice recognition that I encountered so far on the iPhone.
Take a look at the video demonstration from Google.
Kraftwerk: Elektro Kardiogramm
Kraftwerk is an electronic music band from Germany. They are definitely one of the most influential and revolutionary bands of all time and they inspired artists from nearly all genre of modern music. In the early to late 1970s and the early 1980s the were really hot with their sound that combines driving, repetitive electronically-generated rhythms with catchy synthesizer-generated melodies in a minimalistic arrangement.
Listen to them as they perform live their song Elektro Kardiogramm.
Top innovations of 2008
TIME magazine picked top 50 innovations of 2008. Among them there are some related to medicine.
1. The Retail DNA Test
14. The Bionic Hand
21. The Synthetic Organism
24. Bionic Contacts
33. Biomechanical Energy Harvester
50. A Camera For the Blind
Science Museum London
If you happen to find yourself in London, be sure to visit the Science Museum. It is great for anybody who loves science in general, but also for those interested in medicine. There are a lot of things to see regarding medicine scattered around the vast spaces of this museum. On the ground floor you will find the exhibition entitled “Making the Modern World” which features many inventions that shaped our world as we know it. Among these exhibits there are a lot of medical devices like the first CT and MRI scanners or ECG machine. Further along, on the third floor there is the “Health Matters” exhibition, “Glimpses of Medical History” is on the fourth floor, and finally “The Science and Art of Medicine” exhibition is on the fifth floor. Museum of Science in London is open every day from 10:00 to 18:00 and it offers free admission to all visitors. It is located on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, and can be easily reached using the public transport.
Take a look at some photos from Science Museum in my gallery.
Playful sterile masks
Doctors and their uniforms can sometimes look intimidating to patients, especially children. This is particularly true when doctors are wearing sterile mask. Because of this, Amsterdam and Tokyo-based product, textile, and interior design studio Samira Boon decided to make sterile masks more playful. They say that their mask is no longer masking, but transforming the part of the face it is hiding. Currently there are 15 types of masks, varying from animals and human snouts, to zippers.
