The quality of a table: a cautionary tale of good science

Article Abstract:

A postgraduate interior design student's simple and functional table design and academic response to the design are used as a metaphor for the problems with research and grant-writing. The furniture, easy to produce and cheap, represents an advance in design. A paper on the design was submitted for publication, but the referees asked for improvements in the report, such as the measurement of chisel sharpness. The student's supervisor persuaded the university authorities to install a sharpness measuring equipment in the laboratory, enabling the publication of three papers on the subject of chisel quality.

Design and construction, Research grants, Research funding, Furniture, Peer review committees

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Dr. Horace Wells and the conquest of surgical pain: a Promethean tale

Article Abstract:

Horace Wells is now being honored for his discovery of surgical anesthesia. The need to develop an agent for surgical anesthesia was spurned by his revulsion of seeing a human in pain and initiated his quest to find a way to alleviate the suffering. His discovery of the use of nitrous oxide happened ironically, in an exhibit where he noticed a man became impervious to pain after inhaling the gas. He then applied the gas to his dental practice, achieving moderate success. A failed demonstration among the medical circles led to disputes on the discovery of inhalational anesthesia.

Wells, Horace

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Observations on the physics of the surgical residency

Article Abstract:

Observations on the dynamics of surgical residency are described in terms of its relationship to physics. The behavior of Surgical Teaching Staff is inherently unpredictable, suggesting a Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle for the Surgical Teaching Staff. The growth in terms of knowledge and confidence during internship and chief residency is explained in terms of the Theory of Special Relativity of the Surgical Residency. The medical profession's view of patient as a complex macrosystem with nonlinear interactions represents the chaos theory.

Surgery, Physics

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