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Hippocrates, Galen and Paracelsus: Game-Changers in the Field of Modern Medicine

Archaeological studies show that humans have been practicing medicine as far back as 60,000 years ago, using plants such as cannabis and opium poppies to treat the sick and unwell. The science of medicine progressed over the years but remained focused on spirituality and followed a more ‘one size fits all’ approach, with different illnesses being treated in largely the same manner (Pan 2014). In this blog, I will introduce you to three influential people, who were driving forces in the creation of modern medicine. Hippocrates: The Father of Modern Medicine. Born: 460 BC, Greece Hippocrates was a pioneer of… Read More »Hippocrates, Galen and Paracelsus: Game-Changers in the Field of Modern Medicine

Live Q&A | Mothering the Mother, Knowing what we Know: Epistemic Hierarchy and Decolonising Maternal Care | 19:00 (UK time), 18 November 2022.

LIVE streaming at YouTube 19:00 (UK time), 18 November 2022. My name is Alexus Davis, and I am a PhD student and research assistant at University of Manchester; I study the birth narratives of First Nations Australian women in the Department of Sociology. I received my Master of Science in Global Health Ethics and Law at St. Georges Medical University of London, where I researched the implications of World Health Organizational midwifery guidelines for maternal care in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I previously studied comparative literary and cultural studies, as well as environmental sciences (Franklin University Switzerland), health sciences (Dublin… Read More »Live Q&A | Mothering the Mother, Knowing what we Know: Epistemic Hierarchy and Decolonising Maternal Care | 19:00 (UK time), 18 November 2022.

Debunking the History of Race Science

Image credit: www.ontario.ca Racist pseudo-science has been used to justify discriminatory and bigoted behaviour for centuries. Through the years, scientific racism has taken many forms, all with the goal of co-opting objective knowledge to justify racial inequality. At this point I think it’s important to say this:  There is no scientific or biological definition of race.Race is a social construct that humans have created to categorise and label individuals based upon appearance and background. Historical “Race Science”  The foundations of scientific racism was cemented during the 1700s and early 1800s. Many scientists in Europe and the Americas pursued studies in… Read More »Debunking the History of Race Science

Can you ‘Solve The Outbreak’?

Epidemiology is the study of the incidence and control of disease and other factors relating to health. When you hear the word ‘epidemiology’, you probably think of infectious diseases and how they pass from one person to another. The word has been very popular in the past two years, as science has had to unravel the mysterious epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is America’s public health agency. Public health is underpinned by the science of epidemiology and how it is applied to different diseases which pose a threat to… Read More »Can you ‘Solve The Outbreak’?

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) is an annual World Health Organisation (WHO) initiative which aims to ‘spread awareness about what antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is, share stories about its consequences, and demonstrate how the actions of individuals, families, professionals, and communities affect the spread of AMR’.  To coincide with this global event, the University of Manchester Antimicrobial Resistance Society is running an exciting programme of lunchtime webinars across a range of disciplines, to highlight local, national and international work, challenges and opportunities to contain antimicrobial resistance. Remember that this is acknowledged by the United Nations World Assembly to be as a… Read More »World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021

Q&A | Cloudy with a Chance of Pain | 18:30 (UK time), 8th November 2021

A common belief among three-quarters of those who suffer from chronic pain is that their pain fluctuates with the weather. However, this belief lacks scientific support. In a recent review of 41 studies examining the relationship between weather and chronic musculoskeletal pain, 28 (68%) found some relationship, although there was disagreement about what that relationship was.  Various reasons have been postulated for the disagreement: small sample sizes as measured by the number of participants, the duration of the study, or both; weather observations that were unrepresentative of conditions experienced by participants; and the lack of input or analysis by meteorologists.  To… Read More »Q&A | Cloudy with a Chance of Pain | 18:30 (UK time), 8th November 2021

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV): ending the pandemic

In 2019, the Department of Health and Social Care announced its goal of ending the transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in England by 2030(1). This goal, whilst ambitious, is possible due to decades of research into how we prevent, detect, and treat HIV. This article delves into the way that our anti-HIV armoury has reduced the incidence of HIV infection, modifying its epidemiology.   Since early on in the HIV pandemic, interventions, such as condom use and needle exchange programmes, have been used to prevent the spread of the virus. Yet, it took until 1996 for the pharmaceutical industry to discover that a combination of antiviral drugs (known as antiretrovirals) could treat HIV by reducing the number… Read More »Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV): ending the pandemic

Anthropology Activity: Invisible Barriers

https://youtu.be/CJAYOpz2eKA Ellie Chambers is Secondary and Post-16 Science Learning Co-ordinator at the Manchester Museum, in this video she describes ‘invisible barriers’ and how they might shape our public spaces and the ways we interact with our environment and other people. Have a go at finding some more examples in your city! For more resources for exploring your city you can go to https://invisible-cities.org/ and download fun trail or do a virtual city tour.

LIVE Panel Event | Urban Anthropology | 18:00 (UK time), 21 October 2021

Join us on Thursday the 21st October for an exciting LIVE panel event where we’ll be putting your questions to researchers in the field of Urban Anthropology. Find out more about our panellists below! Dr Constance Smith Lecturer at the University of Manchester “Before coming to Manchester, I was Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute for Global Prosperity at UCL. I hold a PhD in Anthropology and Material and Visual Culture from UCL. A former Fulbright scholar, I have a background in History and Museum Studies, which inform my interests in temporalities of change and the production of history, and… Read More »LIVE Panel Event | Urban Anthropology | 18:00 (UK time), 21 October 2021

Live Talk | Sellafield: an anthropologist’s perspective on an iconic nuclear site | 18:30 (UK time), 12th October 2021.

Dr Petra Tjitske Kalshoven is a Dalton research fellow at the University of Manchester. As an anthropologist with The University of Manchester since 2009, Petra Tjitske Kalshoven draws on a background that combines the Humanities and Social Sciences (M.A. Classical Languages and Cultures, Leiden University; Ph.D. Cultural Anthropology, McGill University). Kalshoven conceives of human life as a series of rehearsals for things that never quite come to pass. She focuses on skilled manifestations of human curiosity, simulation, play, and rhetoric, and the role of repetition in these practices. Her fields of research have ranged from reenactment to taxidermy to nuclear decommissioning. As a member of The University of Manchester’s social and nuclear research… Read More »Live Talk | Sellafield: an anthropologist’s perspective on an iconic nuclear site | 18:30 (UK time), 12th October 2021.