I have previously written about cadmium and lithium, two of three elements that were discovered in 1817. The third, selenium, was discovered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848), who is also […]
Jeff Aronson’s Words
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Juniper
Milton Keynes was established as a “new town”, to relieve housing congestion in London, 50 years ago on 23 January 1967, an event that I did not think worthy of […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Discovering lithium
There are many ways of discovering effective medicines. One can, for example, investigate herbal remedies, endogenous agents in animals and micro-organisms, or drug metabolites; use applied pharmacology and empirical chemistry; […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Apoptosis
In their landmark paper in the British Journal of Cancer 45 years ago, Kerr, Wyllie, and Currie reported a phenomenon that they described as “controlled cell deletion”. They proposed calling […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Medical anniversaries in 2017
Here are the topics covered by my selection of this year’s anniversaries, illustrated below: • chemistry (discovery of cadmium, lithium, and selenium; the Law of Mass Action); • infectious diseases […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Powers of ten
It’s appropriate that this blog, my hundredth under the “When I Use a Word” heading, a hundred being ten times ten, should appear in December, which, until the addition of […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Ḥanukkah at Christmas
This year the first day of the Jewish festival Ḥanukkah falls on the first day of Christmas. Call it “Chrismukkah”, if you like. [The letter Ḥ is pronounced like the […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Wye speling matturs
Drug names are difficult to remember, pronounce, and spell. For example, which of the following, if any, is the correct spelling? • amitriptylin • amitryptiline • amitriptylline • amytriptyline • […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Palindromes
A palindrome reads the same backwards as forwards, from the Greek παλίνδρομος, recurring or running back again, a compound of παλίν, back, and δρόμος, a course or racetrack. Other words […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Gross negligence
The charge of gross negligence manslaughter, a criminal offence, is rarely invoked in medical cases. In the most recent, a surgeon, Mr David Sellu, was convicted but released after serving […]