News
Pill Pushing
Photo by Leohoho on Unsplash Published in the Humboldt Independent on November 23, 2021 At long last, pharmaceutical leviathan Pfizer has come up with a pill whose name is ugly enough to terrify the disease it’s meant to fight: COVID-19,…
Tour of the Organ Body, Part 4: The Kidneys
Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash Published in the Humboldt Independent on November 9, 2021 A couple of fist-sized, bean-shaped organs tucked behind the stomach just beneath the lower back ribs, the kidneys were considered during biblical times to be…
COVID Roundup: This Week in Pandemic News
Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash Published in the Humboldt Independent on November 2, 2021 Less than a year after the first vaccines were administered in the United Kingdom, almost half the planet has received at least a partial vaccination…
Tour of the Organ Body, Part 3: Pancreas
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels Posted in the Humboldt Independent on October 26, 2021 When famous ancient Greek physician Galen of Pergamon declared the pancreas nothing more than spongy protective padding separating the stomach from some large blood vessels, no one challenged the…
Fluff Piece
Photo by Sander Dalhuisen from Unsplash Published in the Humboldt Independent on October 19, 2021. Around the world, doctors, nurses, and medical staff are suffering from more stress and fatigue than at any time in human history, courtesy of everyone’s favorite not-really-novel-anymore coronavirus.…
Tour of the Organ Body, Part 2: The Stomach
Photo by Sander Dalhuisen from Unsplash Published in the Humboldt Independent on October 12, 2021. Platypuses and seahorses don’t have one, and if absolutely necessary you could live without one, but mostly it is a good thing to have a stomach, that repository…
The Kids are Alright
Photo by ivalex from Unsplash Published in the Humboldt Independent on October 5, 2021. Last week, the county’s COVID-19 Joint Information Center held a press conference to discuss efforts against the pandemic and provide an update on the impacts of the disease locally.…
Tour of the Organ Body, Part 1: The Liver
Photo by v2osk from Unsplash Published in the Humboldt Independent on September 28, 2021. About the size of a football and weighing roughly 3 pounds, your liver has up to 500 vital functions, earning it a dual identity as an organ and a…
COVID on the Brain
Photo by Laurenz from Unsplash Published in the Humboldt Independent on September 21, 2021. This isn’t going to be a fun one. Honestly, if you’ve had enough COVID this week, skip it. I won’t take it personally. Recent Numbers One in 500 Americans…
Growing a Spine
Photo by Mark Tulin from Unsplash Published in the Humboldt Independent on September 14, 2021. Seen from the side, the human spine is a graceful series of curves that evolved when we became bipedal and which enable us to stand buoyantly upright, a…