Medicine

Stories filed under Medicine in the Weird Science History archive — 32 stories from the strange edge of science.

• The Two Vacuum Cleaners That Learned to Breathe
• The Watch Painters Who Glowed in the Dark
• The Woman Who Convinced the King's Surgeon She Gave Birth to Rabbits
• The Wrong Resistor That Grabbed a Heartbeat Out of Thin Air
• When Doctors Recommended Cigarettes
• The Student Who Drank Vomit to Prove Yellow Fever Wasn't Contagious
• The Summer 400 People Couldn't Stop Dancing
• The Surgeon So Fast He Supposedly Killed Three People With One Amputation
• The Surgeon Who Threaded a Tube Into His Own Heart
• The Rolled-Up Paper That Became the Stethoscope
• The Rooster Diagnosed by Mail With Malaria, Diabetes, Cancer, and Syphilis
• The Radioactive Tonic That Dissolved a Millionaire's Jaw
• The Rescue Kits That Tried to Revive the Drowning by Blowing Smoke Up Their Backsides
• The Man Who Took an Iron Rod Through His Brain and Lived
• The Moldy Petri Dish That Almost Got Thrown Away
• The Farmer Who Drove Through a Blizzard With a Dead Cow and a Milk Can of Blood
• The Floor Cleaner That Taught America to Fear Its Own Breath
• The Doctor Who Ate, Slept, and Worked on a Giant Scale for 30 Years
• The Doctor Who Discovered Handwashing — and Was Locked Away for It
• The Doctor Who Drank a Beaker of Bacteria to Prove Ulcers Weren't Caused by Stress
• The Doctor Who Rode a Rocket Sled at 632 MPH — and Gave Us Murphy's Law
• The Doctor Who Toured America in a 'Lobotomobile'
• The Failed Heart Pill That Trial Volunteers Wouldn't Give Back
• The Fake Metal Rods That Accidentally Invented the Placebo-Controlled Trial
• The Family That Rang Bells and Blindfolded Mothers to Hide a Pair of Tongs
• The Battlefield Maggots That Became a Prescription Medical Device
• The Beef and Cabbage Lowered Into a Man's Stomach on a Silk String
• From a Lion-Headed Throne to the Cochlear Implant: A Short History of the Hearing Aid
• From a Milkmaid's Blisters to mRNA: A Short History of the Vaccine
• From Crushed Oyster Shells to Nylon: A Short History of the Toothbrush
• From Lamb's Blood to Blood Types: A Short History of the Transfusion
• From Laughing Gas Parties to the Operating Room: A Short History of Anesthesia

Other categories: Archaeology · Biology · Chemistry · Engineering · Physics · Space