“Bottom of the bag” in French. In everyday English a cul-de-sac is a blind alley, a dead-end street. In anatomy a cul-de-sac is a blind-ending pouch. The most well known is the rectouterine pouch between the uterus and rectum in […]
Anatomy word of the month: Cul-de-sac Read More
“Scoops, buckets” in Latin. In ancient times water wheels with a series of buckets along the rim drew up water from shallow wells and poured it into troughs for watering stock or irrigation ditches. As imaginative as ever, anatomists thought
Anatomy word of the month: haustra Read More
The Achilles tendon attaches major calf muscles, the gastrocnemius and soleus, to the calcaneous (heel bone). Achilles was a famous Greek warrior whose mother was one of the immortals, but he was not. His mother sought to protect her son
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A deep layer of the scalp is a close fitting, tough connective tissue “helmet” called the galea aponeurotica. In the ancient Roman army, common foot soldiers were issued a close fitting leather helmet called a “galea”.
Anatomy word of the month: Galea aponeurotica Read More
There are two major categories of anatomical terms: those that are simply descriptive as to shape, size, color, function and eponyms, the practice of honoring those who discover or first describe a structure by applying their name to it (e.g.
Anatomy word of the month: Torcular Herophili Read More
Paleontologist Rachel Dunn, Ph.D., shared her research in animal anatomy at the October 11 Friday Research Seminar Series. A new faculty member and researcher at Des Moines University, Dunn’s presentation, “Ankles and Adaptation: From Gorillas to Gazelles,” discussed evolutionary biology
Friday Research Seminar Series explores animal anatomy Read More
The testis is the male generative organ, producing sperm cells and the male sex hormone, testosterone. Testis is a Latin word for “witness”, as in witnessing to one’s manhood. Did you know that the words testify, testimonial and testament share
Anatomy word of the month: testis Read More
The “sea horse” is a structure buried deep within each hemisphere of the brain. This term is more descriptive of the imagination of anatomists rather than its function. In a cross section of the cerebral hemisphere the hippocampus looks something
Anatomy word of the month: hippocampus Read More
Did you know you had a “goose foot” on the inner side of your knees? Those imaginative, ancient anatomists envisioned that the three muscles that come together on the medial surface of the knee looked like the three-toed foot of
Anatomy word of the month: Pes anserinus Read More
Why would that dimple under your nose be called a “love potion”? In ancient times when people did not bath regularly, ladies placed a drop of perfume between the two raised ridges of their upper lip. It was intended to
Anatomy word of the month: philtrum Read More