Fri 9 Feb 2007
British Medical Journal names greatest medical advance finalists
Posted by Kitty under ..Stuff
One of these will be the winner of the greatest medical breakthrough of the last 166 years according to voter on the BMJ site:
Anesthesia
Antibiotics
Chlorpromazine [an anti-seizure drug, perhaps better known as Thorazine]
Computers
DNA
Evidence based medicine
Germ theory
Imaging
Immunology
Oral rehydration therapy
The Pill
[The discovery of the] Risks of smoking
Sanitation
Tissue culture
Vaccines
I’d say germ theory, anaesthesia, or antibiotics. Or even sanitation… though I was reading that unsanitary habits were becoming problematic in hospitals again. Staff just don’t wash their hands any more, apparently. Gross.
Anyway, this story was via Wired BodyHack which is a great little blog of interesting science-y things. Here’s a recent selection:
Hand Sanitizer Can Make You Drunk
Inbreeding: Bad for Kings, Good for Fish
Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism
Great Moments in Research: Psychologists Are Humble
Brits: Who Needs Orthodontic Braces?
Study: Treatment Possible for Mad Cow Disease
February 11th, 2007 at 6:08 am
I will go for germ theory, pain-free surgery and antibiotics. On clean hands and related matters, check out the terrible Semmelweis story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
February 11th, 2007 at 7:49 am
It’s a hard call… it’s like saying who is your favourite child (if you had 15 of them), they should have just done the top 10 (I’m sure if I had 15 children there would be 5 that I didn’t like so much).