The Febrile Muse

Sanidad publicaIllustration by Monica Lalanda 2012...austerity, that is...falls on many of us (in the UK, Ireland, Greece and many other European Union countries including the Baltic States, and also the US). Austerity has finally pushed Spanish doctors into working together (a historically rare occurrence) to fight the break-up of their national health system. The UK is at risk as well. In February, The Febrile Muse asked readers to submit to Inflammatory Language either a 300-500 word […]

from cofisher.blogspot.comThe Febrile Muse has chosen three illustrations by Dr. Monica Lalanda, an Emergency Room physician in Spain, as the winning entry of  the Inflammatory Language contest. Dr. Lalanda will receive The Best Science Writing Online 2012 as her prize. Congratulations!In all honesty, I feel that by meeting Dr. Lalanda, I have won. She has great incite into the plight of healthcare on a global scale, namely that of Spain. In this day […]

Because of the generosity of readers and the science community, The Febrile Muse was able to help support this fabulous project, spearheaded by Rose Eveleth and her colleagues Ben Lillie (Story Collider) and Bora Zivkovic (Scientific American). They are developing a web-home for the best of science multimedia.In support of science and science writing....and now....science multimedia! There are 9 more days to go on Kickstarter.  

Inflammatory Language is a series of primers on inflammation. Care to contribute? The first place winner will receive one copy of The Best Science Writing Online 2012 published by Scientific American/FSG! This contest is a great opportunity for students, but anyone can contribute.Carefully select 300-500 words (or less) and/or an illustration that conveys inflammation. It can be humorous, political, or encompass pop culture or current events, but must be professional. It also needs to […]

Monocyte by Asthydays 2012Having only three days to live would be…daunting. I don’t suppose monocytes consider this, but once they enter the circulation, they have three days to either participate in inflammatory response reactions (be a reactionary) or die an oxidative death, only to be replaced by the next “frantic” monocyte. And so goes their life cycle.Long before a monocyte is “born,” its ancestor or progenitor, a pluripotent stem cell, lives within bone marrow stromal cells […]