SO. Berlin. Our last few days were dedicated to Hohenschönhause
Memorial, a free day in which Ryan and I explored the Neuces museum, and some
fun physiology activities that included a trip to the museum of Hygiene, a
Virchow exhibit, the Cherite hospital, and Otto Bock prosthetics.
We
dedicated an entire day to the four "science based" locations. With the museum of Hygiene
(which actually means “health” and not just how to brush your teeth) we saw
statistics about food consumption around the world and a cool video about how
cheese is made. There was also an “old man suit” that was actually some foggy
goggles, broomstick shoes, a wooden contraption to hunch you over, and some earmuffs—but
it seemed to work effectively to turn Zach into an old guy! We also learned
about human reproduction and that you vasodialate when you kiss! There was a
competition of who could get the lowest alpha-waves in an EEG, so basically who
could think the LEAST. I beat Ryan. I’m not sure if I should be proud or not.
Overall, it was a cool museum.
Our tour guide, Tom, made the Virchow
pathological museum interesting. He provided two things for us that many museum
tours lack: a witty commentary and CHAIRS. OH SWEET CHAIRS. Museum tours are
usually a struggle because my feet get tired, but having nice little portable
stools to sit on made all the difference on my attention span and overall
happiness. Tom also graphically explained the advancement of anesthesiology,
surgery, and child delivery through the ages, complete with vivid hand gestures
(we were all actually a little grossed out when he “performed” a breach
correction movement with his fingers). The Virchow exhibit was a collection of
specimens collected by (guess who) Virchow. His motto was apparently “collect a
specimen a day!” and he had EVERYTHING: from preserved sections of tattooed
skin to multiple cases of hydrocephaly to a man that could not poop and had a
massive (I mean MASSIVE) colon. It was pretty disgusting, but definitely an
interesting perspective on pathological medicine.
The Ottobock Prosthetics Company tour was also
a great experience because we got to see some cutting edge prosthetics! We
learned about the intricacies that go into the design of a new prosthetic
device. The weight of the device must be taken into account at the very least,
and in more modern devices the direction of the stride, the amount of force
that must be generated, and the pace of the person must all be calibrated for
individual movements. Even the gender of a person plays a role into the stride
length and duration! One of the most recent prosthetic legs had a special
program for walking forwards at a sedate pace, walking more rapidly, walking up
and down stairs, and even tripping! The tour guide explained that tripping is a
huge problem in these robotically programmed devices because the program will
assume that a trip is actually a step and will not plant the prosthetic foot in
a way that will catch the person and help them rebalance. Additionally, the way
that robotic prosthetics are being attached is really cool. The severed muscle
endings in say, your arm, are pretty useless because the nerves and muscles no
longer communicate in functional syncitium. To counteract this, arm prosthesis are
connected to the pectoral muscle, which has been split into five unique pieces
to correspond to finger movements. Basically, an amputee can learn to pick up a
pencil or a credit card by flexing his pectorals! Super interesting stuff!
We also got to see the Cherite teaching
hospital. There’s a program there that allows students to teach other students
basic doctor skills. I learned how to use a stethoscope because I have
apparently always put it in my ears backwards. We also learned how to recognize
heart murmurs, ear infections, and perform postpartum checkups on newborn
babies thanks to some sophisiticated teaching dummies that the hospital has
provided for this tutoring program. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I’m glad
that I learned a few practical skills!
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