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A new human organ has been classified

sciencealert.com

11–20 of 37 posts

Re: A new human organ has been classified

#11
This breathlessly overstates the meaning of this work and dismisses the knowledge that was already present.

Every doctor knows what the mesentery is because they have dissected it. It was already named. Diseases are already named in relation to it. The importance of this incremental work beyond what was known must be quite subtle.

Re: A new human organ has been classified

#12
It has to be interpreted as the reclassification of Pluto.

It is known for a while as well as other parts of the peritoneum.

My uncle is an oncologist and has been using omentoplasty for many years now. He always tells me that there is way more to these structures then they are given credit for. In practice he sees much better recovery if he wraps the injured tissue with the omentum.

Re: A new human organ has been classified

#13

It's amazing that after hundreds of years of dissecting people we can still make discoveries life this. Shows how little we really know.

"We"? I don't remember dissecting any bodies or making any discoveries in the field of anatomy. Do you?

It's called social responsibility. We, as a human race, human society.

Re: A new human organ has been classified

#15
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have never thrust a spear at a mammoth either, yet "we" did. Work on that reading comprehension. "We" is referring to something much broader.

> "We" is referring to something much broader. Yes, it's all very poetic. Can you define it though? What else did "we" do? Were "we" the nazis? Or were we the allies? Were we the indians or the europeans? Did we write "All along the Watchtower"? Did we invent the first digital computer?

Yes nazis, allies, indians (both kinds, but one of those terms is pretty racist, so be careful with your terminology) and europeans. We wrote all along the watchtower and invented the first digital computer. There might be a few prickly edges around carthaginians, aztecs and other civilizations we eradicated. We hung on to trigonometry in spite of eradicating the babylonians.

In this case we means humans who are able to benefit from, or perhaps simply learn of, the discoveries of other humans.

Re: A new human organ has been classified

#16
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have never thrust a spear at a mammoth either, yet "we" did. Work on that reading comprehension. "We" is referring to something much broader.

> "We" is referring to something much broader. Yes, it's all very poetic. Can you define it though? What else did "we" do? Were "we" the nazis? Or were we the allies? Were we the indians or the europeans? Did we write "All along the Watchtower"? Did we invent the first digital computer?

[deleted]

Re: A new human organ has been classified

#17
post #8

It's amazing that after hundreds of years of dissecting people we can still make discoveries life this. Shows how little we really know.

Well, it is actually more a matter of classification than discovery. Scientists knew it was there for a long time, just they studied the functions better and made the case that we can define it as an organ.

From the article it appears it was not understood to be one structure until recently (Continuous vs fragmented), yes we knew it existed, but obviously didn't understand it as well as we may have thought

Re: A new human organ has been classified

#18
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have never thrust a spear at a mammoth either, yet "we" did. Work on that reading comprehension. "We" is referring to something much broader.

> "We" is referring to something much broader. Yes, it's all very poetic. Can you define it though? What else did "we" do? Were "we" the nazis? Or were we the allies? Were we the indians or the europeans? Did we write "All along the Watchtower"? Did we invent the first digital computer?

There's a number of reasons to use "we" in this context.

There's the inclusive we, and the exclusive we. For example, "We defeated the Nazis in WWII" clearly means that the person talking considers himself part of the Allies, and excludes the Nazis from the group. "We fought in WWII", however, is inclusive, and includes all sides in the conflict.

So yes, "we wrote All along the Watchtower", as in, we as a human species brought ourselves to the point of being able to write that (or, one of the bazillion different ways of interpreting that sentence). And yes, "we invented the first digital computer," could mean that you refer to the assumed implication that (some of) the people reading this board are software engineers, and "we" refers to that professional group.

But it gets a lot more fun than what you imply: there's the editorial we ("We have always fought for free speech"), the author's we ("by combining the ingredients, we obtain a compound called..."), the dictatorial we (used by managers/team leads, quite often, "We have to finish feature X by Thursday").

Edit: Removed tags.

Re: A new human organ has been classified

#19
post #8

It's amazing that after hundreds of years of dissecting people we can still make discoveries life this. Shows how little we really know.

Well, it is actually more a matter of classification than discovery. Scientists knew it was there for a long time, just they studied the functions better and made the case that we can define it as an organ.

This only makes it more disturbing, the fact that researchers knew of its existence and DISMISSED it is absurd and embarrassing.

Re: A new human organ has been classified

#20

For someone with no medical training, the reference to Gray's Anatomy was confusing and interesting.

Yep, a well-regarded reference resource for 150 years prior to the show's conception. I always assumed the show was named after the book(never watched the show), I wonder if the one-off spelling 'Gray/Grey' shielded the creators from copyright infringement, as revisions of the book are still being released.[0]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grays_anatomy

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