You Are A Person And Then You

All Good Research-whether For Science Or For A Book-is A Form Of Obsession.

One Young Woman's Tribute Describes Unwrapping Her Cadaver's Hands And Being Brought Up Short By The Realization That The Nails Were Painted Pink. "the Pictures In The Anatomy Atlas Did Not Show Nail Polish", She Wrote. "did You Choose The Color? Did You Think That I Would See It? I Wanted To Tell You About The Inside Of Your Hands. I Want You To Know You Are Always There When I See Patients. When I Palpate An Abdomen, Yours Are The Organs I Imagine. When I Listen To A Heart, I Recall Holding Your Heart.

Nasa Might Do Well To Adopt The Red Bull Approach To Branding And Astronautics. Suddenly The Man In The Spacesuit Is Not An Underpaid Civil Servant; He's The Ultimate Extreme Athlete. Red Bull Knows How To Make Space Hip.

There Are People Who Would Love To Spend Their Last Ten Years, Or Five Years, Or Whatever It Is, On The Surface Of Mars.

Yet If You Don't Understand The Physiology Of A Biological System Or Process-like Female Sexual Arousal-you Can't Possibly Come Up With A Way To Fix It When Things Go Wrong. No One Would Have Come Up With A Treatment For Diabetes If Physiologists Hadn't Figured Out How Metabolism, Blood Sugar, And Insulin Work.