A Southern California high school has banned frog dissections in biology classrooms, using software insteadA Southern California high school has banned frog dissections in biology classrooms, switching to software instead.
Next, virtual surgeries on humans: you just make believe the doctor operates on you. It is certainly more humane than forcing someone to actually use a scalpel on a real body!
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
A Southern California high school has banned frog dissections in biology classrooms, switching to software instead.
Next, virtual surgeries on humans: you just make believe the doctor operates on you. It is certainly more humane than forcing someone to actually use a scalpel on a real body!
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
When I took high school biology the highlight of the year were the dissections: a frog and the biggest damn earthworm I’ve ever seen. It was neat to actually see and put hands on the things we’ed only previously seen on books. Software, no matter how fancy, isn’t going to be any more ‘real’ than illustrations in a book. I wonder if the software lets students put electricity to the nerve and make the leg jump.
My favorite quote from the article: “Proponents of virtual dissection programs say they are more humane and safer than touching animals preserved with formaldehyde”
More humane than what? The animal’s already dead.
When I was in medical school we had gross anatomy lab with donated human cadavers (one for every two students). We also had what was called “dog lab” where old hound dogs, that would have been euthanized, were surgically prepped and anesthetized and had their chests opened in order for us to study a living circulatory system and the effect of drugs on it. (The canine circulatory system is very similiar to ours). Students had a choice to opt out of the dog lab but not out of the human agross amatomy course. PETA was protesting this type of course at the time and it was controversial.
Persoanally, I went to the dog lab and found it very helpful but somewhat disturbing and upsetting, as I am a dog owner/lover. While vivisection has been invaluable in the past to further medical science’s understanding of the human condition, it was more a lesson in getting greasy and covered in formalyn (formmaldehyde), which is considered a possible carcinogen. I spent hours with a scalpel digging through human fat trying to find a particular artery or nerve and smelling of it for days. It was more a lesson in fine eye hand coordination and that time could better have been spent with my face in a book. Also, a preserved human body is very different in color, texture and elasticity from a living body and while the anatomy is right, unless on is going into surgery, it is not that iimportant for a first year medical student.