SciShow examines the pancreas, 'The Organ That Drove a Scientist to Kill'

I'm not feeling like continuing my Emmy nominations coverage today.* Instead, I'm writing about something more personal, the pancreas, which SciShow examined in The Organ That Drove a Scientist to Kill.

In 1643, Johann Wirsung was shot and killed outside his home, but not before he named one of the men responsible. One rumor that has emerged over the years is the man was paid by one of Wirsung's former assistants, who claimed Wirsung had taken credit for a discovery the assistant had made: that the pancreas actually does stuff critical to keeping you alive.

I did not know about Johann Wirsung and his research and assassination before. While I did know about some of the other historical figures, like Galen and Andreas Vesalius, I didn't know about their incorrect ideas about the pancreas. Thanks to SciShow, I learned something new, so that makes today a good day.

On the other hand, I covered the story of Sir Frederick Banting in Celebrating 100 years of insulin for World Diabetes Day 2022, which wasn't new to me then, as I wrote "Not only am I an insulin-dependent diabetic, but I read the story of the discovery of insulin in junior high school and wrote a report on it for health class. That was fifty years ago, so I could use a refresher." I still learned something new about Banting and his research from SciShow, namely the fight between Banting and James Collip, which Charles Best broke up, and the drama over Banting and John Macleod's Nobel Prize. Yikes! The story of the pancreas is one of violence and conflict!

SciShow covered another story I heard my first semester at the University of Michigan about the sequencing of human insulin, its reverse translation and transcription into the gene for insulin, and its insertion into bacteria to produce human insulin, which works better than insulin from cows, pigs, and sheep and no animals have to die to produce it. I didn't know that happened in 1978, so I can add that detail when I tell the story to my students. Welcome to blogging as professional development.

I wrote that this subject is personal, so I close with a relevant paragraph from Today is World Diabetes Day and November is National Diabetes Month.

I'm a diabetic and I can attest that I think about my condition an average of every 20 minutes throughout the day...I consider it to be a central organizing fact of my life. Oddly enough, I think it has focused me and improved my mental health. I now have a real threat to concentrate my attention on and consider every day a small victory over death.

Not only has the pancreas driven scientists to kill, the pancreas is trying to kill me and millions of others every day. That's what makes this subject personal.

*Don't worry, I'll return to the topic on Tuesday. In the meantime, stay tuned for the Hugo Award nominees for dramatic presentations and video games as the first Sunday entertainment feature of August and something scientific or historical on Monday.