anatomy

This episode—which is Number 94— is all about the Avian Digestive System. That’s right, kids, we’re looking at bird guts today!

If you’ve ever wondered what happens to a fish swallowed by a kingfisher or what happened to that piece of bacon swiped off your lunch plate by a cheeky Ring-billed Gull... Well, you're about to find out.

I’ll do my best to describe in words the anatomical features we encounter today. But I’ve also drawn a diagram for you. You can check that out on the show notes for this episode on the Science of Birds website.

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website 

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Resources from this episode: https://tim.blog/2023/08/04/dr-shirley-sahrmann/

Shirley A. Sahrmann, PT, PhD, is Professor Emerita of Physical Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. She received her bachelor’s degree in physical therapy and her masters and doctorate degrees in neurobiology from Washington University, where she joined the physical therapy faculty and became the first director of their PhD program in movement science.

Shirley became a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association in 1986 and in 1998 was selected to receive the Mary McMillan Award, the Association’s highest honor. She is a recipient of the Association’s Marion Williams Research Award, the Lucy Blair Service Award, the Kendall Practice Award, and the Inaugural John H.P. Maley Lecturer Award.  

She has also received Washington University's Distinguished Faculty Award, the Distinguished Alumni Award, the School of Medicine’s Inaugural Distinguished Clinician Award, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Indianapolis. She has also received the Bowling-Erhard Orthopedic Clinical Practice Award from the Orthopaedic Academy of the APTA. She has served on the APTA Board of Directors and as president of the Missouri Chapter.

Her first book, Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes, has been translated into seven languages. Her second book, Movement System Impairment Syndromes of the Extremities, Cervical and Thoracic Spines, has been equally influential in promoting movement diagnoses.

Please enjoy!

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[07:12] A brief terminology primer.

[13:00] Why Shirley's first book is so influential among physical therapists.

[15:54] The correlation between lifestyle and health hasn't always been obvious.

[18:16] Low back pain: not a diagnosis, but a symptom.

[20:41] The trouble with overdeveloped abdominals.

[22:32] What's my problem?

[30:14] The Movement Systems Syndromes (MSS) approach.

[31:29] The wrong walk home.

[33:01] Correcting bad habits.

[35:00] Psoas it goes.

[37:03] Other commonly repeating culprits.

[40:36] Pump handle and bucket handle.

[43:41] The body follows the path of least resistance.

[48:00] Anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS)

[49:20] How Shirley examines a new patient.

[55:11] Assessing athletes vs. non-athletes.

[56:18] Dynamic neuromuscular stabilization (DNS)

[57:49] Collapso-smasho and squeezo-smasho.

[59:10] Correcting low shoulders.

[1:05:26] Stretching: yes or no?

[1:09:56] Addressing my abdominal stiffness.

[1:16:28] When the spine doesn't want to go along for the ride.

[1:18:38] How has Shirley made it to 86 with her physical and mental health intact?

[1:34:32] What men should know about femoral retroversion.

[1:38:44] If it walks like a duck...

[1:41:11] Managing symptoms of Scheuermann's disease.

[1:42:49] Parting thoughts.

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This episode—which is Number 69—is all about the avian skeleton. Bird bones.

So this is an episode about some basic anatomy of birds.

Bird bones and the avian skeleton are elegant, strong, and rigid. 

Let’s put on our x-ray goggles, and peer inside the body of a bird, to see what’s going on with all those beautiful bones...


Links of Interest

• Cranial kinesis in the skull of a Hyacinth Macaw [VIDEO]

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode—which is Number 56— is all about the colors of birds.

The diversity of color in bird plumages is one of the things we love most about these animals.

But bird plumages are impressive not only when they display vibrant colors plucked from the rainbow. Thousands of species aren’t what we’d call colorful, but they do have gorgeous, intricately patterned feathers in combinations of black, brown, and white.

Today, we’re looking at how feathers get their colors, from white to subtle earth tones to scintillating displays of wild iridescence.

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Links of Interest

• Sponsor Link: Sign up through wren.co/birds to make a difference in the climate crisis, and Wren will plant 10 extra trees in your name!

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode—which is Number 54—is all about bird eggs.

This is an important topic. Eggs are a fundamental aspect of bird biology. Recently, in Episode 49 of the podcast, I covered the topic of nests. So it seems like a logical next step for us to get the lowdown on eggs.

Oology is the science of studying bird eggs. So today, we are all honorary oologists. We’re egg-heads on a mission to better understand how baby birds come into the world.

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Book Recommendations

• The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird’s Egg [affiliate link]

Links of Interest

• How are Eggs Made (BBC/Attenborough clip) [VIDEO]
• Chicken embryo development animation [VIDEO]
• Bird Eggs Warn Each Other About Danger [VIDEO]

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Birds, probably more than any other aerial creatures, have amazed and inspired us with the grace and power of their flight. So just how do they do it?

In this episode, we'll look at the physics and anatomy of bird flight.

I’ll start off with the basics of aerodynamics as it relates to bird flight. That’s the meat and potatoes of our lesson today. But we’ll also consider the different ways that birds fly—their different modes of flight. Last, we’ll examine some additional adaptations birds have that make them high-octane flying machines.

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Links of Interest

• Bird Flight [Wikipedia]
• Why do birds fly in a V? Endangered ibis reveals its amazing secret
• The amazing muscles and bones that make birds fly

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

We're deviating from the usual programming of chatting with a medical school admissions person and bringing you a winter break bonus episode!  This a rather entertaining and fascinating conversation with our Associate Dean for Admissions, Dr. Lina Mehta, and, Dr. Mark Griswold, Professor of Radiology at CWRU, surrounding the application of Microsoft Hololens at our medical school and beyond.

Have a question for the show, school suggestion, or just want to say hi? Send it to: allaccess@case.edu

Visit https://case.edu/medicine/allaccess for more information on this episode and others.

RESOURCES:

Microsoft Hololens

Microsoft Hololens YouTube channel

CWRU School of Medicine HoloAnatomy video

Hololens during COVID @ CWRU video

CWRU Interactive Commons

CONTACT:

casemed-admissions@case.edu

Summary
The feather is one of the most iconic symbols of nature. Feathers are indispensable to birds, serving many critically important functions. 

In this episode, we explore those functions after looking closely at the anatomy—the structure—of a feather.

We discuss the 6 types of feathers: contour feathers, flight feathers, down, semiplumes, bristles, and filoplumes.

Some functions we explore are flight, insulation, and camouflage.

Links of Interest

• Hairs, feathers and scales have a lot in common
• Video about water repellency in bird feathers
• Video of Club-winged Manakin courtship display

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Errors and Clarifications

• Error - At 00:44, I used the word ‘historic,’ when I should have said ‘historical.’
• Error - At 06:13, I goofed on the word ‘stratum,’ saying ‘strateum’ by accident.

Attributions

• Club-winged Manakin - Recording XC248570 on Xeno Canto
• Club-winged Manakin - Recording XC248573  on Xeno Canto

Episode: 7

Summary

It can be argued that, of all the animals, birds are the best at seeing stuff. Most species have an excellent sense of sight.

In this episode, I’ll first introduce you to the anatomy of a bird’s eye.

Then, we’ll look into (see what I did there?) how birds perceive color and their visual acuity.

And last we’ll talk about the difference between monocular and binocular vision in birds.

Research Citations

• Wild hummingbirds and ultraviolet colors (Stoddard et al. 2020. PNAS)
• Seemingly monochromatic birds are more colorful under UV light (Eaton. 2005. PNAS)

‍Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

The mythical centaur represented man's dual nature -- and as one biologist points out, the creature would also need two hearts. In this episode, Robert and Julie discuss all things centaur, from the creature's symbolic meaning to its fictional anatomy.

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