Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

In popular usage, the part of the body from the top of the thigh down to the foot, and in medical terminology, the portion of the lower extremity that runs from the knee to the ankle. The leg (in the medical sense) has two bones’the tibia (shinbone) and the fibula’both of which are known as long bones.…

The preferential use of the left hand for most fine manual tasks. Approximately 10% of the population is left-handed. In French, the word for left is gauche meaning clumsy or awkward and the word for right is droit. In Latin the word for left is sinister and that for right is dexter (as in dexterity), as…

The upper right chamber of the heart. The left atrium receives oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it down into the left ventricle which delivers it to the body.

A molecule that is a combination of lipid (fat) and protein. Lipoproteins are the form in which lipids are transported in the blood. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) transports cholesterol from the liver to the tissues of the body. LDL cholesterol is therefore considered the “bad” cholesterol.

Abbreviation for pound (for the Latin libra), a measure of weight.

An eye that diverges in gaze. A lazy eye is formally called strabismus. A lazy eye (strabismus) can be due to esotropia (cross-eyed) or to exotropia (wall-eyed). The danger of the condition is that the brain comes in time to rely more on one eye than the other and that part of the brain circuitry connected to…

In alternative medicine, an ancient method of healing by touching a person with the hands or palms, usually on the head, shoulders, or waist. Also called contact healing.

Something that promotes emptying of the bowels. Laxatives are used to combat constipation. They are sometimes overused, producing diarrhea. Laxatives include milk of magnesia and many others.

Laparoscopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy, a procedure using laparoscopic techniques to remove the uterus (womb) and/or tubes and ovaries through the vagina (birth canal). In LAVH, several small incisions (cuts) are made in the abdominal wall through which slender metal tubes known as “trocars” are inserted to provide passage for a laparoscope and other microsurgical tools. The laparoscope is essentially a tiny telescope. A…

Washing out. Gastric lavage, for example, is the washing out of the stomach to remove drugs or poisons.