Fun Fact – urinate

urinate

Scientific def: to discharge urine from the body (to micturate)

Outlander def: Act of peeing with your godfather el fresco!

Learn about urination in…Well, I haven’t actually written an Anatomy Lesson about the urinary bladder, the organ that stores urine and contracts during urination. The closest I can come to the topic at at this point are Anatomy Lesson #8, “Jamie Takes a Beating and Claire’s Healing Touch,” and Anatomy Lesson #15, “Crouching Grants – Hidden Dagger”; these lessons introduce the kidneys, organs that produce urine.

In the meantime, here’s a wee (Ha, ha) lesson on urination to contemplate: do ye ken it takes 21 seconds for most mammals to urinate? Yep! A researcher and his colleagues were awarded a 2015 Ig Nobel prize** for this finding. Such research may seem frivolous, but it could lead to an early medical diagnostic tool for men. If the time to empty the urinary bladder exceeds established urination times, a prostate exam may be in order (New Scientist, 31 October 2015).

Read about Claire’s need to urinate while interrogated by BJR at Fort William. From Outlander book:

The tension was slightly relieved by the entrance of an orderly, bearing a tray of tea things. Still silent, Randall poured out and offered me a cup. We sipped some more. “Don’t tell me,” I said finally. “Let me guess. It’s a new form of persuasion you’ve invented—torture by bladder. You ply me with drinkables until I promise to tell you anything in exchange for five minutes with a chamber pot.” He was so taken by surprise that he actually laughed.

Or where Jenny Murray’s new daughter baptizes her father’s shirt (Outlander book):

“Hello, wee Maggie,” he whispered, touching the tiny button of a nose with one fingertip. His new daughter, unimpressed by the introduction, closed her eyes in concentration, stiffened, and urinated on her father’s shirt.

See Jamie and Murtagh pee on the walls of Castle Leoch in Starz, episode 109, The Reckoning! Yep, these BFFs formulate and celebrate as they urinate and consecrate Colum’s real estate! Do ye ken there are 444 English words that rhyme with urinate? Hee, hee!

A deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

** Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, and then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.

 

Fun Fact – levator palpebrae superioris (LPS)

LPS

Anatomy def: flat muscle of each bony orbit that elevates and retracts the upper eyelid

Outlander def: a clever wee muscle that opens big bonny eyes of blue!

Learn about LPS in Anatomy Lesson #29, “The Eyes Have It!” or “The Eyes- Part One.”

Read about Claire contracting her LPS muscles as she opens her eyes (at the pillory) in Outlander book:

Speculations, suggestions, and shocked interjections rained on me, thicker than the drops of water from the sky, but it was a pair of familiar arms that raised me to a sitting position, and a pair of gravely concerned blue eyes that I saw when I opened my own. A faint flicker of the eyelids told me that the mission had been accomplished…

See Jamie contract his LPS muscles and open his big baby blues as Claire calls him a g.d. bloody bastard! Och! What’s that ye said lass? I can see yer lips movin’ but ye are so purty I canna hear a word yer sayin’ (Starz episode 101, Sassenach!)…only the echoes of my mind!

A deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

Fun Fact – levator labii superioris alaeque nasi

ep107-nostrils-KLS-edited

levator labii superioris alae·que na·si \ ləˈvātər/ ’lei-bi.ai/ su,piər.i’or.is/-ā-ˈlē-kwē-ˈnā-ˌzī\

noun, Latin meaning lifter of the upper lip and wing (ala) of the nose

Anatomy Def: muscle of facial expression that flares the nostril and lifts the upper lip

Outlander Def: An sexy wee muscle that flares Jamie’s nostrils when he’s waited long enuf – no more stalling clever Claire!

Learn about levator labii superioris alaeque nasi (LLSAN), a tiny muscle with the longest name of any, in Anatomy Lesson #11: Jamie’s Face or Ye Do It Face to Face? Also known as the Elvis muscle, it snarls the lip and flares the nostrils. A mnemonic to remember its name is: “Little Ladies Snore All Night.

Read about Jamie’s nose in Outlander book:

He regarded me for a moment, rubbing his nose, which was beginning to redden. “Well, I might take that several ways, Sassenach, but under the circumstances,” he said, “thank you.” “I should thank you,” I said, “for marrying me. I must say that I’d rather be here than in Fort William.” “I thank ye for the compliment, lady,” he said.

See Jamie’s nostrils flare in Starz episode 107, The Wedding (and in episode 101, too). Yes, it’s his LLSAN at work!

A deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist