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Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies biomedical sciences, biomedical research, genetics, and medical technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints and traction, medical devices, biologics, and ionizing radiation, amongst others.

Medicine has been practiced since prehistoric times, during most of which it was an art (an area of skill and knowledge) frequently having connections to the religious and philosophical beliefs of local culture. For example, a medicine man would apply herbs and say prayers for healing, or an ancient philosopher and physician would apply bloodletting according to the theories of humorism. In recent centuries, since the advent of modern science, most medicine has become a combination of art and science (both basic and applied, under the umbrella of medical science). While stitching technique for sutures is an art learned through practice, the knowledge of what happens at the cellular and molecular level in the tissues being stitched arises through science.

Prescientific forms of medicine are now known as traditional medicine or folk medicine, which remains commonly used in the absence of scientific medicine, and are thus called alternative medicine. Alternative treatments outside of scientific medicine having safety and efficacy concerns are termed quackery. (Full article...)

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Barbara McClintock (June 16, 1902 – September 2, 1992) was a pioneering American scientist and one of the world's most distinguished cytogeneticists. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1927, where she was a leader in the development of maize cytogenetics. The field remained the focus of her research for the rest of her career. From the late 1920s, McClintock studied chromosomes and how they change during reproduction in maize. Her work was groundbreaking: she developed the technique to visualize maize chromosomes and used microscopic analysis to demonstrate many fundamental genetic ideas, including genetic recombination by crossing-over during meiosis—a mechanism by which chromosomes exchange information. She produced the first genetic map for maize, linking regions of the chromosome with physical traits, and she demonstrated the role of the telomere and centromere, regions of the chromosome that are important in the conservation of genetic information. She was recognized amongst the best in the field, awarded prestigious fellowships and elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1944. (More...)

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Surgical incision in right shoulder, 7 days after surgery. The incision was closed with surgical staples.

Photo credit: Llywrch

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...that the 47,XXY karyotype produces Klinefelter's syndrome, while 45,X causes Turner syndrome?

...that during the "Age of Heroic Medicine" (1780-1850), educated professional physicians aggressively practiced "heroic medicine", including bloodletting (venesection), intestinal purging (calomel), vomiting (tartar emetic), profuse sweating (diaphoretics) and blistering? These medical treatments were well-intentioned, and often well-accepted by the medical community, but were actually harmful to the patient.
...thalidomide is a drug that was sold during the late 1950s and 1960s to pregnant women as an antiemetic? It was later found to be teratogenic, causing amelia and phocomelia. However, it is still used for other indications such as for leprosy and multiple myeloma, with close regulation through the System for Thalidomide Education and Prescribing Safety (STEPS) program.

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The following are images from various Medicine-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Depiction of smallpox in Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún's history of the conquest of Mexico, Book XII of the Florentine Codex, from the defeated Aztecs' point of view (from History of medicine)
Image 2Replica of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek's microscope of the 1670s (from History of medicine)
Image 3Traditional medicine in a market in Antananarivo, Madagascar (from Traditional medicine)
Image 4American Civil War hospital at Gettysburg, 1863 (from History of medicine)
Image 5"Diagram of the causes of mortality in the army in the East" by Florence Nightingale. (from History of medicine)
Image 6Infographic showing how healthcare data flows within the billing process (from Medical billing)
Image 7Patient, Surrey County Lunatic Asylum, c. 1850–58. The asylum population in England and Wales rose from 1,027 in 1827 to 74,004 in 1900. (from History of medicine)
Image 8Mexico City epidemic of 1737, with elites calling on the Virgin of Guadalupe (from History of medicine)
Image 9Medical recipe concerning poisoning. Terracotta tablet, from Nippur, Iraq, 18th century BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul (from History of medicine)
Image 10Taoist symbol of Yin and Yang (from Medical ethics)
Image 1118th-century medical remedies collected by a British Gentry family (from History of medicine)
Image 12The numbers of Americans lacking health insurance and the uninsured rate from 1987 to 2008 (from Health insurance)
Image 13Smallpox vaccination in Niger, 1969. A decade later, this was the first infectious disease to be eradicated. (from History of medicine)
Image 14The emergency room is often a frontline venue for the delivery of primary medical care. (from Health care)
Image 15The oldest Polish Collegium Medicum at Jagiellonian University founded in 1364 (from History of medicine)
Image 16The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, written in the 17th century BCE, contains the earliest recorded reference to the brain. New York Academy of Medicine. (from History of medicine)
Image 17The Hippocratic Corpus
A collection of early medical works may be associated with Hippocrates (from History of medicine)
Image 18Primary care may be provided in community health centers. (from Health care)
Image 19healthcare expenditure in Japan by age group (from Health insurance)
Image 20Monumental stone relief of a fish-garbed figure from the Temple of Ninurta in the Assyrian city of Kalhu, believed by some experts to be a representation of an āšipu, or exorcist-priest, who functioned as a kind of healer and primitive doctor (from History of medicine)
Image 21Mandrake (written 'ΜΑΝΔΡΑΓΟΡΑ' in Greek capitals). Naples Dioscurides, 7th century (from History of medicine)
Image 22Assorted dried plant and animal parts used in traditional Chinese medicines, clockwise from top left corner: dried Lingzhi (lit. "spirit mushrooms"), ginseng, Luo Han Guo, turtle shell underbelly (plastron), and dried curled snakes (from History of medicine)
Image 23American combat surgery during the Pacific War, 1943. Major wars showed the need for effective hygiene and medical treatment. (from History of medicine)
Image 24Guy's Hospital in 1820 (from History of medicine)
Image 25The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, United Kingdom is a specialist neurological hospital. (from Health care)
Image 26Global concentrations of healthcare resources, as depicted by the number of physicians per 10,000 individuals, by country. (from Health care)
Image 27Botánicas such as this one in Jamaica Plain, Boston, cater to the Latino community and sell folk medicine alongside statues of saints, candles decorated with prayers, lucky bamboo, and other items. (from Traditional medicine)
Image 28Andreas Vesalius's 1543 De humani corporis fabrica contained intricately detailed drawings of human dissections, often in allegorical poses. (from History of medicine)
Image 29A 12th-century Byzantine manuscript of the Hippocratic Oath (from Medical ethics)
Image 30Health Expenditure per capita (in PPP-adjusted US$) among several OECD member nations. Data source: OECD's iLibrary (from Health insurance)
Image 31World map of universal healthcare.

Countries with free and universal health care
(from Health insurance)
Image 32AMA Code of Medical Ethics (from Medical ethics)
Image 33Sometimes traditional medicines include parts of endangered species, such as the slow loris in Southeast Asia. (from Traditional medicine)
Image 34Hospital train "Therapist Matvei Mudrov" in Khabarovsk, Russia (from Health care)
Image 35Most countries have seen a tremendous increase in life expectancy since 1945. However, in southern Africa, the HIV epidemic beginning around 1990 has eroded national health. (from History of medicine)
Image 36The plinthios brochos as described by Greek physician Heraklas, a sling for binding a fractured jaw. These writings were preserved in one of Oribasius' collections. (from History of medicine)
Image 37Florence Nightingale triggered the professionalization of nursing. Photograph c. 1860 (from History of medicine)
Image 38The Quaker-run York Retreat, founded in 1796, gained international prominence as a centre for moral treatment and a model of asylum reform following the publication of Samuel Tuke's Description of the Retreat (1813). (from History of medicine)
Image 39Ayurvedic herbal medicines (from History of medicine)
Image 40Curandera performing a limpieza in Cuenca, Ecuador (from Traditional medicine)
Image 41Life Expectancy of the total population at birth among several OECD member nations. Data source: OECD's iLibrary (from Health insurance)
Image 42A cochlear implant is a common kind of neural prosthesis, a device replacing part of the human nervous system. (from History of medicine)
Image 43Louis Pasteur experimenting on bacteria, c. 1870 (from History of medicine)

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