113: Rediscovered Organs & Bird Watching

Show notes

Wait, how are we rediscovering organs in 2026?? Or... are we? Well let's learn about the history and fads of the insides of our bodies! And what is bird watching, why do we all love it, and how casual and competitive can you get with it? Images we talk about: (Also available at [](https://www.letslearneverything.com/113/) ) [Clay Liver](https://www.letslearneverything.com/113/clayliver.jpg) [Online Terminologia Anatomica](https://ta2viewer.openanatomy.org/?id=96) [Salivary Glands](https://www.letslearneverything.com/113/salivaryglands.jpg) [Bird Study Skins](https://www.letslearneverything.com/113/studyskins.jpg) [A Field guide to Birds Example Page](https://www.letslearneverything.com/113/guidepage.png) Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro (00:04:56) Rediscovered Organs (01:05:15) Bird Watching (01:50:12) Outro [Support us with a Max Fun Membership!](https://maximumfun.org/join/) [Join our Discord!](https://discord.gg/EZBvwBZkXv) The Name Website Study skins, We also learn about: Huh?? Mesopotamian organ divination, sheep liver phrenology models, everyone needs to talk about this, Al-Razi’s “Doubts about Galen”, the great ignorance time skip, hmm this dead body must be wrong, the dissection fad, the murder act, you don’t know Burke and Hare?? body snatching and anatomy murder, the vestigial craze, Wiedersheim’s minimal viable person, the problem of naming organs, 20 synonyms of organs, Ella goes feral over the online Federative International Programme for Anatomical Terminology, our 3-4, hi Dad and Ella’s mom - hope you enjoyed that clitoris joke, our 4th pair of handlebar moustache salivary glands, the interstitium getting reverse pluto’d, labelling an organ is useful but also not the full picture, gen Z loves birding, FUCK YOU JONO WE’RE DOING THE HISTORY, is paleontology birding if you’re looking at sauricia, ornithomancy, where there have been birds - we have watched birds, study skins, hey what if we looked at them alive? in 1901 Edmund Selous discovers bird empathy, “lay down the gun and take up the glasses”, POWs from WWII publishing their findings, slovenly non scientific bird watchers, it’s a hobby with no proper definition, Merline and ObsIdentify and Birder and Ebird and Rare Bird Alert and Birder’s Interface, it’s pokemon! WHO’S THAT bird, “oh my god I actually cannot do this any more”, apps aren’t perfect, twitchers, the New Jersey World Series of Birding, Big Year, the first book specifically for birding, the first big year was just some guy who wrote how many birds he saw one year and told people about it, a big year is a physical and mental trial for glory, it’s for the birds, has their love curdled or have they unlocked a true kind of love? why do we do anything at all? I do love birds but man do I love humans. Sources: [NIH: Organ Definition](https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Organ) [2024 Paper: The Most Ancient Sources of Anatomic Knowledge](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214854X24000153) [2025 Paper: Galen’s Typology of Organs](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11984193/) [2013 Paper: The Air of History (Part IV): Great Muslim Physicians Al Rhazes](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3752886/) [BBC Bitesize: Medieval Medicine](https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z3xb3j6/revision/3) [Wellcome Collection: Getting Under the Skin](https://wellcomecollection.org/stories/getting-under-the-skin) [2011 Paper: The Study of Anatomy in England From 1700 to the Early 20th Century](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3162231/#sec6) [Book: Dissecting the Criminal Corpse: Staging Post-Execution Punishment in Early Modern England by Hurren ET, Chapter 7.](https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/29775/%20He%20that%20Hath%20an%20Ill-Name%20Is%20Half-Hanged%20%5F%20The%20Anatomical%20Legacy%20of%20the%20Criminal%20Corpse%20-%20Dissecting%20the%20Criminal%20Corpse%20-%20NCBI%20Bookshelf.pdf?sequence=1) [Wiki: Vestigiality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human%5Fvestigiality) [Britannica: Anatomy](https://www.britannica.com/science/anatomy) [Terminologia Anatomica 2019 (TA2) Official](https://ta2viewer.openanatomy.org/?id=96) [BearBoat Terminologia Anatomica 2019 (TA2)](https://www.bearboat.net/TerminologiaAnatomicaTA2/TerminologiaAnatomicaTA2.html) [Cleveland Clinic: Organs](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/organs-in-the-body) [Wiki: List of Organs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%5Fof%5Forgans%5Fof%5Fthe%5Fhuman%5Fbody) [2021 Paper: The tubarial salivary glands: A potential new organ at risk for radiotherapy](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32976871/) [Article: The tubarial salivary glands: A newly recognized organ with dental significance](https://www.perioimplantadvisory.com/clinical-tips/article/55320570/the-tubarial-salivary-glands-a-newly-recognized-organ-with-dental-significance) [CORDIS: Did scientists just discover a secret organ in your head?](https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/422598-trending-science-did-scientists-just-discover-a-secret-organ-in-your-head) [Netherland Cancer Institute: Cancer researchers discover new salivary gland](https://www.nki.nl/news-events/news/cancer-researchers-discover-new-salivary-gland) [2021 Paper: The tubarial salivary glands: A potential new organ at risk for radiotherapy](https://www.thegreenjournal.com/article/S0167-8140%2820%2930809-4/fulltext) [Cleveland Clinic: Interstitium](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/interstitium) [SciAm: Meet Your Interstitium, a Newfound "Organ"](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/meet-your-interstitium-a-newfound-organ/) [2024 Paper: A comprehensive analysis of the tubarial glands](https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ar.25561) [2018 Paper: Another new organ! is this a golden age of discovery in anatomy?](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29664145/) [BBC: Scientists just discovered the largest ever human organ – and we all have it](https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/largest-human-organ-interstitium) [Independant: Human brain is actually two separate organs, scientists find](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/brain-two-organs-stanford-university-breakthrough-b3053955.html) [2026 Paper: Two parallel neural ectoderm progenitors contribute to the developing brain](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-026-02433-7) [2005 Paper: Gastrulation Movements: the Logic and the Nuts and Bolts](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1534580705000547) [Neuroscience News: The Brain Is Two Separate Organs Joined by Evolution](https://neurosciencenews.com/brain-separate-organs-evolution-31219/) [LiveScience: 'Useless' female organ discovered over a century ago may actually support ovaries, study finds](https://www.livescience.com/health/fertility-pregnancy-birth/useless-female-organ-discovered-over-a-century-ago-may-actually-support-ovaries-study-finds) [Uni of Colorado: Rediscovering the Rete Ovarii: The “Antennae” of the Ovary](https://www.cuanschutz.edu/docs/librariesprovider311/stem-poster-day-2025/lfolts%5Ffinal%5Fstem-day-at-the-capitol-2025.pdf?sfvrsn=2e9d2cb4%5F1) [2024 Paper: Rediscovering the Rete Ovarii: the Development, Role, and Function of a Secreting Auxiliary Structure to the Ovary](https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/items/534e181f-570a-4465-81ae-c835ddfbe595) \--- [BBC: Why Gen Z Birdwatchers Are Flocking to Reserves](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdjpdm9v7gno) [CNN: Why Gen Z is going bonkers for birding](https://edition.cnn.com/world/gen-z-birdwatching-boom-intl-spc) [Wikipedia: Ornithomancy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornithomancy) [Smithsonian Magazine: How Bird Collecting Evolved Into Bird-Watching](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-bird-collecting-evolved-into-bird-watching-180980506/) [My Bird Buddy: History of Bird Watching](https://blog.mybirdbuddy.com/post/when-and-why-did-we-start-birdwatching) [Haikubox: Evolution of Birdwatching](https://haikubox.com/blogs/birdwatching-basics/evolution-of-birdwatching-history) [Pitville History: Edmund Selous](https://pittvillehistory.org.uk/bios/Selous5571.html) [British Birds: Best Bird Watching Apps](https://britishbirds.co.uk/news/best-birdwatching-apps) [10000 Birds: Can I rely on Merlin](https://www.10000birds.com/ask-a-birder-should-i-be-using-merlin-and-can-i-rely-on-it.htm) [Science Base: Bird ID Apps](https://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/bird-id-apps.html) [Sussex Wildlife Trust: The Good the Bad and the Middling ID Apps](https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/the-good-the-bad-and-the-middling-id-apps) [Reddit: Pokemon Go is Basically Birding](https://www.reddit.com/r/birding/comments/4s11s7/pokemon%5Fgo%5Fis%5Fbasically%5Fbirding/) [Reddit: Ever Wanted to Catch Em All IRL?](https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/l8xnth/ever%5Fwanted%5Fto%5Fcatch%5Fem%5Fall%5Firl%5Fintroducing/) [Reddit: Why is Gen Z Suddenly Obsessed with Birdwatching](https://www.reddit.com/r/birding/comments/1ujc4j4/why%5Fis%5Fgen%5Fz%5Fsuddenly%5Fobsessed%5Fwith%5Fbirdwatching/) [Youtube: Listers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl-wAqplQAo) [New Jersey Audubon Society: World Series of Birding](https://njaudubon.org/world-series-of-birding/) [Wikipedia: Big Year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big%5Fyear) [Smithsonian Library and Archive: A Field Guide to Birds](https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2018/12/04/spotting-a-first-edition-of-petersons-a-field-guide-to-the-birds/) [American Bird Association: Big Year Rules](https://www.aba.org/aba-area-big-year-rules/) [Audubon: The Big Year According to Birders](https://www.audubon.org/news/the-big-year-according-birders) [Birding (American Birding Association): The Next Big Thing](https://www.aba.org/birding%5Farchive%5Ffiles/AUG2018%5FNext-Big-Thing.pdf) [Surfbirds (Wayback Machine): Alaska, The Last Frontier Attu Island](https://web.archive.org/web/20130819015421/http://www.surfbirds.com/Features/Attu.html) [NPR: The Real Birdwatchers Behind Hollywood's 'Big Year'](https://www.npr.org/2011/10/16/141387194/the-real-birdwatchers-behind-hollywoods-big-year) Help support this show and unlock bonus content! 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