WordPress Masterclass

Well, that was fun! Today’s Masterclass saw us diving into WordPress sometimes gracefully, sometimes… well, let’s just say the technical gremlins were working overtime. Thanks for your patience as we battled through a “live maintained” system. Rest assured, we’re working on smoothing things out, and you’ll soon have access to some more materials including the sessions’ recording. I’ll also be migrating last year’s (less eventful) version so you can have a look without the added drama.

Watch This Space!
Keep an eye out for updates and additional materials. We’re getting there.

Now, About Those Spaghetti Towers…
While technology was fighting us, you all absolutely nailed the team-building exercise. Who knew spaghetti sticks, tape, string and marshmallows could lead to such impressive feats of structural engineering? No, not cooking – some truly fun designs, nicely demonstrating great creative thinking and teamwork. Well done, everyone!

See you next time!
Orestis

Good Practice Guide for Using Images & Videos in Academic Blogs

Using images and videos effectively in academic blogs enhances engagement, accessibility, and credibility. However, improper use can lead to accessibility issues, misrepresentation, or even copyright infringement. This guide covers best practices for selecting, attributing, and embedding media in your academic blog.

When selecting images or videos, consider:

• Relevance – Does it enhance understanding of your content?
• Accessibility – Can all users (including those with disabilities) access it effectively?
• Clarity – Is it high quality and appropriately sized?
  and also:
• Licensing – Do you have the right to use it?
  

Image & Video Accessibility: Captions, Descriptions & Alt Text

To ensure accessibility, provide Alt Text, captions, and descriptions where needed.

• Alt Text helps visually impaired users by describing the image’s key content (e.g., “Graph showing rising global temperatures from 1900-2020”).
• Captions add context for all readers, summarising the image’s purpose (e.g., “Figure 1: 3D bone scan highlighting osteoarthritic changes”). If an image contains complex data, provide a longer description within the blog.

For videos, use captions for accessibility and add transcripts where possible. This ensures all users, including those with hearing impairments, can engage with your content.

Proper Citation & Referencing of Images

All non-original images and videos must be correctly attributed.

Include the author, title, source, and license (if applicable). For online images, use: Available at: [URL] (Accessed: Date). For Creative Commons images, state: by <Author> (if available), licensed under [CC License Type] from [Source].

⚠️ Always check licensing terms and avoid using copyrighted material without permission. Some images require attribution, while others are free to use without credit. ⚠️

Example image search filtered by license type:

Following our lecture on stem cells and the ethics workshop, the topic of embryonic stem cells and surrounding ethics stood out to me. Being the product of IVF my embryonic stem cells were once in a position where they could have either been used for research or been implanted and allowed to develop into me! This has made me consider the possibility of not existing today.

IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) is a technology, which assists women in becoming pregnant. The sex cells (sperm and egg) are collected from the donors, mixed in a test tube and are monitored for fertilisation.

From a fertilised egg cell division begins, the image below shows stages of division. The cells are transferred to the uterus at the blastocyst or cleavage stage. Hopefully implantation occurs resulting in pregnancy!

I am very grateful for IVF, without it I wouldn’t be here! It provides an opportunity for couples that could not conceive naturally to become parents. An argument against IVF is the expense of having the procedure through a private clinic. This can be £5,000 or more, which could change the perceptions of a child. I somewhat agree, the expense of conceiving a child could place more value on the accomplishments of the child, with the parents ‘getting value for money’. Contrary to this, can the expenses of IVF compete with the value of the life created? No one should be disallowed from conceiving due to the lack of money, I feel that this is a natural human right that cannot be denied. IVF is available on the NHS if certain criterion are met, making it more available to a wider range of people and also reducing the impact of commercialisation of the technology.

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are a type of stem cells derived from early embryos from the IVF process. ESCs are transient in nature, the cells are pluripotent meaning they can be grown indefinitely and differentiate into all cell types. When these are obtained the embryo is destroyed. The image below shows the process of isolating ESCs.

Stem cells can be used in tissue engineering, developing biological substitutes that restore, maintain, or improve tissue function or a whole organ. Sheets of cultured skin can be used for skin grafts, bladder lining replacement and urethra reconstruction. Using stem cells means that skin doesn’t need to be removed from elsewhere on the patient. Using ESCs over adult cells has also been investigated, showing evidence of a reduced immune response.

ESCs can be used to help replace or replenish cell types. Parkinsons disease symptoms could be eased by the replacement of substantia nigra in the brain!

This video discusses the ethics of ESCs with a participant of IVF (my father) and myself.

As someone who is very interested in biological fiction, I am currently reading ‘The Body’ by Bill Bryson. I came to the chapter, ‘In the Dissecting Room: The Skeleton,’ and was intrigued to hear that medical cadavers have been the topic of various controversies throughout history. Soon after reading this, I also attended the ethics and law lecture, which led me to delve deeper into the issues and history of acquiring medical cadavers for teaching.

Where did medical cadavers previously come from?

Public opinion of dissection around the 18^th and 19^th century, even for the benefit of science, was seen as sickening and disrespectful. Fitting with the questionable ethos of the time, only hung criminals were seen to warrant this brutal fate. I was appalled to discover that this was justified by judges who believed murderers deserved further prosecution after their execution, so offered their bodies up for dissection without choice.

Why did this need to change?

Still, there never seemed to be enough cadavers to distribute between medical schools. Bryson mentions in his book that in 1831, London had 900 medical students with only 11 cadavers. This ultimately led doctors to turn to grave robbing. These hellish actions were not a punishable offence at the time, which only encouraged them to continue. I was shocked to hear this, but it made me realise that legal enforcement was the only way forward to put a stop to the clearly desperate thievery. My research led me to find that the Anatomy Act of 1832 was enforced because grave robbing had gotten too out of hand. This allowed medical institutions to also take ownership of the bodies of unclaimed poor persons.

While this seemed to fix the shortage and improve standards of anatomy textbooks, I found it shocking to believe that the financial status of a person upon their death should determine the fate of their body. Can the sacrifice of convicts and the poor be justified for the greater good of science? Rather than discarding abandoned bodies, should they be put to better use? I can see balance in this argument, but it is hard to believe doctors had free license to dissect unclaimed bodies. This opinion was shared by many.

“They tell us it was necessary for science. Science? Why, who is science for? Not for poor people. Then if it is necessary for science, let them have the bodies of the rich, for whose benefit science is cultivated.” – William Cobbett (1763-1835, advocate for English poor and working-class)

Where do medical cadavers come from now?

Under the Human Tissue Act 2004, written and witnessed consent for anatomical examination is required prior to death, it cannot be made by anyone else after a person has died. In the UK, It is illegal to buy and sell human remains, therefore modern medical schools rely entirely on donations of those willing to give their bodies for science. I was even pleasantly surprised to hear that some schools are positively overwhelmed by donations that they must turn away excess offerings.

A current perspective:

I was intrigued to see what current medical students thought about cadavers and the regulations implemented by Southampton University. I consequently conducted a short interview with a student which I found very insightful, as shown below.

A real-life nightmare:

Unfortunately, I was devastated to find that some countries still use unclaimed bodies for teaching. I found a truly awful news article where a student from the University of Calabar in Nigeria was traumatized by an anatomy class that used the dead body of his friend. I discovered that 90% of Nigerian medical cadavers are criminals killed in shootings. Whilst this story truly horrified me, it shows that there is still a global shortage of legitimate cadavers .

I believe there should be tighter universal regulations that limit the distribution of unclaimed bodies for science, but similarly increase international positive awareness to encourage more people to donate their bodies. This may be the only solution to permanently fix shortages without overstepping ethical practice.