homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Musical hips: Doctors literally hear music while checking a patient's pulse

Quite possibly the weirdest ham radio flex in medical history.

Tibi Puiu
December 22, 2020 @ 8:29 pm

share Share

It was another day at work when doctors admitted a 65-year-old man after a fall resulted in a dislocated right hip. Doctors used a handheld Doppler ultrasound device to assess the man’s pulse in his feet, a standard procedure. But much to everyone’s surprise, the device’s speakers played music accompanying the man’s regular pulse. What is this sorcery?

Turns out, the man with the most melodic pulse in the world had previously undergone surgery to replace both hips with prosthetics, which the authors of a new report published in The New England Journal of Medicine believe picked up radio waves, “although other equipment in the room (such as the hospital bed) could have received the signal.”

Credit: The New England Journal of Medicine.

Doctors repeated the procedure with other Doppler devices, and they could still hear the music. In a video accompanying the report, the song “Gracias Por Tu Amor” by Banda El Recodo De Cruz Lizárraga can be heard.

Although no harm came out of it, medical staff reported the incident to the facility’s engineering department for further investigation but not faulty equipment was reported.

Eight months after the bizarre radio interference, the patient is doing well. He hasn’t experienced any other falls and can now boast that his heart literally beats to the drum of life.

share Share

Tennis May Add Nearly 10 Years to Your Life and Most People Are Ignoring It

Could a weekly match on the court be the secret to a longer, healthier life?

Your gut has a secret weapon against 'forever chemicals': microbes

Our bodies have some surprising allies sometimes.

Newborns Feel Pain Long Before They Can Understand It

Tiny brains register pain early, but lack the networks to interpret or respond to it

Your Personal Air Defense System Is Here and It’s Built to Vaporize Up to 30 Mosquitoes per Second with Lasers

LiDAR-guided Photon Matrix claims to fell 30 mosquitoes a second, but questions remain.

Astronomers Found a Star That Exploded Twice Before Dying

A rare double explosion in space may rewrite supernova science.

Buried in a Pot, Preserved by Time: Ancient Egyptian Skeleton Yields First Full Genome

DNA from a 4,500-year-old skeleton reveals ancestry links between North Africa and the Fertile Crescent.

The Fungus Behind the Pharaoh’s Curse Might Help Cure Leukemia

A deadly fungus found in ancient tombs yields a powerful new anti-leukemia compound.

One-Third of the World's Scavengers are Disappearing And This Could Trigger a Human Health Crisis

Nature’s least loved animals are dying fast. This could make the environment stinky and pathogens unstoppable.

Scientists Catch Two Wild Orcas "French Kissing" And It Might Mean More Than You Think

Scientists believe the habit is a part of social bonding.

Wild Orcas Are Offering Fish to Humans and Scientists Say They May Be Trying to Bond with Us

Scientists recorded 34 times orcas offered prey to humans over 20 years.