• Question: What is the longest scientific word you know?

    Asked by GangstaSpik3z to Charlotte, hannahmoir, Majid, Richard, Sam on 7 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Charlotte Green

      Charlotte Green answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      hmmmmm I guess that would have to be Electroencephalography (EEG)

    • Photo: Hannah Moir

      Hannah Moir answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism – which is a condition associated with the thyroid gland. Typically abbreviated to PPHP, it is a genetic mutation to parathyroid hormone that can cause short stature, obesity and skeletal anomalies.

    • Photo: Sam Smith

      Sam Smith answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation – it’s a kind of stretching that involves the muscles pushing against some resistance.

    • Photo: Majid Ahmed

      Majid Ahmed answered on 9 Mar 2016:

      I am going to cheat a little and say two connected words. Mine is a ‘transoesophageal echocardiography’.

      This is an investigation/procedure we sometimes do to look closely at a person’s heart and how it is working.

      ‘Transoesophageal’ means through the oesophagus (food pipe).

      ‘Echocardiography’ refers to using ultrasound to visualise the heart.

      So together, the procedure involves putting an ultrasound probe through someone’s mouth, down their throat and placing it in their oesophagus. The probe sends out ultrasounds waves which are reflected back by the heart and other surrounding tissue and are collected by the probe. A computer is then used to analyse the waves and put the image together so we can see the structure of the person’s heart and see it working live in the body. This is commonly used to assess if someone has damage to their heart, if they have a leak or a hole in their heart or to see how well the heart is filling with blood and pumping it out.

      This is one of the first medical procedures I observed whilst completing some work experience at a hospital when I was in sixth form. It was an amazing experience and inspired me to read more about this procedure and how the heart works and what goes wrong when it doesn’t work properly. It’s a very incredible thing to watch and see live how a heart is working within a person’s chest.

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