Happy Valentine’s Day?!?!

Look, instead of spending the day messing around on the internet looking for a last minute reprieve, you really need to be out there finding something special for the one you love.  But in the meantime, take a quick science break through space and time to learn a few odd facts about the human Heart.  What is the connection, for example, between deep space and human anatomy?  Begin with the etymology of meteor, a word largely unchanged from its Ancient Greek roots.  Similarly, the word aorta has changed very little since it was coined by no less an authority than Aristotle to describe the largest artery exiting the heart.  Both used the Ancient Greek root aeirein: the word Aristotle formed was aorte meaning literally what is hung up came from the verb aeirein meaning to lift, heave, raise.  In the case of meteor, it meant after, up, over.  Here, it indicates the both the location and function of the aorta-to lift blood up and away from the heart. HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!  Now turn off your computer and go find some chocolate!

GIF of a beating Human Heart courtesy bonafide-v via tumblr.