It was a banner day in the history of American libraries — and in Black history. On May 25, 1926, the New York Public Library announced that it had acquired the celebrated Afro-Latino bibliophile Arturo Schomburg’s collection of more than 4,000 books, manuscripts and other artifacts.
A year earlier, the library had established the first public collection dedicated to Black materials, at its 135th Street branch in Harlem. Now, the branch would be home to a trove of rare items, from some of the earliest books by and about Black people to then-new works of the brewing Harlem Renaissance.
Given that it includes venoms from Australian tarantulas, a Brazilian caterpillar and the lethal funnel-web spider, it might even be considered the most deadly library in the world. But researchers like King and Walker aren’t interested in venoms’ ability to kill.
They want to use it to heal.
As an aspiring medical doctor and avid Doctor Who fan, I found myself wondering about the anatomy and physiology of the Time Lord cardiovascular system. How are the two hearts connected, and how are the heartbeats regulated? How does the Doctor survive centuries without developing age-related heart disease? How could a dual cardiac system have evolved? I had to find out. Unfortunately, Time Lords are difficult to study because of their small population and tendency to show up for appointments in the wrong century. So to answer these questions, I analyzed data on cardiac incidents from 13 seasons of Doctor Who (2005 to 2023), pored over the cardiovascular literature on humans and other species, and consulted various experts in these and related fields. Through my extensive studies, I have developed what I think are plausible answers to my questions about the Time Lord’s two hearts.
The title of Hannah Regel’s assured debut novel presumably alludes to Angela Carter’s description of the potter Michael Cardew as “the last sane man in a crazy world”. Two of Regel’s three female characters are aspiring ceramicists. Neither achieve Cardew’s fame. The Last Sane Woman is a study in artistic endeavour, disappointment and envy.