Season 2, Episode 17: Circuitry Part 1 - Heart

The complexity of the human body makes it perfect fodder for analogies and metaphors to explain its workings. The urinary tract removes liquid waste, gaining its analogy to plumbing and urologists as plumbers. The muscles and bones of the skeletal system are not unlike the beams and girders of a building, resulting in orthopedists being called carpenters.  All of which begs the question: Who are the electricians, and what body system do they manage? It turns out that our body’s electrochemical circuitry is quite complex and only recently understood well enough that it could be manipulated. The next two episodes will address two distinct circuitry problems managed by different specialists. This episode will address diseases of the heart circuitry, which result in abnormal heart rhythms like atrial fibrillation.