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Mikaela Stiver, PhD

@mikaelastiver.bsky.social
500 followers 433 following 88 posts

Anatomist 💀 | Assistant Professor of Teaching at UBC 🤓 | Puppy Lover 🐶 | Gamified Learning Geek 🎲 | Overthinker 🧠 | Anatomy Doodler 🎨 | Views are mine (she/her)

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Reposted by Mikaela Stiver, PhD
Ali Christy, MD, PhD @oligoclonalband.medsky.social · 16/07/2026
It's tomorrow, July 17th! Join us to learn about games, medical education and research, and network with your peers. mededgamer.org/conference-2... @empiricgame.bsky.social @zachlondon.bsky.social @pharmageddon.bsky.social @mikaelastiver.bsky.social @drsarahedwards.bsky.social
GAMER Collaborative 
The 1st Annual Games and Medical Education Research Conference 
July 17, 2026 11-4 EST
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
I come on Bluesky these days less frequently that most first-year university students wash their bed sheets, but I’m popping on today to assure everyone that my dog is still adorable AND she recently made a tiny friend 🐶🌲❤️
Two dogs atop a tree stump in the forest looking toward the right side of the image. The dog (a Yorkshire terrier) on the left is standing and the dog on the right (a very small cavapoo) is lying down.
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Reposted by Mikaela Stiver, PhD
Zach London @zachlondon.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Time to get excited. Like toddler at Disney World excited. CIRCLE OF WILLIS, a board game about vascular anatomy, is here! @befast.bsky.social and I set out to make a #MEdEd game that is more fun than Epcot. Life goal unlocked. Tell your friends and parents! www.neurdgames.com/circle-of-willis
neurdgames.com
CIRCLE OF WILLIS | Cooperative Stroke Vascular Neurology Game
A cooperative set-building game about stroke prevention, neurology, and vascular anatomy.
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
Obligatory first day of work selfie from Wednesday afternoon! 📸✌🏼 It has been a whirlwind of a short week in my new position at UBC and my emotions are an overwhelming mix of excitement + ‘fish out of water’ / imposter syndrome, but I’m going to just keep swimming until it feels like home! 🐟💙
Selfie of a girl with long, light brown hair smiling and wearing a paisley print dress with a white cardigan
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Reposted by Mikaela Stiver, PhD
Zach London @zachlondon.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Excited to announce that our visual fields game, "Field Cut," is a finalist for an educational game award called the Gee! Being a finalist also makes it eligible for their People's Choice Award. Please vote for Field Cut here! www.geeawards.com More on Field Cut: www.neurdgames.com/field-cut
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Reposted by Mikaela Stiver, PhD
Pharmageddon @pharmageddon.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
📢 Update: the Kickstarter for Epipocalypse: Bug Detectives is coming SEPTEMBER 2025. Learn ID epi with a card game! Click to be notified when it launches. Early backers will receive a free Emerging Infections bonus card pack. #IDSky #MedSky #EpiSky www.kickstarter.com/projects/pha...
kickstarter.com
Coming soon: Epipocalypse: Bug Detectives, A Medical Card Game
Learn infectious disease epidemiology through a simple card game. Geography, vectors, reservoirs, and more!
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Last day of work at McGill University was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions 💙 Excited to be starting my next chapter as an Assistant Professor of Teaching at UBC (@ubccps.bsky.social) on July 1st … but first, I have a lot of packing to finish and an overflowing email inbox to attend to 😂🎉
Selfie of a women with brown hair in a pony tail and wearing navy blue scrubs
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Ciao from my little home away from home in Italia! 💚🤍❤️ Looking forward to finally meeting the first year Harvey Med students in person in ~1 week… ma prima, le vacanze!! ✌🏼
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Fresh off the presses!!! 🗞️🧩♟️🎲🎉 doi.org/10.1002/ase.... Part of a Special Issue on Anatomical Engagement & Science Communication… with lots of other great articles that you should also check out! #AnatEd #MedEd #GBL #GamifiedLearning
doi.org
Gamifying anatomy outreach: An underexplored opportunity
This article explores the underutilized potential of incorporating gamified approaches into anatomy outreach initiatives. While gamification and game-based learning approaches have been widely adopte...
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Teeny tiny London wishes everyone on Bluesky a Happy Monday!! ✌🏼🎉🐶
Teeny tiny beige cavapoo lying on a wooden deck looking off in the distance with a pile of snow and metal plant trellis in the background
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Just like that, I have wrapped up the final course I get to coordinate at McGill University! 💔😭 Anatomy for Surgeons (a.k.a., Anatomy for Med-4s Who Love Anatomy) is my FAVOURITE course & it's bittersweet to say goodbye... so obviously I seized one final chance to make silly student certificates 🫀✌🏼
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Got a paper accepted on my (sort of) birthday!!! 🎉🤓🙏🏼 Non-leap years are a bit anticlimactic because my birthday gets a bit forgotten, but I appreciate the universe giving me a little win just the same! Cheers to my co-authors, getting older one quarter birthday at a time, and happy coincidences 🥂
media.tenor.com
a pug dog is looking at a birthday cake with a lit candle
Alt: a pug dog is looking at a birthday cake with a lit candle
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
This has been online for a little while, but I’m so excited to see this scoping review finally published 🎉❤️📝 My first LAST author paper with a couple wonderful students and some of my favourite #GBL friends & collaborators!! @drsarahedwards.bsky.social @empiricgame.bsky.social @tchanmd.bsky.social
journals.lww.com
Analog Serious Games for Medical Education: A Scoping Review : Academic Medicine
rovides recommendations regarding gaps and emerging directions for future research. Method The authors conducted a scoping review following the Arksey and O’Malley framework, searching 3 databases ...
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
It is with IMMENSE pride (& a touch of relief... WOW, drawing histology is more challenging than I imagined) that I share all 105 illustrations I contributed to the first ever Histology Colouring Book, created by Drs. Franz-Odendaal & Pinder 🤩🔬🖍️ histologycoloringbook.com #Histology #AnatEd #MedEd
histologycoloringbook.com
Histology Coloring Book
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
My brilliant med students taught me that in French the pudendal nerve used to be called “nerf honteux”, meaning “shameful/disgraceful nerve” — presumably related to the better known fact that “pudendal” itself is derived from the latin verb pudere = “to be ashamed”! #ValentinesDay anatomy facts ❤️
media.tenor.com
a woman is smiling with the words i learned a thing behind her
ALT: a woman is smiling with the words i learned a thing behind her
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Every time I open the news I want to start sobbing and/or punching pillows, so instead I’m crocheting Woobles cacti and succulent kits, & I hope they will cheer everyone else up a bit too 🌵🪴💚
Three crocheted cacti and a crocheted succulent sitting on a black box in front of an exposed brick wall
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Apropos of nothing 🙄 “large reproductive cell[s]” are called ova, “small reproductive cell[s]” are called sperm (spermatozoa, if you’re fancy), zygotes do not produce either gamete “at conception”, and some people never produce gametes at all… …and that’s just the TIP of the iceberg! 🫠
media.tenor.com
a man with a mustache and a suit says " it 's science "
Alt: GIF of a man with a mustache and a suit (Ron Burgundy) saying "it's science”
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Even pulling super late nights to finish recommendation letters, manuscript reviews, and lecture slides is tolerable with my best friend helping me out 🐶💜
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Yeah that tracks ❤️‍🩹 If at first you don’t succeed… ✌🏼
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Merry Christmas Eve Eve 😉🎄 London and I are spending some quality time in our matching Christmas PJs while watching Richard Osman’s House of Games reruns on YouTube ✌🏼
Brunette woman smiling and holding a small beige dog (specifically a cavapoo) and standing in front of a Christmas tree. They are wearing matching dark green pyjamas with a gingerbread men and candy cane pattern.
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Can we go all in and toss out the term "hysterectomy" while we're at it? 😤✌🏼 Just call it a uterectomy. It's not that hard!!
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Completely inconsequential, I know, but I just need to cry into the Bluesky void so somebody somewhere can hear that I’m REALLY sad I inadvertently broke my Wordle, Connections, and Minute Cryptic streaks!!! 😫 392-day NYT crossword streak still going strong though 🏆
media.tenor.com
a stuffed animal wearing a red sweater and a unicorn hat
Alt: A blue unicorn puppet with a rainbow horn, grey hair, and wearing a red sweater throwing its arms up and down with the caption “ahh, gum drops”
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Reposted by Mikaela Stiver, PhD
Dr Karen Pinder 🇨🇦 🔬 @drkarenpinder.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Hey! I've just realised that I haven't told Blue Sky about our histology colouring book. Made in collaboration w/ Dr Tamara Franz-Odendaal & images by the marvelous Dr @mikaelastiver.bsky.social. Check it out as a visual learning resource for those studying #histology. histologycolouringbook.com 🖍️🔬
histologycolouringbook.com
Histology Coloring Book
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
First test to see if the #anatomy hive mind is alive on Bluesky... Xiphisternal joint ➡️ symphysis or synchondrosis? Moore's says synchondrosis (1º cartilaginous joint; hyaline cartilage) Last's & Gray's for Students say symphysis (2º cartilaginous joint; fibrocartilage) My brain says... HELP!!! 🚨🤯
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
In case you missed your emails, the deadline for abstract submission has been *extended* until December 9th!! 🎉🎉🎉 Please come join us in Portland, OR at the end of March and share your research + if you're into analog educational games, we've got an awesome workshop planned 🤓 🎲 🧩 #Anatomy25
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Last day of undergraduate classes today (AND my last time teaching the Clinical Neuroanatomy course I love so much 💔🧠), so I went all out with mini pre-exam care packages for my students — complete with encourage-mints, positivi-tea, stickers, and a little hand written note (among other goodies) 🍬
Hand holding three small plastic bags with chocolates, hard fruit candies, mint lifesaver candies, tea, dog stickers, and colourful note paper inside. The background is a slightly out of focus empty dry lab space.
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Thank goodness my mom was able to snag me a copy in the states because international shipping is absurdly expensive 😳 Saving this for the holidays 🎄🧩
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
I have a new hobby… 3D cryptic crossword puzzles!! 🤓🧩 Why? Because I’m still pretty terrible at cryptic crosswords, but something about doing them in 3D just hurts my brain in the most satisfying way 🧠 Join me in my weird midlife crisis: 3dcalendarpuzzles.co.uk/puzzles/puzz...
Picture of the February 2024 3D cryptic crossword from “3D Calendar Puzzles” featuring a 6-tier crossword grid on the left and a photo of something strange and electrical in the background… sorry, I don’t know what it is yet because that’s part of the puzzle 😂
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
My Friday night musings are centred around realizing that I have exactly two approaches to drinking tea: 1) Gulping it all down within 2–3 minutes, usually resulting in a burnt palate 🥵 2) Making a lovely cup and promptly forgetting about it until it’s freezing cold 🥶
media.tenor.com
a woman is sitting at a table with a cup of tea and a bag of tea .
Alt: GIF of April Ludgate from Parks and Recreation sitting at a desk. She is staring forward without blinking while repeatedly dipping a teabag in and out of a takeout cup.
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Reposted by Mikaela Stiver, PhD
Pharmageddon @pharmageddon.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Reminder: Students get 33% off a copy of Pharmageddon: Bugs vs Drugs the antibiotic and microbiology card game. Tell all your new #IDSky #MedSky friends! labbeaglegames.com/student-disc...
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Bluesky neuroanatomy & neurology nerds 🧠👀 We don't have an account for the Global Neuroanatomy Network (GNN) on here *yet*, but please come check it out! 🌎🌍🌏 The GNN is an online resource repository & community of practice for neuroanatomy educators — new member applications are ALWAYS welcome!
globalneuronetwork.org
Global Neuroanatomy Network | Resources For Educators
A global community of practice for neuroanatomy educators to exchange educational resources, ideas, activities, and more.
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Reposted by Mikaela Stiver, PhD
Claudia Krebs @claudiakrebs.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
New podcast on Body Banter: The intersection of Art and Science with Chris Smith bodybanter.ca
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Reposted by Mikaela Stiver, PhD
Teresa Chan @tchanmd.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Hey all: I created a new starter pack for #MedEd enthusiasts! If you know of anyone missing, I’ll add you or them until we get to 150 - just reply to this message! go.bsky.app/8hfHZr
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
The vestibulocochlear nerve always struck me as the neuroanatomical version of a BOGO sale ✌🏼 Enjoy this neuroanatomy Pokémon-inspired cranial nerve card for the "inner ear dream team" — a.k.a. CN VIII Print-on-demand copies available from The Game Crafter: www.thegamecrafter.com/games/crania...
Image of the Pokémon-inspired vestibulocochlear nerve card with yellow borders and teal background.

Vestibulocochlear Cranial Nerve Card (HP 120; Type: Sensory)

Line drawing of vestibulocochlear nerves highlighted in teal on ventral aspect of brainstem

Special Sensory Nerve.
Exit from Skull: Internal Acoustic Meatus

Rapid Spin: Get that endolymph flowing in your semicircular ducts
(+10 for each oculomotor, abducens, or trochlear in play)
Melodious Sound: Convert mechanical vibrations to electrical signals and let the music move you

Strength: 
⚖️ = sensing balance and equilibrium
🎵 = hearing melodious music

Weakness:
💎 = displacement of the calcium carbonate crystals (statoconia), such as in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
📣 = loud sounds → transient or permanent damage to hair cells

"Central processes of bipolar neurons with peripheral process extending to the vesibulocochlear organ" a.k.a. inner ear dream team; CN VIII
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
“We like to think of gamification as a hat … the hat can be worn by many different people with little or no modification.” Peep the Virtual Issue we compiled in @asmeofficial.bsky.social Medical Education! @drsarahedwards.bsky.social @empiricgame.bsky.social @tchanmd.bsky.social
asmepublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Games in Health Professions Education: Medical Education
Medical Education is the leading international journal publishing research concerning health professional education.
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Reposted by Mikaela Stiver, PhD
WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 18/11/2024
This is Fred. He just found out he can chew his own ear. There aren't actually any rules against it, he checked. 12/10
a small, wrinkly basset hound puppy with droopy eyes sits on a collection of fuzzy blankets. his brown ears are each the length of his body, one hanging on the right side of his head, the other delicately in his mouth as he chews on the corner of it. this is a game changer.
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
*POKE* 🫵🏼 Which cranial nerves are involved in the corneal blink reflex? Check out these next two cards in my Pokémon-inspired cranial nerve #neuroanatomy series! Alt text has decoded emoji strengths & weaknesses. Hard copies: www.thegamecrafter.com/games/crania... DM or email for digital copies!
Image of the Pokémon-inspired trigeminal nerve card with yellow borders and yellow background.

Trigeminal Cranial Nerve Card (HP 300; Type: Both)

Line drawing of trigeminal nerves highlighted in yellow on lateral aspect of the pons

Mixed Nerve.
Exit from Skull: Superior Orbital Fissure, Foramen Rotundum, & Foramen Ovale

Triple Threat: Ophthalmic and maxillary and mandibular, oh my! A triad destined for cephalic sensory domination
Bite: Engages a tetrad of masticatory muscles to unleash colossal jaw clenching capabilities!

Strength: 
👄 = chewing → muscles of mastication
😱 = carrying somatic sensation from the face → I CAN feel my face because of you!

Weakness:
⁉️ = idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia
🪨 = head trauma or acoustic neuroma… your choice!

"Prominent protrusions from the pons relaying a complex network of afferent and efferent fibers throughout the head" a.k.a. the trifecta; CN VImage of the Pokémon-inspired facial nerve card with yellow borders and purple background.

Facial Cranial Nerve Card (HP 150; Type: Both)

Line drawing of facial nerves highlighted in purple on lateral aspects of pontomedullary junction from

Mixed Nerve.
Exit from Skull: Internal Acoustic Meatus

Scary Face: Seemingly endless combinations of terrifying faces to pull at your discretion... To Zanzibar By Motor Car!
Puppet Master: Show those preganglionic parasympathetics some respect! (+30 if trigeminal is in play for postganglionic pathways)

Strength: 
🥴 = making silly faces → muscles of facial expression
👅 = carrying taste sensation from the anterior 2/3 of the tongue

Weakness:
🦠 = viral infection affecting CN VII leading to facial paralysis
🔪 = damage during surgery → at risk during some common cosmetic
and otolaryngologic procedures 

"Motor and sensory roots with a lengthy intraosseous path punctuated by a geniculum in the temporal bone" a.k.a. empress of expression; CN VII
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Sundays, amirite? 💤 Teeny tiny London is ready for another nap, and so am I!
Small beige cavapoo lying on a light pink and beige blanket in front of an exposed brick wall out of focus in the background. She is looking absolutely adorable and rather sleepy at the same time!
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Next up in the cranial nerve #neuroanatomy Pokémon card series, here are CN III, IV, & VI — everyone's favourite extraocular muscle threesome! Alt text includes decoded emoji strengths & weaknesses... I'm particularly proud of CN III 🍓 Grab a physical copy: www.thegamecrafter.com/games/crania...
Image of the Pokémon-inspired oculomotor nerve card with yellow borders and orange background.

Oculomotor Cranial Nerve Card (HP 80; Type: Motor)

Line drawing of oculomotor nerves highlighted in orange on the ventral surface of the brainstem

Motor Nerve.
Exit from Skull: Superior Orbital Fissure

Sunny Day*: Sun in your eyes? Pupillary reflex to the rescue! *Must be played with optic for the afferent reflex limb
Hypnosis: Spin your eyeballs round and round... don't get dizzy (+20 if both trochlear & abducens are also in play)

Strength: 
🙄 = rolling the eyes → innervating 5 out of 7 extraocular muscles
😳 = opening the eyes wide thanks to levator palpebrae superioris (+ imagine pupil constriction & ciliary muscle activity)

Weakness:
🤕 = trauma (usually involving moderate to severe head injuries)
🍓 = susceptibility to compression by saccular (a.k.a., berry) aneurysms

"Efferent nerve arising from the interpeduncular fossa, traversing the cavernous sinus on its way to the orbit" a.k.a. king of eyeball action; CN IIIImage of the Pokémon-inspired trochlear nerve card with yellow borders and pink background.

Trochlear Cranial Nerve Card (HP 15; Type: Motor)

Line drawing of trochlear nerves highlighted in pink

Motor Nerve.
Exit from Skull: Superior Orbital Fissure

Ego Boost: You may be small, but you are mighty!! Go get 'em tiger! (just roll with it... trochlear has a serious inferiority complex)
Assist: There is no "eye" in team! +5 for every other cranial nerve in play that innervates extraocular muscles

Strength: 
🔄 = primary action of SO → intorsion 
⬇️ = secondary action of SO → depression

Weakness:
🧬 = mutations leading to a neoplasm
🔨 = head trauma (in fairness, I don’t think any nerves would fare well against a hammer!)

"Smallest cranial nerve, emerging from the dorsal midbrain to carry somatic motor innervation to the superior oblique" a.k.a. the wee one; CN IVImage of the Pokémon-inspired abducens nerve card with yellow borders and green background.

Abducens Cranial Nerve Card (HP 15; Type: Motor)

Line drawing of abducens nerves highlighted in green on ventral aspect of brainstem

Motor Nerve.
Exit from Skull: Superior Orbital Fissure

Scathing Side-eye*: The soul-crushing power of passive-aggressive disapproval *Must be played with oculomotor due to yolked movement
Assist: There is no "eye" in team! +5 for every other cranial nerve in play that innervates extraocular muscles

Strength: 
⬅️ 🙂 ➡️ = abduction (+ important role of the CN VI nuclei in horizontal gaze coordination)

Weakness:
🤯 = susceptibility to elevated intracranial pressure due to its lengthy intracranial path
🌡️ = inflammatory conditions or lesions

"Somatic motor fibers travelling from the pontomedullary junction to the orbit & boasting the longest intracranial course" a.k.a. lover's nerve; CN VI
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Missing your daily fill of #neuroanatomy? Look no further: bsky.app/profile/did:... Tags for included posts: #neuroanatomy / neuroanatomy (with or without #) #brain 🧠👀 (no spaces) (@markrubin.bsky.social, perhaps you could add to your science feed master list? 🤞🏼)
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
#ITeachAnatomy #AnatomyEdu #AnatomyTeacher Nearly 1/3 full already (with current 150 cap)!!! ⬇️⬇️⬇️ P.S. all of the tags above also link to @rachaeldoor.bsky.social’s “I Teach Anatomy” feed: bsky.app/profile/did:...
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
New platform, new opportunity to show off my Pokémon-inspired cranial nerve cards 🧠🤓 Each card includes cryptic "strengths" & weaknesses" (perhaps better described as “stuff they help us do” & “stuff that might hurt / damage them in some manner”) as emojis... can you decode them? #neuro #anatomy
Image of the Pokémon-inspired olfactory nerve card with yellow borders and purple background.

Olfactory Cranial Nerve Card (HP 60; Type: Sensory)

Line drawing of olfactory tracts & bulbs highlighted in purple on the ventral surface of the brain

Special Sensory Nerve.
Exit from Skull: Foramina of the Cribriform Plate

Odour Sleuth: Inhale through nose & let the action (potentials) unfold!
Memory Boost: Unlock latent memories using associated olfactory cues (along with activation of the olfactory cortices, amygdala, & hippocampus)

Strength: 
🌼 = smelling beautiful flowers
🍿 = smelling delicious food

Weakness:
💩 = smelling not so lovely smells
🥊 = head / face trauma → shearing of olfactory nerves passing through the foramina of the cribriform plate

"Bundles of bipolar neurons in the nasal mucosa stimulated by olfactory stimuli & synapsing in the olfactory bulb" a.k.a. nose cave stink sensor; CN IImage of the Pokémon-inspired optic nerve card with yellow borders and light blue background.

Optic Cranial Nerve Card (HP 120; Type: Sensory)

Line drawing of optic nerves (cut), chiasm, and tracts highlighted in dark blue on the ventral surface of the brain

Special Sensory Nerve.
Exit from Skull: Optic Canal

Foresight: Sight in the forward direction... and a little to the side
Binocular Vision*: Double the input, double the fun; wider visual field, depth perception, and more! *Two optic cards must be played together

Strength: 
🌈 = seeing all the lovely colours of the visible spectrum
🔍 = carrying information regarding spatial and temporal resolution

Weakness:
☀️ = bright light → burning retinas
🤒 = optic neuritis → sometimes linked to infections like Lyme disease

"Convergence of retinal ganglion cells travelling to the lateral geniculate nuclei with a chiasm en route" a.k.a. eyeball information highway; CN II
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
Where are all my #anatomy & #physiology education people at?! I created an “Anatomy & Physiology Educators” starter pack: go.bsky.app/CEaup1 Comment below to be added & share widely!! 🫀🧠🔬
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
Genuinely questioning how I ever ended up with >7K followers on the bird app since I mostly just share anatomy doodles & nerdy musings… Anyhow, here’s a picture of teeny tiny London in her skeleton Halloween costume! 🥹💀 Also, are hashtags a thing here?
Small beige dog dressed in a skeleton onesie (black with white bones) standing on a carpet with her favourite rope toy in front of her
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
In an effort to slowly rebuild my network & community over here, I’m hoping this recent project with which I was involved will help me find my people 🥰 Do you like histology?🔬 Do you also enjoy colouring?🖍️ Then you’re going to LOVE the Histology Colouring Book! 📖❤️ histologycoloringbook.com
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 08/11/2023
Had a tough day, but at least no one dressed me up in a dinosaur costume against my will… right, London?? 😉🦖🐶
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 05/11/2023
We found a textbook Tetralogy of Fallot in the anatomy lab on Friday which was SUPER cool — no signs whatsoever of surgical repair & the individual was over 80 years old when they passed away! But I don’t want to use the eponym, so what could be a descriptive alternative? 🤔🫀
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 15/10/2023
Wishing you all a wonderful World Anatomy Day! 🌎💀 Today marks the anniversary of Andreas Vesalius's death in 1564 — a man who made tremendous contributions to the discipline of anatomy in his day & is highly regarded for his detailed dissections that transformed our understanding of the field!
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Mikaela Stiver, PhD @mikaelastiver.bsky.social · 14/10/2023
Probably time to introduce myself, eh? I’m Mikaela! An Assistant Professor at McGill University teaching anatomy with a focus on neuroanatomy 🫀🧠 I am a passionate educator with a love for game-based learning! Check out my Pokémon-inspired cranial nerve cards: www.thegamecrafter.com/games/crania...
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