This is part one of C2ST Artist in Residence, Aaron Freeman’s talk with the Field Museum’s Dr. Paula Skye Tallman. Dr. Tallman is a biological anthropologist. I chat with her to follow up on her 1 September presentation at a Speakeasy in Wicker Park, Geek Bar sponsored by members of The Chicago Council on Science and Technology. Dr. Tallman talks about “How Being Poor Can Make You Sick.”

We really do have heartstrings. They’re called the chordae tendinae. Our hearts have four chambers. Two at the top and two the bottom. The two top chambers, the atria, collect blood. The right atrium gets oxygen-poor blood from the from the veins which is then sucked through three-leaf valve into the right ventricle then pumped into the lungs. The left atrium receives oxygen-rich blood from the lungs that blood gets sucked through a two-leaf valve into the left ventricle which pumps it, all rich and oxygenated, into the aorta and throughout the body. Helping to prevent the blood from regurgitating from either ventricle back into either atria are the chordae tendinae, our heart strings. As suspension lines help a parachute stay properly shaped to mechanically resist the downward pull of gravity the chordae tendinae help heart valves resist the upward pressure of the ventricles. When we are stimulated, our hearts beat faster and harder tugging ever more on our heartstrings.