Two undergraduate students at Tulane University in New Orleans discovered an anatomical feature that even their professor couldn’t initially identify.Dominic Roy and Cooper Bruce were both 19-year-old college sophomores at the time of the finding in 2024.In an interview with Fox News Digital, Roy said it had been an ordinary day volunteering in the cadaver lab with R.Shane Tubbs, Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery and director of surgical anatomy at Tulane School of Medicine.5 HABITS THAT COULD HELP KEEP YOU OUT OF A NURSING HOME, FROM AN ORTHOPEDIC SURGEONThe students were dissecting several specimens’ hips to compare where the iliacus joins the psoas major, a muscle that runs from the lower back through the pelvis to the upper thigh.Front view of a woman's thigh and knee muscles with anatomical labels.
(iStock)When looking for a particular muscle, the iliocapsularis, which sits laterally in the hip, Roy found something else instead."I spotted a similar looking muscle that was on the other side of the Iliac fascia, close to the inguinal region of the pelvis," he said.WEEKLY WEIGHTLIFTING SWEET SPOT MAY BE LINKED TO LONGER LIFE, STUDY FINDS"I called Dr.Tubbs over and asked, ‘What is this?’ We didn't talk about this in our morning meetings ...
and I think he was as stumped as me."After searching through extensive literature and textbooks to see if the muscle had been previously identified, the team came up short, which suggested it was a new discovery.The new muscle attachment discovered by Tulane undergrad students is illustrated in a diagram.(Tulane University/iStock)"It was kind of like a reserved excitement," Bruce reflected.
"Especially if the great R.Shane Tubbs can't put his finger on exactly what it is."Physicians from overseas and rising medical school students also assisted with the discovery.SIMPLE EXERCISE DONE JUST ONCE A WEEK COULD HELP LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE"Everyone kind of huddled around the same specimen and we started draping and doing the ...