more finnish

I also met a choir member who's a veterinarian - he does interesting research on stem cells in cow fetuses, but he also told me about how he used to work in a village in Lappland. Which meant he used to be a reindeer vet! How awesome is that? He mostly hung around at slaughtering time to check that the animals were treated well and to give antiparasite drugs to the ones that were going to be released.

Interestingly, a lot of reproductive research happens in vet schools. I learned this in June when I sat in on a couple weeks of a course on reproductive biology, and many of the students were veterinary researchers. It kind of makes sense, when you think about it - breeding animals is really important for agriculture. One dude (a Welsh veterinarian, if anyone's keeping track) worked on cow venereal disease, which can be a big problem for farmers. And, judging by his slides, is totally disgusting.

The other reason reproductive research goes on in vet schools is that it's a heck of a lot easier to do animal research than human research. Yknow, all those pesky ethics and whatnot.