My Organ Is Bigger Than Your Organ

Progress in clinical dermatology is derived from new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches and requires increased understanding of the cellular and macromolecular basis of physiology and pathophysiology. Researchers are excited and animated by their experiments and data, yet the research literature frequently fails to convey this immediately. Why? In part, the convention and form of scientific journals and the eschewing of speculation make the literature inaccessible to the nonscientist. This section of theArchiveswill select broadly from the research literature relevant to dermatology and will attempt to integrate what is new in the research laboratory with the physicians' knowledge. Readers' comments are solicited. Who cares? I started to care while teaching skin histology to the medical students last month. I was struck that everyone "knew" that the skin was the largest organ of the body; I became concerned that it was hard to identify the source of this knowledge. Proving