Mortuary Mnemonics

🕖 Coffee at 7. 🕛 Tea at 12. 🕔 Liquor at 5.Remember your vertebrae with Spine O’Clock: 7 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar. The time gives you the number; the drink gives you the letter. ☕🫖🥃

Remember algor mortis by connecting it to Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth. This quick mnemonic helps you recall how the body acclimates to the ambient temperature after death.

Dendrites draw information in, while axons carry nerve impulses away from the cell body. Use the simple mnemonic “Dendrites Draw In; Axons Away” to remember the direction of neuronal communication for your anatomy exams and National Board preparation.

Differentiate between Biological Vectors and Mechanical Vectors with ease.

Podcast Title: HONC – The Shortcut to Bonding PatternsIn embalming chemistry, we only need to know severalelements and how they interact with each other. For example, how they will bond with one another.  If you’ve ever looked at a chemical structureand thought, how many bonds should this atom make?  There’s a simple mnemonic that can guide youevery time: HONC.H-O-N-C.Each letter represents a common element and the number ofbonds it typically forms.H is 1.O is 2.N is 3.C is 4.That’s it.This comes from the idea of valence electrons, butyou don’t need to get lost in the theory. What matters for us is recognizingpredictable bonding patterns.Hydrogen wants one bond. It’s stable when it shares oneelectron.Oxygen typically forms two bonds. Nitrogen forms three bonds.And carbon forms four bonds. This is why carbon is thebackbone of organic chemistry, it can build complex, stable structures.So when you’re visualizing molecules or thinking about howchemicals interact, HONC gives you a quick mental check.If something looks off—too many or too few bonds—you’llcatch it.In fields like embalming chemistry, where we’re dealing withreactive molecules like formaldehyde, understanding these bonding patternshelps explain how crosslinking happens and why preservation works the way itdoes.So remember:HONC.1, 2, 3, 4.