New evidence supporting the theory that Botticelli’s Venus died from a pituitary tumour was published on Monday. The Medical Humanities paper published by the BMJ is the third in a series of papers led by Professor Paolo Pozzilli, in which he’s set out his research on the Renaissance aristocrat, Simonetta Vespucci, Sandro Botticelli’s muse, who died at just 23 from suspected tuberculosis.

In one of the largest studies of its kind, surgeons successfully completed 39 complex lateral abdominal wall hernia repairs using robotic surgery, without converting any procedure to open surgery. Most patients returned home after just one day, and no hernias recurred during a median follow-up of approximately 14 months. The approach may offer an important improvement over conventional techniques by giving surgeons greater precision and flexibility in a particularly difficult-to-reach area, while enabling smaller incisions, low postoperative pain, and faster recovery.