Health
Discover facts about health. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Health
Your eyes read in jumps, not a smooth sweep
Quick movements called saccades carry your gaze between brief pauses on the page. Much of the useful visual information comes during those pauses. Reading…
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Pizza Hut was once a major buyer of kale
Pizza Hut bought plenty of kale before it was trendy, but not for people’s plates. Its job was to make the salad bar look full and fresh—a leafy prop, not a…
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Why rocking can put adults to sleep
Slow, gentle rocking can line up with the brain's natural rhythms and help some adults drift toward sleep. The motion gives the brain a steady beat to follow,…
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The diet that asks adults to eat baby food
The appeal is that baby food seems simple and portion-controlled; the catch is that those portions are made for babies, not adult appetites. Small servings…
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Random acts of kindness can give you a helper’s high
Helping someone can activate the brain’s reward systems, the same machinery that helps make other rewarding experiences feel good. So the good feeling after a…
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A fourth cone type could reveal colors others cannot separate
Most human color vision compares signals from three types of cone cell. Some women have the genetic potential for a fourth, and researchers have identified…
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Honey carries a special risk before a baby's first birthday
Honey can contain botulism spores that grow in an infant's intestine and produce a dangerous toxin. This is why the CDC advises against giving any honey to…
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Base pairs actively hold your DNA together
Each DNA strand carries bases that pair with matching bases on the other strand: A pairs with T, and C with G. Their hydrogen bonds act like small…
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Novocain completely revolutionized dental pain relief
Novocain was the brand name for procaine, a local anesthetic introduced in 1905. By interrupting pain signals in a limited area, it offered dentists an…
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A treadmill leaves out some of the air you push through outdoors
A 1996 study found that a 1% incline best matched outdoor running's energy cost across the tested speeds in nine trained runners. The incline adds work to…
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Freezer burn permanently alters the texture of food
Freezer air is dry, so moisture can leave exposed food and collect elsewhere as ice. The surface dries out into tough, pale patches that affect flavor and…
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Why red leaves a cyan ghost on a white wall
After you stare at red, the eye’s red-sensitive cone cells respond less strongly for a short time. On a white wall, the other color signals then carry more…
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Endoplasmic reticulum is a folded maze
Those folds aren’t decoration: they create a sprawling membrane network where the cell assembles and packages proteins. The endoplasmic reticulum is so…
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Most genetic mutations remain completely silent and harmless
Most genetic changes never make a noticeable difference because many do not alter how a protein works, or affect a part of DNA that changes nothing obvious.…
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The explosive chemical that can help your heart
Nitroglycerin is used in both dynamite and heart medicine, but in the body it relaxes the muscles in blood vessel walls. Wider vessels ease the heart's…
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Sauna suits make you lose water, not fat
A sauna suit traps heat, so your body sweats to cool itself. The lost water can make you weigh less for a while, but it is fluid—not fat—and it returns when…
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When dentists were treated as uneducated tradesmen
For centuries, many physicians treated dental work as beneath a doctor’s status and left it to tradesmen. Some tooth-pullers worked in public squares, where…
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Autonomic systems control you without permission
Your autonomic nervous system sends signals that control automatic jobs such as sweating and widening or narrowing your pupils. Those changes happen without…
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Why sitting in nature can lower your stress
Trees give your eyes, ears, and attention a different set of things to take in than a busy street or screen. That quieter sensory setting can ease the body’s…
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Stomach sits entirely confined to the left abdominal side
Most of your stomach sits on the left, but it curves inward toward the center of your abdomen. That’s why a simple left-side label is close, not exact: the…
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Pinching your nose blocks the escape route for a hum
With your lips closed, air and sound normally pass through your nose. Pinch it shut as well and pressure builds, so a normal sustained hum quickly stops. You…
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An elderberry recipe depends on more than identifying the berry
Elderberry species and plant parts differ in their levels of compounds that can release cyanide. Leaves, stems, and unripe fruit can be especially…
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Cutting the umbilical cord doesn't hurt
The umbilical cord has no pain-sensing nerve endings, so cutting the cord itself sends no pain signal to the newborn. The cut separates the cord; it does not…
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Hospital patients with a tree view recovered differently
A 1984 study compared 23 surgical patients facing trees with 23 matched patients facing a brick wall. The tree-view group had shorter stays and used fewer…
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