Health
Discover facts about health. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Health
Early syringes used hollow bird feathers
If you think modern needles are terrifying, you would not have survived historical medicinal practices. Before the invention of the sleek metallic hypodermic…
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Teenager Chester Greenwood invented fuzzy winter muffs
The absolute pinnacle of cold-weather accessory fashion was dreamt up by a freezing fifteen-year-old in Maine. In 1873, Chester Greenwood grew completely…
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Your loofah is probably a dried gourd
Most people happily scrubbing away in the shower assume they are using some sort of synthetic mesh or a creature harvested from the deep sea. In reality,…
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Ancient Egyptians used copper tweezers
The painful pursuit of the perfect brow is a tradition that dates back thousands of years. Artifacts from predynastic Egypt reveal that early citizens used…
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Filthy contact lens cases are never replaced on time
The tiny plastic containers holding your fragile optical lenses are a massive source of unspeakable grime. Experts universally scream that these cases must be…
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When washing machines could trap your fingers
The transition from agonizing hand-washing to electric appliances was paved with terrible household accidents. Early mechanical washers featured exposed…
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Benjamin Franklin grew tired of swapping spectacles
One of history's most prominent inventors completely revolutionized eyewear simply out of sheer annoyance. In the 1780s, Franklin became overwhelmingly…
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Noise-canceling headphones were invented for pilots
The sleek gadgets that let you ignore your coworkers on a busy train were originally developed out of pure auditory desperation. In the 1980s, airplane cabins…
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How Turkish baths gave us fluffy towels
Drying off used to involve scraping a flat, completely non-absorbent piece of linen aggressively against yourself. It wasn't until the Ottoman Empire…
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Why airlines made sleep masks popular
Putting a tiny, claustrophobic curtain over your eyes wasn't a common household practice until commercial aviation made travel completely unbearable. In the…
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Why the eye doctor keeps asking one or two
The massive, intimidating machine that swings in front of your face during an exam looks like a prop from a sci-fi movie. Known as a phoropter, this heavy…
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When doctors refused to wash their hands
When a brilliant nineteenth-century physician finally suggested doctors should wash their hands after handling corpses, the medical establishment lost its…
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Ticks transmit Lyme disease primarily as nymphs
You might think spotting an eight-legged parasite on your hiking gear is easy, until you realize the deadliest ones are the size of a poppy seed. During their…
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Dust mites trigger widespread indoor allergies
That mysterious irritation making you constantly sneeze in your own bedroom is not actually the harmless gray fluff under the bed. You are aggressively…
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Polio once surged during summer
Before a miraculous vaccine arrived, the absolute worst time to be a child was during the hottest, most carefree months of the year. While most respiratory…
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Why relying on corn caused pellagra
When European settlers enthusiastically adopted a foreign crop, they arrogantly ignored the traditional processing methods used by indigenous cultures. By…
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Scurvy killed more sailors than enemy fire
For centuries, the absolute greatest threat to the mighty empires of the sea was a pathetic lack of citrus fruits. Sailors were entirely fine surviving…
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Most people are naturally resistant to leprosy
Historical texts love to portray this ancient affliction as something you catch just by looking at an infected person incorrectly. In reality, over…
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Norovirus may take only 10 particles
Most diseases require a massive microscopic army to successfully breach human defenses and establish a miserable foothold. This wildly contagious…
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How iodized salt stopped goiters
One of the most successful public health initiatives in modern history simply involved sprinkling a microscopic amount of a trace element into a universal…
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Zika virus was identified in the nineteen forties
When this terrifying mosquito-borne illness sparked a massive global panic a few years ago, the media treated it like a brand new apocalyptic menace. In…
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The hidden slime inside restaurant ice machines
Patrons constantly worry about undercooked poultry, but the most dangerous item in a commercial kitchen is quietly humming in the corner. Because employees…
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Why rabies is almost always fatal after symptoms
Nature crafted a spectacularly terrifying virus that boasts an almost unblemished kill streak once the initial warning signs show up. If you get bitten by an…
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How Florence Nightingale made statistics impossible to ignore
The patron saint of nursing realized early on that politicians are far too lazy to read massive blocks of medical text. To prove that horrific sanitation was…
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