Health
Discover facts about health. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Health
Your skin keeps replacing itself—and some of it becomes dust.
Your skin keeps replacing itself—and some of it becomes dust. Cells from the skin's outer layer loosen and shed as new ones take their place. Some flakes…
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Broken heart syndrome is a physical heart problem.
Broken heart syndrome is a physical heart problem. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy can follow intense emotional or physical stress, temporarily weakening part of the…
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Daylight helps tell your brain when the day has started.
Daylight helps tell your brain when the day has started. Light-sensitive cells in the retina send timing information to the brain's body-clock system. That…
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A banana contains serotonin, but the brain has a border.
A banana contains serotonin, but the brain has a border. Serotonin is present in bananas, yet that molecule cannot simply cross from the blood into the brain.…
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Chewing gum can affect different kinds of attention differently.
Chewing gum can affect different kinds of attention differently. One experiment compared ordinary gum, tasteless gum, mimed chewing, and no chewing. Sustained…
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In mice, stress depleted the cells that keep hair colored.
In mice, stress depleted the cells that keep hair colored. Researchers found that intense stress activated nerves that released norepinephrine around hair…
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Bright light can set off a sneeze in some people.
Bright light can set off a sneeze in some people. The photic sneeze reflex links a sudden change in light with a response usually associated with irritation…
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A long day awake can impair you like alcohol on performance tests.
A long day awake can impair you like alcohol on performance tests. Studies summarized by NIOSH compare about 17 hours awake with impairment seen around a…
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Teratomas are horrifying, albeit fascinating, types of tumors that can spontaneously grow hair, muscle tissue, bone, and even fully formed teeth inside your body.
Teratomas are horrifying, albeit fascinating, types of tumors that can spontaneously grow hair, muscle tissue, bone, and even fully formed teeth inside your…
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Wartime Britain turned carrots into a night-vision sales pitch.
Wartime Britain turned carrots into a night-vision sales pitch. Government publicity promoted the vegetable while stories credited carrots with helping pilots…
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One hiccup theory reaches back to gill breathing.
One hiccup theory reaches back to gill breathing. A hiccup combines an involuntary breathing-muscle contraction with a sudden closure at the voice box.…
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Prolonged sitting fundamentally alters your cellular metabolism and significantly increases your risk of premature death even if you religiously go to the gym for an hour every…
Prolonged sitting fundamentally alters your cellular metabolism and significantly increases your risk of premature death even if you religiously go to the gym…
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Your nerves help wrinkle your fingers in water.
Your nerves help wrinkle your fingers in water. Signals from the autonomic nervous system narrow blood vessels beneath the fingertips, changing the tissue's…
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Humans have an oxygen-saving diving response.
Humans have an oxygen-saving diving response. During breath-holding and facial immersion, heart rate can slow while blood vessels in the limbs narrow,…
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CPR buys time when the heart stops pumping.
CPR buys time when the heart stops pumping. Chest compressions keep some blood moving to the brain and heart while emergency help and a defibrillator are…
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Much of the mass of burned body fat leaves through your lungs.
Much of the mass of burned body fat leaves through your lungs. Breaking down stored fat produces carbon dioxide and water, so atoms that were part of your…
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Your jaw turns a small space into a powerful crushing machine.
Your jaw turns a small space into a powerful crushing machine. The masseter and other jaw muscles pull through the leverage of the mandible, concentrating…
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A year of aerobic exercise changed a memory region in older adults.
A year of aerobic exercise changed a memory region in older adults. In a randomized trial of 120 older people, the exercise group increased hippocampal volume…
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Music can change your pulse—and the pause can change it too.
Music can change your pulse—and the pause can change it too. In a small study of musicians and non-musicians, faster music increased measures such as heart…
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Saliva helps turn food into a signal your tongue can read.
Saliva helps turn food into a signal your tongue can read. Dissolved molecules reach taste receptors, which respond to qualities such as sweetness, saltiness,…
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A fever turns up your body's thermostat.
A fever turns up your body's thermostat. Immune signals can tell the hypothalamus, a temperature-regulating region of the brain, to aim higher. You may shiver…
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Remembering is closer to rebuilding than replaying.
Remembering is closer to rebuilding than replaying. When you recall an event, the brain pieces it together rather than opening a flawless recording. Later…
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Consuming refined sugar triggers the exact same reward pathways in your brain as illicit narcotics, flooding your entire nervous system with dopamine.
Consuming refined sugar triggers the exact same reward pathways in your brain as illicit narcotics, flooding your entire nervous system with dopamine. The…
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An apple and a coffee provide two different kinds of wake-up.
An apple and a coffee provide two different kinds of wake-up. An apple supplies carbohydrate that your body can use as fuel. Caffeine stimulates the nervous…
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