Health
Discover facts about health. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Health
Your skeleton is a construction site that never closes.
Your skeleton is a construction site that never closes. Bone combines collagen, which contributes flexibility, with mineral that supplies hardness. Cells…
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Your cells carry a second, much smaller genome.
Your cells carry a second, much smaller genome. Mitochondria retain a small set of DNA alongside the much larger genome in the cell nucleus. It is a legacy of…
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Your body emits visible light far too faint for your eyes to detect.
Your body emits visible light far too faint for your eyes to detect. Chemical reactions in cells release tiny amounts of energy as photons, which highly…
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The front of your eye gets oxygen through your tears.
The front of your eye gets oxygen through your tears. A healthy cornea has no blood vessels running through its clear central tissue. When the eye is open,…
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A gut treatment can transplant an entire microbial community.
A gut treatment can transplant an entire microbial community. For recurrent C. difficile infection, medically prepared donor-derived microbiota can help…
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Face mites turned the human follicle into a permanent home.
Face mites turned the human follicle into a permanent home. Demodex folliculorum spends much of its life inside hair follicles, feeding and reproducing in…
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A study tested sex as a nasal decongestant
Researchers measured breathing through the nose before and after sex ending in orgasm. In the small study, participants with obstruction showed temporary…
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Body temperature turned up as a clue in a longevity study
Researchers examining men in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging found that lower body temperature was associated with longer survival, alongside other…
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A tiny scratch can make your eye feel as if something is still stuck in it
The cornea's sensitive surface can keep producing that gritty feeling after the object is gone. Minor abrasions often heal within a few days, but pain alone…
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Your brain notices when your body fluids become too concentrated
Water loss changes the balance between water and dissolved substances, helping trigger thirst. Drinking then brings in water to restore that balance. The…
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Ice baths can ease soreness while blunting muscle growth
Feeling less sore and adapting to training are not the same outcome. Studies of regular cold-water immersion after strength workouts have found reduced…
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The swallowed-spiders story survives without a recorded meal
The Burke Museum's arachnologist notes that the familiar claim about swallowing several spiders a year has no scientific or medical record behind it. Yet…
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A standing desk changes your posture more than your calorie budget
Standing generally uses only a little more energy than sitting, while walking demands substantially more. So replacing a chair with a standing desk is not the…
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Detox teas are often just expensive laxatives
Laxatives make the bowel move faster, so more water leaves the body in stool. Any quick drop on the scale is mostly fluid—not a cleanse or lasting loss of…
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Expired sunscreen may be little more than lotion
Over time, sunscreen’s protective ingredients can break down or stop staying evenly mixed. An expired bottle may still feel like lotion on your skin, but it…
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SPF 30 and 50 look closer when you count blocked UVB
In ideal testing, SPF 30 filters roughly 97% of UVB and SPF 50 about 98%. The difference looks small as blocked radiation, but the amount getting through…
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Sunscreen is a surprisingly recent invention
Early attempts to protect skin from ultraviolet light included exploring UV-blocking paste for soldiers, while beachgoers often went without protection.…
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When jogging looked suspicious
Today, a runner on the sidewalk barely draws a glance; a few decades ago, the same sight could attract police attention. Jogging hadn’t yet become a normal…
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A tracker can read your pulse well and still misjudge calories
In a Stanford study of seven devices, heart-rate measurements were much more accurate than estimates of energy expenditure. Calories aren't directly sensed at…
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Sixty eight years of pure agony
The documented case involved a farmer whose chest spasms continued for more than six decades.
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Why standing desks can trade back pain for foot pain
Standing still keeps the same muscles and joints bearing your weight without much relief or movement. On a hard floor, that steady load can leave your feet…
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Humans smear greasy lotions to avoid sun radiation
Sunscreen leaves a layer on the skin because that layer helps reduce how much of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation reaches it. Some formulas feel thick or look…
Discover moreBritish medical facilities deliberately unleash thousands of hungry green bottle fly maggots onto necrotic diabetic foot ulcers because these sterilized insects secrete…
Welcome to modern medicine, where we've successfully looped right back to medieval insect therapy to save limbs. When pathogenic bacteria infect a chronic…
Discover moreItalian grandmother Letizia Marsili and her entire family possess a highly coveted genetic mutation deactivating the Nav1.7 sodium channel, rendering them completely immune to…
While the rest of us are popping ibuprofen for a paper cut, an entire Italian family is walking around completely immune to broken bones. Precision pain…
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