Health
Discover facts about health. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Health
The man who turned a corpse into his bride
Tanzler became obsessed with a young tuberculosis patient and, after she died, exhumed her body. He reconstructed it with wires, rags, and a wax mask, then…
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A penguin study was written in Greek to hide its findings
During an Antarctic expedition, George Murray Levick recorded Adélie penguin sexual behavior that he thought unsuitable for general readers. He used Greek for…
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A psychiatrist tried to remove mental illness with patients' teeth
Henry Cotton believed hidden infections were poisoning the brain, so his treatment program at Trenton included removing teeth and later other organs. His…
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An FDA reviewer blocked Thalidomide from the US market
Dr. Frances Kelsey insisted on evidence that thalidomide was safe for pregnant women, even as the drugmaker pressed for approval. Because she held the…
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How the Ice Bucket Challenge helped find a gene
The challenge raised money for Project MinE’s effort to read and compare thousands of DNA sequences. By searching those data for patterns tied to ALS,…
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Kleine-Levin syndrome causes episodes of extraordinary sleepiness
During episodes lasting days or weeks, a person may sleep for much of each day and wake with confusion or altered behavior. Between episodes, many return to…
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The artificial heart that needed a 400-pound compressor
In 1982, Barney Clark received the Jarvik-7 artificial heart, whose pumping action depended on an external pneumatic driver. Air traveled through tubes from…
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The doctor who mapped the brain with awake patients
Electrical pulses let Penfield briefly activate tiny regions of the brain while patients were awake. When a hand twitched or a patch of skin tingled, he could…
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A contaminated batch turned a TB vaccination campaign into a disaster
In Lübeck in 1930, 251 newborns received BCG contaminated with disease-causing tuberculosis bacteria; 72 died. The vaccine had been prepared in a laboratory…
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A goat-gland salesman built a radio empire
John R. Brinkley promoted transplanting goat tissue as a cure for impotence, then used broadcasting to recruit customers for the bogus treatment. After losing…
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A US study withheld syphilis treatment for decades
From 1932 to 1972, the Tuskegee study followed Black men with syphilis without properly informing them of the study's purpose. Effective penicillin treatment…
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A mysterious epidemic disrupted both sleep and movement
Constantin von Economo described encephalitis lethargica in 1917. Patients could develop profound sleep disturbances and movement problems; some later…
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Coffee enemas became part of an unproven cancer regimen
Max Gerson's treatment combined a strict diet, supplements, and repeated enemas, based on a theory about detoxifying the body. The National Cancer Institute…
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The camera pill that photographs your intestines
Inside the capsule are a camera and flashes; as it passes through the gut, they capture tens of thousands of pictures. Instead of steering a camera through…
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An ice-pick-like tool reached the brain through the eye socket
Walter Freeman promoted transorbital lobotomy, passing an instrument through the thin bone above the eye to cut connections in the frontal brain. The approach…
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The medical student who discovered heparin by accident
In 1916, Jay McLean was looking for pro-coagulants—substances that help blood clot—in canine liver tissue. Instead, the medical student isolated heparin,…
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Burned wartime aircrew founded a club named after their own experimental treatment
Patients treated by plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe formed the Guinea Pig Club in 1941. Reconstructive surgery brought them together; humor and continuing…
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The doctor who injected sheep thyroid into patients
When the thyroid cannot provide enough hormone, the body’s systems slow down and severe hypothyroidism can cause myxedema. In 1891, Murray injected patients…
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The metal machine that breathed for polio patients
Inside the metal chamber, pressure around the patient’s body rose and fell. When it dropped, the chest expanded and pulled air in; when it rose again, the…
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Early stethoscopes turned the body into something doctors could listen through
A simple tube carried internal sounds to one ear, making heartbeat and breathing easier to examine without placing an ear directly on the patient. The…
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The mystery of the colored fibers people find on their skin
The fibers reported with Morgellons may be ordinary clothing fibers trapped in scratched skin. A visible fiber can make a sore seem as if something is growing…
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Why gummy vitamins may leave out key nutrients
A gummy has to hold its shape and stay stable, which can limit how many nutrients—or which forms of them—fit into the recipe. Manufacturers may alter or leave…
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A Nobel Prize once honored an operation that cut brain connections
Egas Moniz shared the 1949 medicine prize for work on prefrontal leucotomy, an early form of lobotomy. It was promoted as a treatment for severe mental…
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What refined sugar sets off inside your body
Your body can use sugar for energy, but a long-term pattern of excess can contribute to problems such as insulin resistance and fatty liver. That’s the less…
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