Health
Discover facts about health. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Health
Why healthy tonsils were removed from millions of children
Tonsils are immune tissue at the back of the throat, where they encounter germs entering through the mouth and nose. For decades, doctors sometimes removed…
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Total blindness isn’t the same as seeing black
Black is still something a sighted person sees; an absence of visual experience is different. Someone with no visual perception need not experience a…
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Inventing confusing medical jargon to intimidate patients
A clinician may use a technical term as shorthand; a patient may hear a word with no clear meaning. When the explanation stops at the label, even a…
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Sweating uncontrollably when slightly nervous
Emotional stress can tell sweat glands to get to work, even when the stress is just a casual conversation. The body reacts to feeling watched or uneasy, not…
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How you can suddenly become allergic to a familiar food
Your immune system can learn to treat a food protein as a threat even after years of eating it safely. Once sensitized, it may react the next time that…
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The surprising story behind daily flossing
The pitch for daily flossing has sometimes outrun the evidence behind its broadest health claims. Floss can still dislodge food between teeth; the surprising…
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Why hair gains can vanish when treatment stops
Some topical hair treatments keep follicles producing hair while you use them. When you stop, that support is gone, and hairs that depended on it can shed—so…
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Using a mobile application to remember to drink water
A reminder app moves the prompt from your memory to your phone: an alert arrives when it’s time to think about drinking water. The notification can cue the…
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Wearing fake spectacles to stop computer induced headaches
Tinted nonprescription lenses can make monitor glare less bothersome for some office workers. But screens emit negligible amounts of harsh rays, so the…
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Stretching can change what your body tolerates
Improved flexibility is partly about becoming more tolerant of the tension at the end of a movement. Changes in stiffness and, with some training, muscle…
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Hair continues to grow after you get a terrible cut
Hair keeps growing after a bad cut because the follicle is still producing it beneath the skin. The cut end is just the exposed tip of the strand; trimming it…
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Why your collarbones break so easily
Your collarbone sits close to the skin and connects your breastbone to your shoulder. When you fall onto a shoulder or an outstretched arm, force can travel…
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You have a dominant eye for aiming
Close one eye, then the other, while aiming at something far away: the target may seem to jump. Your brain tends to rely more on one eye for that kind of…
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Your skeleton is being rebuilt while you use it
One group of cells removes old bone; another lays down new material. This remodeling repairs and adapts the structure rather than waiting for you to stop…
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Growing painful fluid bubbles from awful shoes
Repeated rubbing makes layers of skin shear against each other, and fluid collects in the space between them. New loafers rubbing the same spot—especially…
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Measuring the forceful pumping inside your veins
The cuff squeezes your upper-arm artery and briefly restricts blood flow; as it loosens, the monitor detects pressure changes as blood moves through again.…
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Even a good desk posture needs a break
Holding one position keeps loading the same tissues, which is why workstation guidance recommends changing position and taking movement breaks. Adjusting a…
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Why everyone flosses before the dentist
A burst of flossing can remove some fresh plaque, but it can’t undo months of buildup: plaque may harden into tartar, and the gums may already be irritated.…
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Why standing straight can make you look taller
Slouching bends your posture and makes your torso look more compressed. Straightening up lengthens the line of your frame, so you can appear taller without…
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Ancient baldness cures used pigeon droppings
Some ancient remedies called for rubbing pigeon droppings into the scalp, in the hope that the treatment would bring hair back. The striking ingredient tells…
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Why a sauna makes your body feel feverish
As your core temperature rises in the sauna, your body feels the heat much as it does during a fever. But the cause is different: the sauna is warming you,…
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The tiny fungus behind dandruff
Malassezia yeasts normally live on human skin and feed on scalp oils. In susceptible people, the interaction between these microbes, skin oils, and the skin's…
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How standing desks become clutter towers
The desk changes height, but it doesn’t automatically change the routine built around it. Once the novelty fades, the chair or stool wins the daily…
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Stretching once a month offers absolutely zero flexibility
A monthly toe-touch is a rare reminder, not a routine your body can adapt to. Repeated stretching gives muscles and the nervous system more practice at a…
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