Topic

Medicine, Psychology & Health

A collection of 157 issues

It Wasn't Just Nostalgia: The Biological Reason the Sky Used to Be Bluer

The memory of a more vibrant world isn't a trick of the mind. As we age, the lens of the human eye yellows, filtering out blue light and making the world appear demonstrably less colorful than it did in our youth.

Science & Nature Medicine, Psychology & Health Oddities & Curiosities

The Unsung Genius of Forgetting: How Your Brain Actively Deletes Memories to Make You Smarter

We treat forgetting as a failure, but neuroscience reveals it's an active and essential process. Your brain intentionally prunes old connections and overwrites data, not as a bug, but as a critical feature for efficient learning and mental well-being.

Science & Nature Medicine, Psychology & Health

You Don't Glow in the Dark: The Unsettling Difference Between Irradiation and Contamination

Getting an X-ray doesn't make you radioactive, but what if radioactive dust got on your coat? The distinction between being exposed to radiation and being contaminated by it is the critical, often misunderstood, factor in how radiation actually spreads.

Science & Nature Medicine, Psychology & Health Technology & Innovation

Your Body's Built-in Forge: The Astonishing Science of Stomach Acid

Scientific studies confirm a shocking biological truth: the hydrochloric acid in your stomach is potent enough to dissolve a steel razor blade. This incredible corrosive power is contained by a remarkable failsafe—a constantly regenerating mucus layer that prevents you from digesting yourself.

Science & Nature Medicine, Psychology & Health Oddities & Curiosities

The First Chiropractor Got His Big Idea From a Ghost

Millions of people see chiropractors for back pain, but few know its founder claimed the entire practice was revealed to him by the spirit of a doctor dead for 50 years, an origin that explains its contentious place in modern medicine.

History Medicine, Psychology & Health Oddities & Curiosities

The Shape-Shifter's Code: How Science Solved the Genetic Mystery of Proteus Syndrome

Caused by a spontaneous mutation in a single gene, Proteus syndrome triggers dramatic, uncontrolled tissue growth. This extremely rare condition, famously associated with Joseph Merrick, has moved from a 19th-century mystery to a solvable genetic puzzle.

Medicine, Psychology & Health Science & Nature History

The Audacious Plan to Revive George Washington with Lamb's Blood

Hours after George Washington's death, a physician and architect arrived with a radical plan: thaw the president's body, inflate his lungs, and transfuse him with lamb's blood. The family's decision left history with one of its most bizarre 'what if' scenarios.

History Medicine, Psychology & Health Oddities & Curiosities

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