HEALTH

8 Old-School Diseases Making a Comeback

Humanity spent the last hundred years virtually eradicating some of the planet’s most unpleasant diseases. But some of them have started showing up again.

26 Antique Pictures Celebrating the Red Cross

In many ways, the Red Cross is still largely the same as it was throughout the past 150 years, performing blood drives, delivering care packages to prisoners of war, helping victims of natural disasters, and rescuing those injured on the battlefield. In h

11 Things Germier Than Toilet Seats

People are understandably squeamish about public restrooms. But the same people are probably regularly interacting with surfaces that have far more germs and overall icky-ness than your average public toilet seat. For example... 1. Hotel/Motel

If the Heart Is a Muscle, Why Doesn’t It Get Tired?

You’re on the weight bench. 18. 19. 20! You couldn’t lift that barbell again if someone had a gun to your head. Your arms and your chest are sizzling with a dull burn. Your muscles are fatigued, and as you try to put the bar back, your arms give out.

What's a BRAT diet?

If you answered: The food Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy eat, you are sorely mistaken. Though that's pretty funny! However, those brats, which is actually a play on

Getting High Off Someone Else's Blood

Dan Lewis runs the popular daily newsletter Now I Know (“Learn Something New Every Day, By Email”). To subscribe to his daily email, click here. "Flashblood." The word itself conjures the idea of something not-so-good, and the description confirms

Laughter Is the Best Medicine

While the author of the Book of Proverbs remains uncertain (most likely, King Solomon wrote it), its intent is not. The book was written to share insight, and much conventional wisdom originates in its pages. Proverbs 17:22, "a merrie heart doth good like

Lip Balm Addiction: Are You in Recovery?

I've never been a lip balm user. This is because I tend to avoid things that my friends find addictive -- and I've had friends who have been, dare I say, addicted to lip balm since elementary school. After a few hours without it, they're clearly jonesin

What Happens to a Donor's DNA in a Blood Transfusion?

Reader Cathy wrote in wondering what becomes of a donor’s DNA once it gets inside another person during a blood

DanKam: Colorblindness "Corrective Lenses" for Your Smartphone

I'm not colorblind, I'm just "green-weak." At least that's what I tell everyone. I wrote about my color vision problems way back in 2007, explaining my Deuteranomaly, a condition affecting roughly 5 out of every 100 men. There are other forms of colorb

Quantum Lung

Here at the _floss, we don't usually do product reviews or promote many items other than the goodies we sell in our store. It's just never been part of our brand. And that's a good thing. However, every now and then something comes along that inspires thi

8 People With "Real" Superpowers

We all dream of having some superpower to help navigate life. Some people have those powers. Let's just hope they remember that with great power, comes great responsibility.

Why Does Sex Make Men Sleepy?

Alfred Kinsey, biologist, pioneering sex researcher and founder of the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, once wrote that "a marked quiescence of the total body is the most widely recognized outcome of orgasm," more noticeably among males

How Scurvy Was Cured, then the Cure Was Lost

Yes, this really happened: scurvy was "cured" as early as 1497, when Vasco de Gama's crew discovered the power of citrus...but this cure was repeatedly lost, forgotten, rediscovered, misconstrued, confused, and just generally messed around with for hundr

How Long Will You Live?

Dan Buettner, a writer, explorer, and endurance bicycler, gave a TED Talk in September 2009 entitled: How to live to be 100+. In the talk, he cites the Danish Twin Study, suggesting that much of our lifespan (within certain biological limits) is dictated

What Not to Eat: Chain Restaurant Pasta

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has an eye-opening video demonstrating the health hazards of eating at major Italian-style restaurant chains (they focused on the Olive Garden and Romano's Macaroni Grill, the two largest such chains i

"Portion Distortion": 10 Food Servings, Now Vs. Then

Here’s how portions of Americans’ favorite foods have ballooned—and how much exercise you’d need to do to work off the extra calories.

7 Famous Hoarders

Thought you had trouble letting things go? For these people, it's more than just trouble, it is life consuming

What Does it Matter if I'm Allergic to Eggs? (A Flu Shot FAQ)

Since we're right in the middle of flu shot season, here are the answers to a few questions you might be mulling over on your way to get your injection of this year's vaccine cocktail. How long have flu shots been

Do Blind People See Things in Their Dreams?

A question from reader Josiah: "Do blind people see when they dream?Â I think there are two sides to the question, dealing with people who were born blind, and those who used to be able to see." Whether visual imagery is present in the dreams of the blin

How Does Scratching Relieve an Itch?

If you have an itch, you scratch it. Scratch and itch; they go together like peas and carrots and everyone—humans, apes, dogs and cats—knows it. What we didn't understand for a very long time was the physiological connection between the two&md

Who's up for a Swine Flu Party?

The story making the rounds these days is that swine flu parties "“ flu flings "“ are all the rage here in Merry Olde. Now, I've been to the odd garden party and birthday party, even a "fancy dress" party, but I have not yet been invited to a swine flu p

When Did Women Start Shaving Their Pits?

Earlier this week, Ethan Trex taught us the history of shaving. Several readers left comments inquiring about when women started shaving their legs and underarms, so we cracked open the mental_floss book In the Beginning: The Origins of Everything. Here's

How Does the Treadmill Know How Many Calories I've Burned?

How do they measure the calorie content of food? When you lose weight, where does it go? Matt Soniak has the answers to these questions and more. How does the treadmill know how many calories I've

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