Mental Floss

MEDICINE

Back in the day, you might have encountered someone with a bridge to sell you.

From fake relics to fake princesses to medical fraud involving goat testicles, history is rife with con jobs that managed to fool unsuspecting marks.

Jake Rossen






An enviable spread.

Are N95 masks reusable? It depends on a few factors—here’s how to tell when yours is ready to be replaced.

Ellen Gutoskey


Watercolor drawing of the leg of a patient, age 50, who had scurvy for 12 months' standing.

Scurvy’s mysterious cause wasn’t identified until the 20th century. Here are a few facts from the disease's long and miserable history.

Kat Long
oatawa/iStock via Getty Images Plus

From really expensive NFTs to newly discovered shipwrecks to the latest developments in the world of K-Pop, here are a few things we learned in 2021.

Jonathan Mayer, Justin Dodd


Sleep isn't always as easy as babies make it look.

Vincent van Gogh’s favorite cure for insomnia was camphor. Don’t try that at home (or anywhere), kids.

Ellen Gutoskey






Next time your nose gets stuffy, make sure you know how to blow it correctly.

You're probably blowing your nose too hard. Here's the right way to clear your sinuses, according to experts.

Michele Debczak


MATTHIASRABBIONE/iStock via Getty Images

If you think you've been stung by a bee, you should act fast. Here's how to remove the bee stinger and treat the sting.

Michele Debczak




Get yours.

Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe? What do COVID-19 vaccine side effects really mean? Here’s the truth about some prevalent misinformation.

Ellen Gutoskey


Bborriss/iStock via Getty Images

You might think that urine is just bodily waste—but you would be wrong. It's been used in cleansers, medicine, and infertility treatments for centuries.

Stan Shunpike
American doctor and epidemiologist Jonas Salk, who developed the first vaccine against poliomyelitis, looks on as a colleague gives the injection to a woman.

From eradicating smallpox to battling the COVID-19 pandemic, these vaccine pioneers have helped make colossal strides in public health.

Rujuta Saksena