Content tagged with “health” under “The Interesting List”

“ An explanation of why a quirk of legislation has caused ambulances to cost so much ”

“ For various reasons, older books were created or bound with materials that are poisonous. There is a project to find and catalog them all, and research ways to safely store toxic books ”

“ A look at actual representatives of body fat percentages about what’s good, reasonable, and safe. ”

“ A settlement in Antarctica is so remote and isolated, that you can’t still have your appendix and live there because the nearest hospital is so hard to get to that a burst appendix will kill you. ”

“ A researcher found that many records of people living over 100 years were concentrated in places that had no birth records and high rates of pension fraud. ”

“ In 1954, a Japanese finishing boat accidentally wandered into an active U.S. nuclear test. One crew member died in the immediate aftermath, and the rest suffered health problems, mostly dying young. ”

“ Throughout the 20th century, leaded gasoline additives likely have caused more deaths, crime, and intellectual disabilities than almost any other invention. ”

“ A specific shade of greenish-brown has been deemed ‘the ugliest color in the world,’ and is specifically used for cigarette packaging in many countries. ”

“ An Austrian man was a dwarf until the age of 20. Then he started growing to end up almost 8-feet fall. ”

“ Chris Duntsch was a very, very bad surgeon. He killed or maimed 90% of his patients, but no one wanted to speak up and embarrass the hospitals where he worked. ”

“ Professional chess players have to be in good physical condition. They burn a surprising amount of energy from mental exertion and stress. ”

“ A montage of 50-year-old cigarette television commercials. ”

“ A type of cheese from Sardinia is infested with maggots on purpose. ”

“ There are still a tiny handful of polio survivors across the USA living significant portions of their lives in iron lungs which are slowly deteriorating. ”

“ A new study suggests that cardio interval training as short as four seconds has significant benefit for sedentary, middle-aged adults. ”

“ The story of one man’s descent into, and recovery from, locked-in syndrome. ”

“ A bodybuilder talks about what it’s really like to get and stay ripped for a competition. (Hint: it’s not fun.) ”

“ Research suggests that simply by being physically stronger, you’re likely to live longer. ”

“ Ex-NFL players – especially offensive linemen – struggle to maintain weight during their careers and sometimes struggle to take it off when they’re done playing. ”

“ Fascinating perspective from a bartender who watched several of her regular customers spin into self-destruction. A meditation on the culpability of forced, unwitting enablers. ”

“ A short memoir of a lesbian who transitioned, and what he learned about manhood in the process from the men in his life. Equal parts inspiring and heart-breaking. ”

“ A tragic retelling of the decline of Robin Williams by his wife, as Lewy Body Dementia took its toll. ”

“ An excellent explainer of what the different cancer labels mean, from ‘Stage X’ to ‘Advanced.’ ”

“ Addiction may be a universal problem, but rehab is very different when you’re absurdly wealthy. ”

“ A heart-breaking profile of Roger Ebert, written in the middle of his battle with the cancer that killed him. ”

“ A backstory behind a seemingly successful penis transplant, and the complications and ethical questions it raises. ”

“ In the wake of Andrew Luck abruptly retiring from the NFL due to accumulated injuries, a former NFL lineman explains exactly what this is like – how NFL players work through injuries and engage in constant rehab during both the season and off-season. ”

“ A short video about the World’s Strongest Man, who happens to be very tall, and this causes challenges in day-to-day life. The clip of him walking through a small commuter plane is absurd. ”

“ The story of how compulsive eating and the resulting obesity haunted former NFL quarterback Jared Lorenzen. (Five years after this article was written, Lorenzen died of obesity-related complications after shedding 100 pounds from his peak of 500.) ”

“ The biggest problem with the American health care system might be, well, Americans. We are terrible at safeguarding our own health and terrible at interacting with health care providers. ”

“ The US health care system only works because doctors and nurses have little work-life balance and they constantly expand their workflow to fit the demands placed on them. ”

“ The annual American Psychiatric Association conference is an orgy of the absurd and a symbol of everything wrong with American medicine. ”

“ A man got AIDS, and, thinking he was going to die, embarked on decades of fraud to finance his lifestyle. He’s still alive. ”

“ The stated calories for a given food are a very crude measure because the actual calories our bodies absorb and use from that food are different for everyone, and can be dramatically affected by how the food is prepared, stored, and combined. ”