Conventional wisdom — and that weird librarian from middle school — say reading books is the best way to become smarter. But new research shows that pumping iron can also bring about significant cognitive gains, and the more you exercise, the smarter you become. While neurologists are...
Anyone who’s ever ridden in an elevator, carpooled, or stayed over at a new partner’s house for the night has tried to hold in a fart. This is a fact. Sometimes, it works: Other times, the pressure builds too much and your butt lets forth with a...
There’s an old wives’ tale that eating cheese right before bed will give you weird dreams — or in some versions, outright nightmares. Most studies, of course, have found this to be BS. Although one of those studies was conducted by the (pun-built-in) British Cheese Board, which...
For many of us, lunch is followed by a single thought: Is there a way I can take nap breaks at work? But what exactly is it about our midday meal that sends us straight to dreamland? Liz Weinandy, resident dietitian at The Ohio State University Wexner...
When it comes to weight gain, few foods have been as overwhelmingly demonized — predominantly by low-carb fanatics — as pasta. But apparently, the hate is unwarranted: Researchers recently performed a systematic review of 30 control trials, where almost 2,500 people ate 3.3 servings of pasta (one...
We’ve written before about how the average toothbrush is believed to be harboring more than 10 million bacteria, including particularly nasty stuff like Staph and E. coli. This is partly due to the number of bacteria that live in your mouth — anywhere between 100 to 200...
Not only is it harder to get hard in space, we recently got some more bad news about off-Earth travel: It might give you herpes. That’s right: According to a study recently released by NASA, a variety of latent herpes viruses have been reactivating in more than half...
The bathroom is, when you think about it, a vile place: Since flushing the toilet launches aerosolized toilet funk into the air, virtually everything you touch could be coated with a fine mist of invisible poo particles. For that reason, washing your hands after peeing is an...
Everyone has a body part that seemingly collects every calorie they’ve ever eaten, ever. For men, it’s usually their gut, while for women, it tends to be their hips and thighs. But is there any rhyme or reason behind why our fat goes where it goes? Liz...
I have Austin Powers teeth. Starman-era David Bowie teeth. They’re snaggly and yellow, and when I smile, I look like a Dickensian dog. It’s not necessary for me to speak: If you saw them, you’d immediately know I was British, while wondering what it’s like to carry...
Ireland and the humble potato have a lengthy, tumultuous relationship. In the 1700s, potatoes were extensively cultivated in Ireland — many sources even claim that the average Irish peasant consumed about 10 pounds of potatoes each day, which, life goals. At the time, potatoes were the ideal...
I have a friend whose now-ex-boyfriend had an elaborate ritual he performed after taking a dump. She affectionately referred to it as “a** rag.” He kept a bag under the sink with a special washcloth in it. After wiping with toilet paper, he’d take out the rag,...