One in three American adults have high blood pressure, which significantly increases their chances of developing heart disease and having a stroke — the first and fifth leading causes of death in the country. But according to new research, the cure could be as simple as taking...
There’s no denying that what we see in the mirror has an impact on how we feel about ourselves as a person. But what is it about our appearance that has such a strong hold on our self-esteem? Erica Hornthal, movement therapist and owner of Chicago Dance...
Earwax comes in many guises, varying in color from amber to brown to gray to black, its consistency ranging from wet and gooey to dry and flakey. But whatever its form, it’s universally considered gross and unwelcome by the general public, which is unfortunate, because this nasty-seeming...
The idea of drinking recycled water — that is, water that’s been taken from your toilet, mixed with other people’s toilet water and then cleaned up — naturally makes a lot of people very squeamish. Surprise fun fact for everyone currently insisting they would rather die than...
You’ve no doubt heard the stories of pizzerias who never wash their pans, and the avid bakers who do likewise. They do (or rather, don’t do) this, the legend goes, because the years of flavor baked into those pans is imparted to each new batch of baked...
Conventional — and nutritional — wisdom holds that deep-fried foods sit atop the hierarchy of unhealthy eats. In fact, I recently wrote about a new scientific study that corroborated this belief: “New research found that eating at least one serving of fried food each day increases your...
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like every time I’m sick, my hair gets sick too. When I wore my hair shorter, it wouldn’t cooperate at all when a flu, cold, etc. knocked me on my butt — it’d just twist and curl and be a...
In an ever more health-conscious society, ironically inhabited by mostly not-very-fit folks, the nutritional focus is in a constant see-saw. One minute the Mediterranean diet is considered healthy; the next, scientists aren’t so sure. Or one week coffee is considered vital to your longevity; the next, you...
Behind a glass storefront, on a quiet residential street away from Reykjavik’s city-center throng, is perhaps the most penis-y place on Earth. The Icelandic Phallological Museum is a shrine to schlong that holds an impressive collection: Whale willies that look like dunce hats; an elephant’s junk you could hit...
Every office has a few toe-tappers, foot-waggers and/or pen-spinners. I, for one, annoy the hell out of my coworkers with incessant knee-bouncing. What, though, compels only some of us to twitch and tap, while others can remain perfectly still in moments of deep concentration? It’s complicated, but...
Trying to find the perfect workout partner — one who keeps you motivated, even when you can barely bench 100 pounds — can feel a lot like looking for a beefy needle in a sweat-drenched haystack. And like any relationship, even when you think you found the...
“What, did you sleep in your clothes again last night?” Marty McFly’s older brother asks him when Marty wakes in the new-and-improved 1985 at the end of Back to the Future. It’s clear from his brother’s inflection that this isn’t an acceptable behavior, but conventional wisdom — and scorn from...