Trying to assign numbers to the “lemon water” wellness trend — “Lemon water” is simple: it’s water with some lemons squeezed into it. Some people add additional ingredients, but at its core, it’s just water and lemon juice. It’s also got a lot of health claims around it, touted by celebrities and influencers of varying trustworthiness. Most of those claims are…

Curing sickle cell anemia, without transplant donors, by changing our own DNA. — Doctors are taking the first steps towards solving a massive source of disease that, until now, has seemed out of reach. Our genes, the instructions inside of our cells that dictate how each one of us works, why each one of us is unique, have been untouchable — until now. …

In evolution’s eyes, useless is not the same as going away. — Humans are (usually) born with ten fingers and ten toes. One set of digits, however, gets used much more in daily life than the other. (Here’s a hint: I’m not writing this article using my feet.) Does this mean that, since toes aren’t used for much, they may vanish from…

Passive spam networks are infiltrating Medium — and showing up in my followers. — I’m getting followed on Medium by the Illuminati. I know how that sounds. It’s pretty crazy sounding. But I’m not talking about secret government agents. I’m talking about accounts like this one:

Animal companions exchange bacteria with you, even if they’re barred from the bathroom — We all contain multitudes. No human being is ever sterile; from birth, we each carry trillions of bacteria in our gut, a diverse mix of different species that aids us by synthesizing vitamins and by helping to train our immune system to spot threats. This is our gut microbiome, and…

As heat waves grow more common, here’s why we shut down. — When most of us picture the U.S. state of Minnesota, we probably imagine snow, iced-over lakes, and guys sitting in little shacks on said frozen lakes, shivering as they haul fish up through an axe-chopped hole. But just this summer, it hit 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36.1 degrees Celsius) outside my…

Global warming could literally make you blind. — Rising temperatures carry a number of health risks. It’s harder to exercise in hot weather, and excessive heat poses risks to everyone from children to pets. And new research suggests that heat may also hurt senior citizens by damaging eyesight. In a June 2023 paper from the Journal of Ophthalmic…

Lessons to learn when someone is trying to sell to you — I just returned from lunch. My lunch — at a decent steakhouse, mind you — didn’t cost me a single dollar. Instead, while I ate, I listened to a man convince me I should give him at least half a million dollars. I’m probably not going to give him all…

Sure, “free will,” but you’re more hardwired than you think — Scientists agree: Sleeping seven to eight hours a night, going regularly to the gym, and eating a vegetarian diet are all good health choices. …