How It Actually Works

Health & Body

The human body, its quirks, and the claims made about it.

A prescription pill bottle next to a magnifying glass focused on its label, illustrating how to check whether your thyroid medication matches the recalled lot
Is It True There Is a Massive Recall of Thyroid Medication Right Now? Daniel S. I. · 13 min read
Bottles of sunscreen and moisturizer side by side on a bathroom shelf, illustrating whether sunscreen can replace moisturizer
Is It True That You Don't Need Moisturizer If You Use Sunscreen? What the Two Products Actually Do Daniel S. I. · 13 min read
A steaming cup of coffee on a kitchen counter in the morning, illustrating coffee's effect on the gut and digestion
Why Does Coffee Make You Poop? What Your Morning Cup Is Doing to Your Gut Daniel S. I. · 14 min read
Close-up of the Dyson CameraJet brush head, whose macro camera and conical jet target the gaps between teeth
How Does the Dyson CameraJet Know Where to Spray Between Your Teeth? Daniel S. I. · 9 min read
A person sitting quietly holding their stomach, illustrating how borborygmi — digestive contractions moving gas and liquid — make a stomach growl even without hunger
Why Does Your Stomach Growl When You're Not Even Hungry? Daniel S. I. · 11 min read
A chili pepper beside a flushed glass of milk, illustrating how capsaicin tricks the body's noxious-heat receptor into reporting a burn that isn't there
Why Does Spicy Food Burn If It Isn't Actually Burning You? Daniel S. I. · 11 min read
The doorway of a home, illustrating why a house has a recognizable smell to visitors while the person who lives there stops noticing it
Why Can't You Smell Your Own House? Your Brain Is Quietly Ignoring It Daniel S. I. · 10 min read
Close-up of raised goosebumps on an arm, showing the small skin bumps created when arrector pili muscles pull each hair upright
Why Do You Get Goosebumps? Why Cold, Fear and Music Can All Trigger the Same Reaction Daniel S. I. · 12 min read
Flaky salt crystals scattered over a dish, illustrating how sodium suppresses bitterness and lifts the other flavors already present
Why Does Salt Make Food Taste Better? It's Doing More Than Making Things Salty Daniel S. I. · 11 min read
A person mid-yawn with mouth open wide, showing the coordinated jaw, throat and facial stretch of the yawn reflex
Why Do We Yawn? What Your Body Is Actually Doing When You Open Your Mouth Daniel S. I. · 14 min read
A day-old loaf of bread with a once-crisp crust, showing how moisture migration and starch retrogradation trade the loaf's textures
Why Does Bread Go Stale? It's Not Just Because the Bread Is Dry Daniel S. I. · 12 min read
Freshly popped popcorn erupting in a pan, capturing the moment hot starch expands around escaping steam
Why Does Popcorn Pop? What Happens Inside a Kernel When It Explodes Daniel S. I. · 11 min read
Fingertips covered in deep water-immersion wrinkles emerging from a bath, showing the grooved pattern formed by vasoconstriction beneath the skin
Why Do Your Fingers Wrinkle in Water? Your Skin Is Doing Something Much Stranger Than Absorbing Water Daniel S. I. · 12 min read
A person at the peak of a sneeze, eyes closed and face tensed, showing the coordinated reflex the body runs in under two seconds
Why Do We Sneeze? What Your Body Is Actually Doing in Those Two Seconds Daniel S. I. · 12 min read
A person wincing and pressing fingers to their forehead mid-spoonful of ice cream, illustrating the sudden referred pain of brain freeze
Why Does Ice Cream Give You a Headache? What's Actually Happening During Brain Freeze Daniel S. I. · 11 min read
A person in bed waking up and checking the time on a device just moments before their alarm goes off
Why Do I Wake Up Right Before My Alarm? Daniel S. I. · 7 min read
A person dabbing sweat from their forehead, illustrating how the body's cooling system turns on even without obvious heat
Why Do You Sweat So Much? What's Actually Making Your Body Turn the Tap On? Daniel S. I. · 12 min read
Close-up of a person's face with a hand near one eye, illustrating the tiny involuntary eyelid twitch known as myokymia
Why Is Your Eye Twitching? What That Tiny Jumping Muscle Is Actually Doing Daniel S. I. · 10 min read
Illustration of a person pinching their nose while tasting a jellybean, showing how blocking your nose removes the smell information that creates flavor
Why Does Food Taste Different When Your Nose Is Blocked? Daniel S. I. · 8 min read
Person mid-hiccup holding a glass of water, illustrating why hiccups happen and whether popular cures actually work
Why Do Hiccups Happen, and Do Hiccup Cures Actually Work? Daniel S. I. · 9 min read
Dyson CameraJet electric toothbrush with camera-guided liquid jet designed to clean between teeth
Does the Dyson CameraJet Actually Replace Flossing? We Looked at What the Evidence Really Says Daniel S. I. · 9 min read
Salty snacks on a table beside a glass of water, illustrating the question of whether salt actually makes you thirsty
Does Salt Actually Make You Thirsty? The Study That Flipped the Answer Daniel S. I. · 10 min read