How It Actually Works

The 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
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
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
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
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
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