This fascinating collection of historical curiosities explores some of the strangest cases that have perplexed doctors across the world.From seventeenth-century Holland to Tsarist Russia, from rural Canada to a whaler in the Pacific, many are monuments to human stupidity – such as the sailor who swallowed dozens of penknives to amuse his shipmates, or the chemistry student who in 1850 arrived at a hospital in New York with his penis trapped inside a bottle, having unwisely decided to relieve himself into a vessel containing highly reactive potassium. Others demonstrate exceptional surgical ingenuity long before the advent of anaesthesia – such as a daring nineteenth-century operation to remove a metal fragment from beneath a conscious patient’s heart. We also hear of the weird, often hilarious remedies employed by physicians of yore – from crow’s vomit to port-wine enemas – the hazards of such everyday objects as cucumbers and false teeth, and miraculous recovery from apparently terminal injuries.

    To the right listener, they tell us all about themselves: where they came from, how they lived, how they died - and who killed them. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help justice to be done using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene or the faintest of human traces. Forensics uncovers the secrets of forensic medicine, drawing on interviews with top-level professionals, ground-breaking research and Val McDermid's own experience to lay bare the secrets of this fascinating science. And, along the way, she wonders at how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine time of death, how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer and how a team of young Argentine scientists led by a maverick American anthropologist uncovered the victims of a genocide.In her crime novels, Val McDermid has been solving complex crimes and confronting unimaginable evil for years. Now, she's looking at the people who do it for real, and real crime scenes. It's a journey that will take her to war zones, fire scenes and autopsy suites, and bring her into contact with extraordinary bravery and wickedness, as she traces the history of forensics from its earliest beginnings to the cutting-edge science of the modern day.

    More than a diet book, Mastering Leptin includes lifestyle solutions that will help individuals lose weight, increase energy, and reduce risk for disease.

    Francis Collins, director of the National Institute of Health, 2007 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and 15-year head of the Human Genome Project, comes one of the most important medical books of the year: The Language of Life. With accessible, insightful prose, Dr. Collins describes the medical, scientific, and genetic revolution that is currently unlocking the secrets of “personalized medicine,” and offers practical advice on how to utilize these discoveries for you and your family’s current and future health and well-being. In the words of Dr. Jerome Groopman (How Doctors Think), The Language of Life “sets out hope without hype, and will enrich the mind and uplift the heart.”

    But with Bob Harper, superstar trainer and co-host of NBC's hit show "The Biggest Loser" as your personal authority and coach, you can and will finally shed the pounds-whether you want to lose two or two hundred! Distilling Bob's vast knowledge of nutrition, weight-loss strategy, and human nature down to twenty simple, nonnegotiable principles, "The Skinny Rules" will help you step away from a reliance on processed foods and the need for so much sweet and salt and step into a newly thin lifestyle. And Bob's methods couldn't be more straightforward. Taking the guesswork out of implementing the Skinny Rules," "Bob offers a month's worth of menu plans and more than 90 delicious, rule-abiding recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks to keep you cooking and eating skinny for life. You'll be happily astounded to see the variety and volume of the tasty food on your plate! He also includes terrific tips for what to stock in your fridge and what to prepare every weekend in order to set yourself up for success during your too-busy-to-cook weekdays. A virtual GPS to your weight-loss goals, "The Skinny Rules" takes the mystery out of the process, offering the fastest route to your skinny destination. LOSING WEIGHT IS NOW AS SIMPLE AS 1-2-3 . . . AND 3-15-18-20 TOO! Rule #3: Eat protein at every meal, making some kind of fish your go-to protein as often as you can. Take your weight and divide it by two-that's more or less how much protein you should be eating in grams every day. Rule #15: Eat at least ten meals a week at home (and cook them yourself). Restaurant portions are usually 40 to 50 percent bigger than what you'd serve at home-the more you eat out, the more you overeat. Set yourself up for success by preparing my turkey meatballs, hummus, and roasted vegetables on the weekend so that you will have go-to staples and no excuses! Rule #18: Go to bed slightly hungry. Denied fuel for more than five hours, your body will start burning its own fat and sugar. Make a point not to eat after dinner and you'll be burning fat while you're sleeping. Rule #20: Enjoy a splurge meal once a week. Unlike episodic bingeing, splurge meals are an ingredient in your diet. When you plan something, you are in control."From the Hardcover edition."

    With a look at diet in relation to nutrition, this Very Short Introduction provides an overview of the biochemistry of nutrition and the health risks associated with poor nutrition- including obesity and types of food allergies. It provides an essential guide to effectively understand the principles of, and necessary reasons for, a healthy diet.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

    (And kept it off!) You too can expect dramatic results with this revolutionary approach to weight loss that is incredibly simple, easy, and effective. Created by Dr. Krista Varady, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois, the Every-Other-Day Diet will change the way you think of dieting forever. Among its many benefits:It's science-tested, science-proven. Dr. Varady has conducted many scientific studies on the Every-Other-Day Diet, involving hundreds of people, with consistently positive results published in top medical journals such as the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Obesity. Unlike most other diets, the Every-Other-Day Diet is proven to work.It's remarkably simple-and effective. On Diet Day, you limit calories. On Feast Day, you eat anything you want and as much as you want. You alternate Diet Day and Feast Day. And you lose weight, steadily and reliably.There's no constant deprivation. The Every-Other-Day Diet doesn't involve day after day of dietary deprivation--because you can still indulge every-other day.It's easy to keep the weight off. With other diets, you lose weight only to regain it, the frustrating fate of most dieters. But The Every-Other-Day Diet includes the Every-Other-Day Success Plan--an approach to weight maintenance proven to work in a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.This book offers all of the research, strategies, tips, and tools you need to believe in the Every-Other-Day Diet and easily implement it in your life. It also includes more than 80 quick and delicious recipes for Diet Day, as well as a list of tasty prepared foods that make meals as easy as 1-2-3.The Every-Other-Day Diet is perfect for anyone who wants to shed pounds and feel great, without hunger and defeat.

    Illnesses that once were a death sentence, such as HIV and certain forms of cancer, can now be managed, allowing those affected to live longer, healthier lives. Because of these advances, we now live 30 years longer than we did 100 years ago.In this game-changing book, Dr. Paul A. Offit debunks fifteen common medical interventions that have long been considered gospel despite mounting evidence of their adverse effects, from vitamins, sunscreen, fever-reducing medicines, and eyedrops for pink eye to more serious procedures like heart stents and knee surgery. Analyzing how these practices came to be, the biology of what makes them so ineffective and harmful, and the medical culture that continues to promote them, Overkill informs patients to help them advocate for their health. By educating ourselves, we can ask better questions about some of the drugs and surgeries that are all too readily available—and all too heavily promoted.

    But in Catching Fire, renowned primatologist Richard Wrangham presents a startling alternative: our evolutionary success is the result of cooking. In a groundbreaking theory of our origins, Wrangham shows that the shift from raw to cooked foods was the key factor in human evolution. when our ancestors adapted to using fire, humanity began.Once our hominid ancestors began cooking their food, the human digestive tract shrank and the brain grew. Time once spent chewing tough raw food could be used instead to hunt and to tend camp. Cooking became the basis for pair bonding and marriage, created the household, and even led to a sexual division of labor.Tracing the contemporary implications of our ancestors' diets, Catching Fire sheds new light on how we came to be the social, intelligent, and sexual species we are today. A pathbreaking new theory of human evolution, Catching Fire will provoke controversy and fascinate anyone interested in our ancient origins--or in our modern eating habits.--from the dustjacket

    Recent studies show that too much sitting contributes to a host of diseases—from obesity and diabetes to cancer and depression—and literally shortens your life. The facts are in: your chair is your enemy, and it is murdering your body. In Deskbound, Dr. Kelly Starrett—physical therapist and author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling book Becoming a Supple Leopard—unveils how your sedentary lifestyle is killing you and, more important, what you can do to change it. Deskbound offers a detailed battle plan for surviving the chair and reclaiming your birthright of mobility and freedom from pain. It provides creative solutions to reduce the amount of time you spend perched on your backside, as well as strategies for the workplace and school that will improve your productivity and your overall health. You will learn how to identify and fix poor posture while sitting and standing; how to prevent, treat, and resolve low back, neck, shoulder, and wrist pain; and avoid and reverse repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel and tendonitis. Whether your goal is to maximize your performance in and out of the workplace or simply to live pain free, Deskbound is the blueprint. Dr. Starrett provides a revolutionary cure for desk-death.

    All animals, human or otherwise, thrive when they mimic key elements of life in their natural habitat. From diet to movement to sleep, this evolutionary perspective sheds light on some of our most pressing health concerns. What is causing the rise of chronic conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and depression? Is eating red meat going to kill you? Is avoiding the sun actually the best way to avoid skin cancer? Durant takes readers on a thrilling ride to the Paleolithic and beyond, unlocking the health secrets of our ancient ancestors. What do obese gorillas teach us about weight loss? How can Paleolithic skulls contain beautiful sets of teeth? Why is the Bible so obsessed with hygiene? What do NASA astronauts teach us about getting a good night’s sleep? And how are Silicon Valley techies hacking the human body? Blending science and culture, anthropology and philosophy, John Durant distills the lessons from his adventures and shows how to apply them to day-to-day life, teaching people how to construct their own personal “habitat” that will enable them to thrive. The book doesn’t just address what we eat, but why we eat it; not just how to exercise, but the purpose of functional movement; not just being healthy, but leading a purposeful life. Combining the best of ancient wisdom with cutting edge science, Durant crafts a vision of health that is both fresh and futuristic.

    After his mother was diagnosed with a mysterious form of dementia, Max Lugavere put his successful media career on hold to learn everything he could about brain health and performance. For the better half of a decade, he consumed the most up-to-date scientific research, talked to dozens of leading scientists and clinicians around the world, and visited the country’s best neurology departments—all in the hopes of understanding his mother’s condition.Now, in Genius Foods, Lugavere presents a comprehensive guide to brain optimization. He uncovers the stunning link between our dietary and lifestyle choices and our brain functions, revealing how the foods you eat directly affect your ability to focus, learn, remember, create, analyze new ideas, and maintain a balanced mood.Weaving together pioneering research on dementia prevention, cognitive optimization, and nutritional psychiatry, Lugavere distills groundbreaking science into actionable lifestyle changes. He shares invaluable insights into how to improve your brain power, includingthe nutrients that can boost your memory and improve mental clarity (and where to find them);the foods and tactics that can energize and rejuvenate your brain, no matter your age;a brain-boosting fat-loss method so powerful it has been called “biochemical liposuction”; andthe foods that can improve your happiness, both now and for the long term.With Genius Foods, Lugavere offers a cutting-edge yet practical road map to eliminating brain fog and optimizing the brain’s health and performance today—and decades into the future.

    It is too bad, write scientist-historian couple Robert and Michèle Root-Bernstein, who deplore the loss of proven methods developed without the blessing of the academy, noting that "formal academic systems are only one of many ways in which knowledge is discovered, accumulated, and transmitted." Many scientists are now coming to agree with this view, they write in this fascinating collection of case studies. Researchers have showed that black tea, for instance, has powerful antibiotic properties and that maggots do an extraordinary job of cleaning wounds--as traditional healers have known all along.

    They are the powerhouses of our cells, essential for the production and management of energy at cell level. Dr Sarah Myhill, together with Dr John McLaren Howard of Acumen Laboratories and Dr Norman Booth of Mansfield College Oxford, has spent many years studying the relationship between their malfunction and the commonest problem seen by GPs in the UK – fatigue. Their research findings have been published in three scientific papers in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, in 2009, 2012 and 2013. These studies showed that poor functioning of the mitochondria is the central problem in CFS. Patients with the worst mitochondrial function had the worst fatigue and vice versa. This is solid scientific evidence that CFS is a problem with mitochondria and has allowed the objective measurement of fatigue for the first time. With the publication of the third study, which showed that mitochondrial function tests and symptoms improved in patients who took measures to address their mitochondrial problems, Dr Myhill was ready to write this book. Here she explains the importance of healthy mitochondria, how we can measure their functioning and what we can do to keep them healthy, or restore them to health if problems arise. CFS is all in our cells, not in our minds!

    Your head hurts. You're mildly annoyed as you get the kids ready for school and dress for work yourself. Meanwhile, an epic war is being fought, just below your skin. Millions are fighting and dying for you to be able to complain as you head out the door.So what, exactly, is your immune system?Second only to the human brain in its complexity, it is one of the oldest and most critical facets of life on Earth. Without it, you would die within days. In Immune, Philipp Dettmer, the brains behind the most popular science channel on YouTube, takes readers on a journey through the fortress of the human body and its defenses. There is a constant battle of staggering scale raging within us, full of stories of invasion, strategy, defeat, and noble self-sacrifice. In fact, in the time you've been reading this, your immune system has probably identified and eradicated a cancer cell that started to grow in your body.Each chapter delves into an element of the immune system, including defenses like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like bacteria, allergies, and cancer, as Dettmer reveals why boosting your immune system is actually nonsense, how parasites sneak their way past your body's defenses, how viruses work, and what goes on in your wounds when you cut yourself.Enlivened by engaging graphics and immersive descriptions, Immune turns one of the most intricate, interconnected, and confusing subjects—immunology—into a gripping adventure through an astonishing alien landscape. Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably, and increasingly, the most important system in the body.