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David "Fathead" Newman was an outstanding saxophonist who played with Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Gregg Allman and Natalie Cole. He earned the nickname "Fathead" from his high school band teacher because he stubbornly refused to learn to read music, preferring instead to play by ear.

Being a "fathead" didn't diminish his artistry, but it ...Read more

When Marvin Hagler fought Vito Antuofermo in 1979 for a shot at a world title, the 15-round match ended in a draw. But Hagler came back to defeat Antuofermo three years later, retaining his newly won WBC and WBA world middleweight titles.

A draw doesn't always mean two opponents are truly equal. You can see that clearly in a study from Stanford...Read more

In 1937's "A Star Is Born," Janet Gaynor and Fredric March play two actors, one headed for stardom, the other for ruin (there are no musical numbers!). Over the years, the plot mutated: In the 1954 remake with Judy Garland and James Mason, Garland's singing dominates. In the 1976 version, Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson's characters are ...Read more

According to a study on the impact of diet on health published in The Lancet, poor diets were responsible for 10.9 million deaths, or 22% of all deaths among adults in 130 countries in 2017. The Lancet study also concluded that non-optimal intake of whole grains, fruits and sodium accounts for half of all diet-related deaths.

The Lancet study ...Read more

Jill A. Davis, a writer for the original "David Letterman Show," who went on to become a bestselling novelist, points out that, "Second chances do come your way. Like trains, they arrive and depart regularly. Recognizing the ones that matter is the trick."

Unfortunately, it's a trick that not many of the 605,000 Americans who are recovering ...Read more

Michael Jordan admits he's missed more than 9,000 shots in his career. Golfer Nancy Lopez knows every shot is a challenge; she says "Do your best one shot at a time and then move on."

Those two thoughts are kind of like the COVID-19 vaccination rate in the U.S. Around 100 million Americans have missed getting both COVID-19 shots. But about 67% ...Read more

When it comes to smoking, there's some good news: In the U.S., smoking has declined from 20.9% of adults in 2005 to 12.5% in 2020. However, that means that around 30.8 million adults currently smoke cigarettes. And a lot of those folks have prediabetes or diabetes. We know that because studies show that people who smoke cigarettes are 30% to 40%...Read more

A rising tide may float all boats -- at least according to an old adage that suggests a good economy lifts everyone up. But these days, the rising tide of adverse drug interactions and reactions could leave you up the creek without a paddle.

The Food and Drug Administration said that in 2018, some studies estimated 6.7% of hospitalized patients...Read more

Twelve-step programs help people overcome self-destructive behaviors such as alcohol or drug abuse. Millions of people attend such groups every year. Well, I'd like to suggest a new 33-step group to stop brain abuse -- and prevent dementia.

In 2017, the Lancet Commission identified nine modifiable dementia risk factors: high blood pressure, ...Read more

Introduced to the U.S. by Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 1970s as a way to help patients who were not responding to medical treatment, mindful meditation is acknowledged to help people deal with difficult emotional and physical symptoms. "Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, nonjudgmentally," ...Read more

Last year, only 50.2% of U.S. adults received a flu vaccine. That's troubling because even on an "off" year when the vaccine isn't on point with the strains of flu that are around, getting the inoculation year after year protects you from a serious bout of influenza. A 2019 study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that...Read more

Around 3.6 million babies were born in the U.S. in 2021. Brown is the most common eye color. Green is the least -- 9% of folks in America have green eyes. But 18% have hazel eyes, a combo of brown and green.

We all love these kinds of factoids. Well, there's another set I hope you take to heart. According to one Centers for Disease Control and...Read more

Medical hoaxes have been around for ages. The British Medical Journal even published one: In 1974, a brief case report titled "Cello Scrotum" claimed that the hard-to-sit-down condition happened -- and only to male cello players. And in the early 2000s, the more-dangerous psychic surgery fad was said to work when practitioners used slight of ...Read more

There are more than 8 billion people in the world, and each one passes gas about 13 to 21 times a day, mostly odor-free, containing nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane -- and sometimes smelly hydrogen sulfide. That's one form of natural gas.

The other is the natural gas that may power your stove, furnace or water heater. ...Read more

When Cheech and Chong sing "I'm in Love with Marijuana, Makes Me Feel Just Like an Iguana," it might be smart to ask if those two slightly addled hippies could actually leap safely from branch to branch or plummet 40 feet from a tree to the ground without injury, as the wily reptile can do.

A study in BMJ Open Respiratory Research indicates ...Read more

As of June 2022, 38 states have legalized the medical use of cannabis to varying degrees, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws; 19 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized it for recreational use.

That's a lot of stoned people, potentially, but nowhere as many as those who contend on a regular basis...Read more

Mark Twain said, "Age is a matter of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." Now, the importance of a good attitude may seem like a platitude, but research clearly shows that the younger your subjective age, the physically and emotionally healthier you are.

Researchers from Israel recently tracked 194 adults, ages 73 to 84, who...Read more

Fifteen-year-old Katie Ledecky won gold in the 2012 London Olympics' 800-meter freestyle event. Tiger Woods won the U.S. Junior Amateur tournament at ages 15, 16 and 17. Jennifer Capriati astounded the sports world when, at 14, she made it to the semifinals of the French Open and to the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Inspiring, but not to other ...Read more

Jose Andres, the chef who runs World Central Kitchen, has delivered more than 30,000 meals to Ukrainian families in need. And he makes sure it's nutritious. "As a chef and father," he's said, "it kills me that children are fed processed foods, fast food clones, foods loaded with preservatives and high-fructose corn syrup."

High-fructose corn ...Read more

It's estimated that there are more than 20,000 species of fish in the oceans and another 18,000 in freshwater. As glorious an array of creatures as that is, we've become acutely aware lately that they're exposed to whatever waste, chemicals and toxins humans are dumping into the waterways.

The impulse to figure out what's risky to eat and what'...Read more