ArcaMax

"Where there's smoke, there's fire" is a phrase that's been around for a long time; it means that if it looks like there's something wrong, then there probably is. So picture a pregnant woman smoking. What's wrong with this picture? Maybe more than you think: She's putting her daughter's daughter at risk for autism spectrum disorder!

A recent ...Read more

You may remember the comedian Irene Ryan as Granny on "The Beverly Hillbillies," but does the name Jerry Brutsche ring a bell? He was her stunt double for 20 episodes from 1963 to 1970. So when Granny -- after making and sampling a batch of moonshine -- would do cartwheels, chances are it was actually her stunt double Jerry risking life and limb...Read more

Chicago Bear's Mike Ditka was playing his first pro game against the Vikings in 1961 when he audaciously told teammate and veteran guard Alex Karras to get the lead out of his rear end. Karras took a swing at Ditka for that -- but Ditka's ferocious attitude kept him at the top of his game, and made him the Bears' head coach from 1982 to 1992. ...Read more

Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine who died in Greece in 370 B.C., often is quoted as saying, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." That certainly fits in with his philosophy that disease is a result of environmental factors, diet and living habits. And we're sure he didn't mean that you should eat sweet, fatty foods to ...Read more

After contracting with a publisher to write "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," Victor Hugo procrastinated writing it for more than a year. Finally, six months before the manuscript was due, he locked all of his clothes away, save one shawl, so that he was forced to stay inside and finish the book. The strategy worked. He turned the book in two weeks...Read more

The whooping crane is an endangered species -- about 400 of these noisy, 5-foot-tall birds are left in North America. If only whooping cough (that's pertussis) -- a virulent, life-threatening infection -- could be wiped out instead! In the 1970s, there were only a couple of thousand reported cases annually in the U.S.; but in 2014, the number ...Read more

At the end of its seven-year run, "Mad Men's" producers admitted that, on screen, the characters smoked a whopping 942 cigarettes, several of them by protagonist Don Draper's wife Betty while she was pregnant.

These days, you all know it's dangerous to smoke cigarettes while pregnant; it leads to premature deliveries and babies with cognitive ...Read more

Miguel Indurain, five-time winner of the Tour de France, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, an Olympic track star, and Jerome Bettis, a running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, were able to master their sport despite having asthma. Around 25 million Americas also contend with the disease, and work hard to control it so they, too, can stay active. Sometimes,...Read more

In 1967, Sonny and Cher sang: "The beat goes on ... La-dee-da-dee-de, la-dee-da-dee-da." If you're old enough to remember the first time they performed that song, you're exactly the person who should listen to the following advice and not take a "la-dee-da" attitude toward beets!

We've mentioned before that beets (sometimes called beetroot) and...Read more

In the 2010 movie "Hot Tub Time Machine," four friends now in their 30s, played by John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry and Clark Duke, are transported back to 1986 after jumping into a hot tub that turns out to be a time machine. Luckily (spoiler alert!), when they eventually take the hot tub back to the future, they discover that their ...Read more

The time-worn axiom "good things come in threes," was said by ancient Romans (omne trium perfectum) and has been advocated by as distinguished a mind as Albert Einstein. He had a rule of three that he believed was the key to good scientific discoveries: 1. Out of clutter find simplicity; 2. From discord find harmony; 3. In the middle of ...Read more

George Graham Vest was a U.S. senator in the late 1800s, but it's the way he represented one of his constituents' dogs, Old Drum, that has made him part of American history. To commemorate the passing of the loyal pooch, he declared: "The one absolutely unselfish friend man can have in this selfish world is ... his dog." A statue of Old Drum ...Read more

Most Mayan pyramids had 91 steps on each of their four sides, with one last step up to the altar (total 365). That meant the High Priest did a minimum of 92 stair steps -- which translates to just over 3,000 flat walking steps -- before starting work.

If you're finding it hard to get your 10,000 daily steps into your busy workday schedule, we ...Read more

When comedian Joan Rivers commented on her emotional wounds and worries, the world laughed: "I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw that my bath toys were a toaster and a radio." Finding ways to ease pain is one of the strongest human impulses -- and one of the hardest things to do successfully.

So it was great news when a recent study ...Read more

Cyclone Debbie wreaked havoc on the coast of northeastern Australia this spring. The torrential rains caused three major rivers to crest their banks, eventually creating a giant brown plume of sludge stretching 11 miles out to sea, polluting the waters around the Great Barrier Reef.

That sludge caused double damage to the reef by blocking the ...Read more

Stand-up legend Rodney Dangerfield became famous for his quips about how he got no respect from anyone. "My psychiatrist told me I'm going crazy," went one of his jokes. "I told him, 'If you don't mind, I'd like a second opinion.' He said, 'All right. You're ugly, too!'"

Now a new study from the Mayo Clinic shows that getting a second opinion ...Read more

These days aspirin is made in a lab, but extracts from the bark of the willow tree were used to treat pain in Egypt as long ago as 3000 B.C. In 400 B.C., Hippocrates prescribed willow leaf tea to ease the pain of childbirth.

Salicylic acid, the compound produced by the willow, has stood the test of time as a medicine. Today its uses have ...Read more

In Woody Allen's 1973 sci-fi comedy "Sleeper," Miles Monroe, a jazz musician and owner of the Happy Carrot health-food store, awakens after being cryogenically frozen for 200 years. He's now the only member of society without a known biometric identity, so he can help rebel scientists defeat the current police state. Great idea. One question, ...Read more

There couldn't be a better example of the benefits of early diagnoses and successful treatment of psoriatic arthritis than professional golfer Phil Mickelson. The three-time Masters Champion was diagnosed shortly after the 2010 U.S. Open and is still, at age 37, a highly competitive player. The reason Phil has been so successful in treating his ...Read more

When Willie Nelson croons, "Turn out the lights/the party's over/They say all good things must end," he's not quite right, as far as your health is concerned. That's because turning off the lights at night is essential for good physical and mental health --and not just for you, but perhaps for your kids-to-be!

Research has shown that sleeping ...Read more