Medicine
The body, its failures, and its repairs.
Medicine
Why do we get a fever when we are ill?
A fever is not the infection overheating you — it is your body deliberately raising its own thermostat, because most of your defences work better warm and most invaders work worse.
6 min read
Medicine
Why don't antibiotics work on colds?
Antibiotics attack machinery that bacteria have and viruses do not — and a cold is a virus, which has almost no machinery of its own to attack.
6 min read
Medicine
Why do bruises change colour?
A bruise is blood spilt under the skin, and the colours are the stages your body's clean-up crew takes it apart in.
5 min read
Medicine
Why can a paracetamol overdose be deadly even when you feel fine?
The damage is done by a chemical your liver makes while breaking the drug down, and it destroys liver cells for a day or more before you feel anything at all.
6 min read