Latest articles by Mindy Weisberger
The human heart: Facts about the body's hardest-working muscle
Discover interesting facts about the fist-size organ that powers the circulatory system.
A man was stabbed through the throat and the base of the skull — by a fish
While on a fishing trip, a man sustained an unusual injury from a marlin.
Black widow spider's venom poisoned a woman through her eyeball
A woman went to the emergency room after getting bits of a venomous spider in her eye.
Sleep: Facts about how and why we sleep
Learn facts about sleep, during which the body rests, recuperates and performs essential repairs.
Cold-water rinses left 'cobblestone' growths in woman's sinuses
A woman developed prominent bumps inside her sinuses, similar to a condition seen in "surfer's ear."
Pelican eel: The midnight zone 'gulper' with a giant mouth to swallow animals bigger than itself
Open wide! The gaping gob of a pelican eel can expand into a voluminous sac for trapping elusive prey in the dark ocean depths.
Scaly-foot snail: The armor-plated hermaphrodite with a giant heart that lives near scalding deep-sea volcanoes and never eats
Also known as "volcano snails," these gastropods grow a suit of metal-enriched scaly armor and have an enormous heart, which helps them survive in oxygen-poor water in the deep ocean.
A woman heard a 'pop' during Pilates class. Her spine had sprung a leak.
A woman developed awful headaches after a Pilates class, and their underlying cause was very unusual.
Cancer: Facts about the diseases that cause out-of-control cell growth
Learn facts about cancer, in which abnormal cell growth destroys healthy body tissues.
Diagnostic dilemma: Virus caused a man to have hiccups for days on end
In an unusual case, a man's multiday bout of hiccups was triggered by a respiratory infection.
'The parasite was in the driver's seat': The zombie ants that die gruesome deaths fit for a horror movie
"Once the egg hatches, the ant has only a few weeks of life before it succumbs to the manipulations of its attacker, stumbling away from its home and family and then undergoing decapitation from the inside out."
Flu: Facts about seasonal influenza and bird flu
Learn interesting facts about the flu, a viral infection that targets the respiratory system.
Diagnostic dilemma: A fish bone wandered through a man's abdomen and stabbed his liver
A man went to the hospital several times with gut pain and a fever — and it turned out that his relatively common symptoms had an unusual cause.
Diagnostic dilemma: Speed eating a 7-pound burger sent a man to ER unable to pass gas
A case report highlights one potential danger of competitive speed eating.
Diagnostic dilemma: Teen's improbable pregnancy occurred after oral sex
A teen girl with abdominal pain learned she was pregnant and had conceived under extremely unusual circumstances.
Diagnostic dilemma: One Direction concert left teen with 'crackling' bubbles in her chest
In what doctors called an "extraordinary" case, a teenage girl developed several rare conditions after attending a pop concert.
Diagnostic dilemma: A man ended up in the ER after drinking 6 gallons of milk in 2 days
A man experiencing excessive thirst drank lots of milk, with dangerous consequences.
Diagnostic dilemma: A woman injected herself with venom from a black widow spider
Most exposures to black widow spider venom are accidental, but in a rare medical case, the exposure was intentional.
Diagnostic dilemma: A woman's nut allergy was triggered after sex
A woman with a known nut allergy had a severe allergic reaction after sex, even though her partner bathed and brushed his teeth first. Here's why.
Diagnostic dilemma: A surgeon accidentally transplanted a tumor into his own hand
In an unusual case, a surgeon developed a cancerous lump on his hand that stemmed from an injury he sustained while performing surgery.
Diagnostic dilemma: A man's penis was turning to bone
A man in his 60s went to the emergency room after a fall and ended up being diagnosed with a rare disorder of the penis.
Diagnostic dilemma: A woman got 'broken heart syndrome' after eating too much wasabi
The patient was diagnosed with takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as "broken heart syndrome," which had an unusual cause.
Body parts grown in the lab
In recent years, scientists have successfully grown a range of miniature organs and human body parts in the lab.
