Surprising Science — March 19, 2011

Despite Obesity, Life Expectancy Rising

We are living longer despite getting fatter, and there is no sign yet that the increase in life expectancy is coming to an end, according to a study from the International Journal of Epidemiology.

bigthinkeditor

Although a completely sedentary lifestyle is dangerous to your health, being a little chubby while living an active life does not dramatically decrease life expectancy. “A baby born today in the West can look forward to between six and eight years of extra life compared with one born in 1970. … Professor David Leon, an expert on population health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who analysed the figures in the International Journal of Epidemiology, said: ‘There is a tendency for people to talk about things going wrong. But it is important the public are made aware that, so far, things are going right.'”

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

▸

7 min

—

with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Surprising Science

Medical Breakthroughs Are a Ruse

Dr. John Ioannidis, a physician-researcher at the University of Ioannina, Greece, claims that up to 90 percent of published medical research that doctors rely on when treating patients is flawed.