Yellow stool usually means one of three things: food moved through your digestive tract too fast, bile is not reaching your intestines the way it should, or something in your diet or medications changed the color. In most cases it is temporary and harmless. But yellow stool that keeps coming back, or that comes with … Read more

Every time you remember a name, learn a new skill, or recall where you parked your car, a tiny molecular event is happening in your brain. That event depends on a receptor called AMPA. AMPA receptors are protein structures on the surface of brain cells that respond to the neurotransmitter glutamate. They are central to … Read more

Rotten teeth can’t be reversed, but they can be repaired. A dentist removes the decayed portion of the tooth and rebuilds what’s left with a filling, a crown, or another restoration. The right fix depends on how much healthy tooth remains and how deep the decay goes. Ignoring it never works — decay keeps spreading … Read more

Few things interrupt a good night’s sleep or a long walk faster than a sudden, tight knot in your foot. Foot cramps happen when the muscles in your foot contract on their own and will not relax. That involuntary tightening is called a muscle cramp, and it usually strikes the arch, the toes, or the … Read more

Walk down any grocery store oil aisle and you will see bottles labeled “heart healthy,” “cold-pressed,” and “light.” Some of those claims hold up. Others do not. The oils most consistently linked to health harm are partially hydrogenated oils, which contain artificial trans fats. Next in line are heavily reused frying oils and certain highly … Read more

Mortar removal comes down to two things: what the mortar is made of, and what surface it is stuck to. Fresh mortar can often be scrubbed off with water and a stiff brush. Hardened cement-based mortar needs a chemical or mechanical approach matched to the surface. Brick, natural stone, and ceramic tile each tolerate different … Read more

Measuring a gestational sac comes down to one simple idea: you measure the same fluid-filled space three times, in three perpendicular directions, then average the results. The three diameters are length, width, and height, each taken from the inner edge of the sac wall to the opposite inner edge. That average is called the mean … Read more

Slippery elm is a traditional remedy made from the inner bark of the slippery elm tree. People take it for acid reflux because its mucilage — a gel-like substance that forms when the bark meets water — can coat the throat and esophagus and may ease the burning feeling of reflux. The safest way to … Read more

Pressing on the area between your legs can quiet a sudden poop urge because that spot sits right on top of the pudendal nerve and the pelvic floor muscles that control your anal sphincter. Pressure there sends a competing signal up the same nerve pathway that is telling your body to go. The brain reads … Read more

A full adult mouth holds 32 teeth, including four wisdom teeth. Most people end up with 28 working teeth if those wisdom teeth are removed. That number is stable and well established. What changes from person to person is how many of those teeth stay in the mouth over a lifetime. Tooth loss is common … Read more