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The average human gut is home to perhaps 500 to 1,000 different species of bacteria.
According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, lung disease is the third leading killer in the United States, responsible for one in seven deaths. It is the leading cause of death among infants under the age of one year.
It is believed that the Incas used anesthesia. Evidence supports the theory that shamans chewed cocoa leaves and drilled holes into the heads of patients (letting evil spirits escape), spitting into the wounds they made. The mixture of cocaine, saliva, and resin numbed the site enough to allow hours of drilling.
When blood is exposed to air, it clots. Heparin allows the blood to come in direct contact with air without clotting.
Cancer has been around as long as humankind, but only in the second half of the twentieth century did the number of cancer cases explode.