The medical field has advanced significantly compared to where it was fifty years ago, let alone over 1,000 years ago. Although modern technology has allowed us to understand more about the human...
Pandemics and plagues seem to be the flavor of this decade, occurring at regular intervals throughout history. Some pandemics have been nipped in the bud due to effective collective action or by...
When the Spanish crossed the Atlantic and started arriving in hordes to begin their conquest and plunder of the Americas, they had a weapon in their arsenal that they had not anticipated: disease...
In 1494, King Charles VIII of France launched an all-out war against the republics of the Italian peninsula, a watershed moment in history. Within months, 50,000 soldiers from his army had fled, not...
We may have a lot more to thank (or curse) our ancestors for than we realize. When the Black Death or the bubonic plague swept through Europe 700 years ago, it literally killed 50% of the population...
The history of medicine is an amazing tale. Not only that, but a peek beneath the covers can hopefully help us understand some of the bizarre worldviews confronting us today in the realm of...
It wasn’t until the 1970s that scientists developed an effective cure for leprosy . Up until then this terrible disease was feared not just for its awful symptoms, but also for the stigma that came...
When we think of historically significant diseases we tend to think of diseases like the bubonic plague, cholera, tuberculosis, or more recently, COVID-19. These are all diseases that have had almost...
The oldest clinical case of Klinefelter Syndrome has been detected in a 1,000-year-old Portuguese skeleton. Klinefelter Syndrome is a super rare genetic but non-hereditary condition that gives men an...
It is generally accepted among historians that kissing had no one point of origin, but the habit began as a human trend in different regions. The earliest known written record of romantic saliva...
With the recent pandemic and the still-spreading Covid-19 virus, inoculation has become a hot topic throughout several areas of the world. Regardless of what side you’re on, the history of...
An interdisciplinary team of archaeologists and biologists from Oxford University recently completed a study of parasite infections in ancient Britain. Their exhaustive survey covered a period of...
A team of Norwegian scientists have been tracking the evolution of diseases in medieval bodies. Not only have they added to the understanding of how diseases become pandemics, but they’ve revealed...
For centuries, a commonality across the various monarchies of the world was a direct association between the ruler and a higher power. Kings and queens were seen either as God’s Chosen One or, in...
Two colonies of apes have been discovered suffering from leprosy. The so-called “Leper Apes,” some with gruesome skin lesions and rotting body parts, were found in Guinea-Bissau's Cantanhez National...
It is well-known that modern humans interbred with Neanderthals during the time they co-existed in Europe and Asia. A 2018 study revealed an interesting and intriguing detail about that interbreeding...