As we people of the modern world grow heavier by the year, we have developed a growing interest in our morbid obesity. Or a morbid interest in our growing obesity. Our curiosity is justified: obesity is firmly linked to poor health. As a result, there’s a massive, and growing, industry dedicated to helping us, or at least promising to help us, lose weight. But like most stories about metabolism, it’s complicated. One aspect that is not well understood is the relationship of exercise, physical exertion, to obesity.… Read the rest “Obesity: What’s exercise got to do with it?”
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life expectancy — what does it mean?
How long can you expect to live? The answer to that question is all about statistics and probabilities: some of us will die this year, some of us will live to 100. But what, exactly, do the statistics folks mean by ‘life expectancy’? It turns out to be a little complicated.
‘Life expectancy at birth’, a term we often see, doesn’t represent anything real: it’s a statistical creation. But when you understand it, it makes sense.… Read the rest “life expectancy — what does it mean?”