Defying the odds, Stephen Hawking outlived his ALS diagnosis by over 50 years

Stephen Hawking's condition explained

Diagnosed with ALS at 21 and told he had two years to live, Stephen Hawking went on to change our understanding of black holes and the universe, living 55 more years and defying every expectation.

Stephen Hawking's final message

Famous cosmologist Stephen Hawking—who lived for half a century after being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease—delivered a final speech just before he died in 2018. In the video, Hawking talks about the importance of science and reason in...

According to his daughter, Stephen Hawking defied early doubts about his intellect

Lucy Hawking details what it was like to be the daughter of the famed cosmologist and what his life looked like from her eyes. Among the anecdotes was Stephen's enjoyment of being on "The Simpsons" because production gave him a wheelchair with helicopter blades.

How Stephen Hawking’s voice became iconic

Stephen Hawking relied on a voice synthesizer after losing the ability to speak due to complications with ALS. Despite technological advances, he refused to change the "Perfect Paul" voice, making it a cornerstone of his public identity.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to a health condition

Gehrig's diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease that now bears his name, forced him to retire early. Weeks later, he spoke with gratitude and stated, "For the past two weeks, you have been reading about a bad break. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Gehrig died at the age of 37, about two years later.

Stephen Hawking's early rowing days shaped the bold persona for which he became known

Before gaining fame as a physicist, Hawking was a coxswain at Oxford, where the sport helped him find his social footing and develop leadership skills, even as his motor neuron disease began to emerge.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Why Hawaiians live longer

Hawaii has the longest life expectancy at birth out of all 50 states, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Key factors include strong healthcare, lots of sunlight, and active lifestyles.

Lung cancer advances are making a big difference

Lung cancer deaths are declining faster than new cases due to advances in treatment. The progress illustrates what is possible, even for a cancer that has long had a poor prognosis.

Super-agers: seniors 80 and above with the memory ability of people in their 50s

Studies show the number one indicator of whether someone is a "super-ager" is not diet or genetics, but the extent of their social relationships. Moreover, scans reveal noticeable physical differences in certain parts of the brain in patients with extensive social networks.

Using AI to restore speech 30 years after a stroke

Through a novel surgical procedure involving electrodes implanted in the brain, along with the help of artificial intelligence, a stroke patient is regaining her ability to speak. This technology converts her thoughts into speech through a digital avatar, allowing her to verbally express herself for the first time in decades.

A Nobel laureate discuss whether stem cells can extend lifespan

Listen to Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka discuss the potential of induced pluripotent stem cells to extend human lifespan. By reprogramming adult cells into embryonic-like stem cells, scientists might be able to rejuvenate tissues and treat age-related diseases—though ethical and safety concerns remain.

A 36-year-old Russian physicist survived a particle accelerator beam to the head

Several safety mechanisms failed during Anatoli Bugorski's inspection of malfunctioning equipment at the U-70 synchrotron, the Soviet Union's largest particle accelerator. Despite receiving as much as 600 times the lethal dose of radiation to the brain, he has shown no intellectual damage and worked until the age of 77.

Steve Jobs tried to treat his cancer with alternative medicine

After Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he reportedly restricted his diet to just fruits or just fruits and vegetables, tried out hydrotherapy, and consulted psychics. There’s compelling evidence about the impact of alternative medicine on cancer patients.

Six-year-old boy in wheelchair surprises his family by walking at his graduation

The young boy was diagnosed with Noonan syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that impacts mobility and development, at just 2 months old. He usually needs a wheelchair or walker to get around, but he shocked and thrilled his parents by standing up to receive his kindergarten diploma.

One man lived with a gene-edited pig kidney for 271 days, a record

In October 2025, Tim Andrews had his gene-edited pig kidney removed because it was no longer working well. He had the transplanted organ for 271 days—surpassing the prior record of a patient who functioned with one for 130 days. Andrews remains on the kidney transplant wait list to receive a donated kidney from a human, but he has a particularly hard-to-match blood type, making it challenging to get the organ.

Post-polio syndrome occurs decades after infection but isn't contagious

Affecting adults who contracted polio as children, this disorder can occur 15 to 40 years later, leading to slow, irreversible muscle weakening. Some research estimates that between 25% and 40% of polio survivors go on to develop this condition.

A super-sniffer smelled her husband's Parkinson's disease years ahead of symptoms

She discovered she could smell diseases, including Parkinson's, tuberculosis, Alzheimer's, cancer, and diabetes. Working with an analytic chemist, she's learned she can smell subtle changes in odor—ones that smell consistent across individuals with the same disorder—even before symptoms manifest.

More than 200 drug trials for Alzheimer's have failed or been abandoned since 2010

The complexity of Alzheimer's disease, coupled with decades of underfunded research efforts, has left patients with little in the way of effective treatments. In recent years, scientists have synthesized several drugs that studies show can slow the progression of Alzheimer's—though the disease itself remains incurable.

Ticks survived 27 years in a lab, including eight without food

Research published in 2022 set a new record for tick longevity. A group of adult African ticks that are normally found in eastern and southern Africa lived in a laboratory for 27 years, including eight without food. What's more, one of the females laid eggs at least four years after the last male died. Most ticks, on average, reportedly live for six months to three years.

As of 2025, most EV batteries retain 95% or more of their range after three years

Data from over 30,000 electric vehicles shows that their batteries are lasting much longer than initially projected, which researchers suggest is due to improved battery management systems and real-world use often being less rigorous than high-performance testing. Cars with 150,000 miles or more that have not had a battery replacement retain at least 83% of their original range.

Meet a 90-year-old who built his own hobbit-inspired house

A retired carpenter built himself a kind-of Hobbit house, and is living comfortably off the grid at 90 years old, tourists notwithstanding. Learn how he did it with this video.

'The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.'

- Boxing champion Muhammad Ali (1942-2016)

Schizophrenia increases heat death risks in several complex ways

Evidence shows that people with schizophrenia have an inherently harder time regulating internal body temperatures. They may also struggle to find safe shelter during extreme heat, and their prescribed antipsychotic medications often have dehydrating effects, collectively elevating the risk of heat-related illness and death, as illustrated by this article that focuses on the final days of Stephan Goodwin's life in 2022. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Explore a list of Nobel Prize winners supported by National Science Foundation grants

As of 2025, 274 Nobel laureates have received funding from the NSF at some point during their careers, including 49 in physiology or medicine, 82 in physics, and 70 in chemistry. The 73 NSF-funded laureates in economics include every prize winner since 1997.

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

Females are diagnosed with MS roughly 3 to 4 times more often than males

This PBS documentary traces a filmmaker's personal journey with MS after being diagnosed at age 26. It encompasses both his efforts to stymie the disease's progression and his search for answers about the disease, when, statistically, he seemed at low risk due to his gender, lack of known family risk, and other factors.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Scientists testing how climate change affects plants found, in a years-long simulation study, that poison ivy grew 70% faster with the resulting extra carbon dioxide.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Apeirophobia is an overwhelming fear of living forever, perhaps stemming from the brain's inability to conceptualize an infinite life.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.