Real surgical footage reveals what arthritis looks like up close

Anatomy of a healthy knee joint

To understand arthritis, study a normal joint. Where two bones come together, each is lined by a cartilage cap. These bones are linked together by strong ligaments. The inner juncture is lined by a joint capsule (synovial membrane) containing lubricating joint fluid between the two surfaces, allowing for near-frictionless motion.

Visualizing a joint under attack from rheumatoid arthritis

A particularly difficult arthritis subtype is rheumatoid arthritis, a painful condition provoking a vicious cycle of joint inflammation, destruction, and dysfunction. It begins with a misfiring of the patient’s own immune system—for unknown reasons, it identifies joint and cartilage cells as foreign, initiating an attack to eliminate the supposed "invaders."

Arthritis explained, with Dr. Nick Golinvaux

Arthritis, a condition affecting millions globally, is more than just joint pain—it’s a breakdown of cartilage that cushions bones, leading to stiffness, swelling, and discomfort. While often associated with aging, arthritis can affect people of all ages, especially after injuries. Though there’s no cure yet, treatments range from medication and physical therapy to surgical interventions like joint replacements.

Diagnosis and treatment of hip and knee osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis, resulting from age-related degeneration of the soft cartilage lining between bones. As this layer breaks down, the normal smooth motion between bones is lost and the joint becomes painful.

Limb regeneration research may lead to treatments for arthritis

For scientists pursuing the cure for arthritis, the holy grail of discoveries lies in how to regrow healthy cartilage inside human joints. While this feat has so far resisted our best scientific attempts, there are plenty of other human tissues—such as the liver and fingertips—that will successfully regenerate.

Kangaroos evolved exceptionally thick knee cartilage to absorb shock

There is significant conflict in the medical field regarding chronic arthritis. Some advocate for keeping the joint as active as possible while others argue progressive overuse leads to worsening arthritis. To settle the score, scientists have looked outside the human population, discovering kangaroos rarely suffer from arthritis in their knees.

The collapse of gas bubbles in the joint synovial fluid causes 'cracking' knuckles

The human population can be divided into two categories: those who crack their knuckles and those who don't. Do you know the technical term for this phenomenon is "tribonucleation?" What actually happens inside a knuckle when it pops? This visual explainer breaks down finger joint popping in real time.

Watch patient stories describing life with macular degeneration

This video series features patients discussing their experiences with the disorder, family members describing caregiving, and other insights about the disease.

Watch these fact checks of medical missteps in the show 'Grey's Anatomy'

This roughly 10-minute video seeks to highlight both medical and filming errors in the popular medical television show "Grey's Anatomy." Inaccurate medical moments in the show include mistakes in surgical procedures, wearing jewelry during surgery, and confusing cirrhosis—which is a scarring condition that damages the liver—with psoriasis, a skin condition.

This is what happens inside your body when you're sick

This video details the biology of what happens inside the human body during illness.

An analysis on using VR to help train orthopedic surgeons

Virtual reality simulation provides surgical trainees with an immersive 3D experience that allows them to practice skills and operations in a safe yet realistic environment.

Explore human anatomy with these beautiful images

The Human Organ Atlas offers detailed 3D images of dozens of human organs. It was created with very bright X-rays from a particle accelerator, which is formally called a synchroton imaging method.

A fictional glimpse into the future of AR

Hyper-Reality is a project that presents a provocative and kaleidoscopic new vision of the future, where physical and virtual realities have merged, and the city is saturated in media. Watch this six-minute video to experience the vision.

Watch an animation of Arctic sea ice grow to its maximum

Each year, Arctic sea ice freezes over millions of square miles amid colder temperatures. This 1-minute animation depicts that process using data from the winter of 2022-23.

Why surgeons implant teeth into eyes

What if the thing that restored your vision… was your own tooth? That’s exactly what happened to Brent Chapman. After 20 years without sight, a bizarre surgery using his tooth as a lens restored his vision.

See images of medical cases of firework injuries shared on this 'Instagram for doctors.' (Warning: Graphic content)

See the differences between chickenpox and hand, foot, and mouth

This helpful explainer breaks down the differences between these two contagious, viral diseases, which both present with fevers and sores. It includes photos of the sores that are characteristic of both diseases, showing how they have appeared across different skin tones to better inform people looking for information about their own loved one's symptoms.

What it takes to become a professional jockey

This short documentary follows a young, amateur jockey through early mornings and exhaustive gym sessions, where she rides a simulator made to look like real horses. It's a peek into a highly specialized (and highly unusual) athletic pursuit.

The science of symmetry | The Royal Society

Nature is full of symmetries, from spiral galaxies to florets of broccoli. So why do complex creatures break the pattern?This short video discusses why symmetry came to dominate life on Earth, and how many complex life forms, such as humans, transitioned from radial to lateral symmetry.

Famous Bigfoot footage stabilized using AI

Famous 1967 footage of a Sasquatch-like creature in a California forest has been stabilized using AI, clearly revealing the Bigfoot-esque creature to be a man in a suit.

Cosmetic surgery during the Edwardian era

This 23-minute video explores cosmetic surgery in the United Kingdom during the Edwardian era, from about 1901 to 1914. Reconstructive surgery already existed by then, though it wasn't considered elective as it was used to repair damage suffered...

Hear examples of what tinnitus can sound like to those suffering from it

This video, from a Scottish branch of the UK National Health Service, features different types of ringing, crackling, and other sounds that tinnitus sufferers experience. Individual responses to such phantom sounds may vary widely.

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

What do archaeologists actually do?

Movies and other media show them digging a bit, maybe fighting off artifact smugglers, but what archaeologists actually do? Using a variety of tools and sciences, archaeologists are able to get a glimpse into humanity's past. This article explains what work is like for everyday archaeologists.

Photography and video are prohibited in the Supreme Court—but artists are not

Because cameras are banned inside the Supreme Court of the United States, courtroom artists document proceedings through sketches. This exhibition features works from 1964 to today, capturing the human drama of landmark cases and shaping how Americans visualize justice.

YouTube's first video was grainy video of co-founder Jawed Karim at the zoo

Some 500 hours of content are posted to YouTube every minute. The video at the beginning of that massive growing stream of content is this one—"Me at the Zoo." Uploaded in April 2005 by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, it shows him at the San Diego Zoo talking about elephants.

What is the most painful thing in the world?

Pain is famously difficult to quantify, and though our response to it may be subjective, most pain does have underlying objective causes. So what's the most painful thing of all? Many say childbirth, or a broken femur, but this article lays out one case for why, of all things, kidney stones may be the most painful experience. Prepare yourself to find out here.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope, though it sometimes twists and can resemble a bowl of spaghetti.

Animal phobias are likely the most common type of phobias, followed by an extreme fear of heights.

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

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

Poison ivy's characteristic rash is caused by an allergic response to an oily compound in the plant called urushiol.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.