Skip to content
Surprising Science

Swallowing Foreign Bodies

The weird things we swallow and a wonderful man who dedicated much of his life to removing odd objects from people’s insides are the subject of the new book “Swallow.”
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

The new book, “Swallow,” is a remarkable testament to the strangeness of the human experience, and our ability to swallow. Mary Cappello uncovers the stories of the odd objects people ingest and Dr. Chevalier Jackson, a man who dedicated much of his life to removing them from people’s insides. He saved thousands of people’s lives by perfecting a technique that most people were too trepidatious or didn’t have the patience to develop; he used broncoscopes without anesthesia to enter the delicate passageways of the upper torso and treat each foreign body as a unique mechanical problem.

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Related

Up Next