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I wish I was a little bit taller: How body modification grew to include leg-lengthening

Something Offbeat
Something Offbeat
Episode • Jul 4, 2022 • 11m

A procedure that slowly lengthens a patient's legs and makes them taller has grown in popularity in recent years. Is it just the latest trend in a centuries-long effort to modify our bodies, or is technology pushing the pace of human physical evolution?

From tattoos and gauging to botox and surgeries, Rebecca Lester, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, explains that as long as we have recorded history, humans have been altering their appearance.

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