Why Do We Stop Growing? (The Man Who Was Still Growing at 28)

In June 1940, doctors measured Robert Wadlow at 2.72 metres: the tallest human ever measured, 22 years old, and still growing. Eighteen days later he was dead. So why did you stop, when your body still makes growth hormone every night? For the next ten minutes, you're eleven, with your growth plates wide open. We follow them from a pencil line on a door frame and a baby that grows in bursts to Stephen Hales' chicken in 1727, a countdown inside your bones, rabbits that caught up, opera singers who kept growing, a giant's legs… and a twist about a hormone you'd never suspect. Chapters: 0:00 Cold open: the tallest man ever measured 1:23 The fastest you ever grew 2:27 Where bones grow 3:29 The countdown 4:31 The puzzle 5:09 The singers who kept growing 6:33 What if you never stopped? 7:43 The hormone you'd never suspect 8:53 So why? Sources: Smith et al. 1994 (NEJM); Carani et al. 1997 (NEJM); Weise, De-Levi & Baron 2001 (PNAS); Nilsson & Baron 2004; Lui & Baron 2011; Gafni et al. 2001; Lampl et al. 1992 (Science); Hales 1727; de Herder & Raymond 2023; Galileo 1638. The full list is in the video folder's SOURCES.md. Subscribe for more stories like this.