Egypt’s mummies had heart disease

JUNK food and stressful 21st century commuting aren’t the only causes of heart disease – Egyptian mummies as old as 3,500 years suffered from it too.

Cutting-edge computer technology was used to reveal the mummies’s medical problems and suggests that medical experts may have to look beyond modern risk factors to fully understand the disease.

A team of cardiologists examined 20 mummies from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo and Siemens, who sponsored the study, arranged for a computed tomography (CT) scanner to be placed next to the building to avoid injuring the “study subjects”.