A baby elephant struggles to climb out of a dam before being rescued by rangers at Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa in the last decade of March 2025, having been pushed into the water by another elephant. (Photo by Anne Laing/Caters News Agency)

Cape fox cubs play fight in the last decade of May 2025 in the Kalahari Desert, South Africa, their silver and yellow fur camouflaging them in the desert. (Photo by John Mullineux/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Serbia's Milica Mijatovic falls during the Women's World Cup Group H qualifying soccer match between Serbia and Germany at Sports Center of FA of Serbia stadium in Stara Pazova, near Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (Photo by Darko Vojinovic/AP Photo)

A dog stands inside a voting booth as people vote during European Parliament and municipal elections, in Budapest, Hungary, on June 9, 2024. (Photo by Marton Monus/Reuters)

LCR Honda IDEMITSU's Japanese rider Takaaki Nakagami crashes in the second MotoGP free practice session of the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimao, on April 16, 2021. (Photo by Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP Photo)

(L–R) Unknown, Alan Jones, Chrissie Hynde, Vivienne Westwood and punk fashion icon Jordan at Kings Road fashion shop «Sеx» run by Westwood and Malcolm McLaren in London, United Kingdom, 1976. (Photo by David Dagley/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Winner of the National Park Foundation's photo contest; Honorable Mention: Fan Favorite. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Three friends enjoy sunrise over the Grand Canyon. (Photo by Peter Blanchard)

“The most serious health problem in the U.S. today is obesity.” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But that pronouncement about obesity’s primacy in the hierarchy of national health problems is not new. Rather, it’s the opening line to a remarkable article published 60 years ago in LIFE magazine. This photographs made by Martha Holmes to illustrate that March 1954 article, titled “The Plague of Overweight.” Photo: Dorothy Bradley (left), photographed for LIFE magazine article on obesity, 1949. (Photo by Martha Holmes/Time & Life Pictures)