Physicians frequently overestimate the probability that a diagnosis or intervention would be helpful. Are they overly optimistic? Are the cynical correct in assuming that optimism hides a conflict of interest? Or are physicians no better than most of us at the mathematics of probability? A new study suggests we are not receiving a passing grade in that course.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, is a horrible disease. Last week in a reversal of a decision the FDA made just a few months ago, their external advisory board approved a “novel” drug for ALS. What changed?

China is 'seeding' clouds to increase rainfall and fight a severe drought. Will it work? A large body of research shows that soda taxes are ineffective, so why do public health experts continue to endorse them? Finally, has climate change increased the number of heart attacks we suffer? No.

Some 400,000 people attended Woodstock 99 in Rome, New York. The weekend-long music festival ended in preventable disaster, and it offers an important lesson to policymakers and activists eager to ban important technologies.

Most of my dieting or weight-conscious friends rely on the bevy of artificial sweeteners on the market to aid their quest of finding “their svelte outer selves.” For example, we have saccharin, the oldest of the bunch, sucralose, aspartame, and stevia, available in rainbow-pastel-colored packets for the asking. Is one better than the other?

When it comes to assaults, firearms get much attention, although there are many other means of mayhem. That includes knives in stabbings and using blunt objects, including fists; guns are just the most efficient at causing injury and death. A new study looks at the healthcare costs for assaults. Why should you care? Because in the world of city budgets, we should at least consider these expenses when we redefine where policing policies are directed. 

Parkinson’s Disease is one of several degenerative diseases in our neurologic system. It has a celebrity patient, Michael J. Fox. Still, with a million patients living with the disease in the US and sixty thousand new diagnoses annually, it lacks a biomarker to aid in early detection. An artificial intelligence program looking at nocturnal breathing may change that and, ultimately, how we care for these patients.

There are thousands of chemicals, mostly dyes, used to create tattoos. Some of them are known carcinogens. Although the tattoo-cancer link is weak, people who are worried can get them removed. But the lasers that remove tattoos react with some inks and produce a different set of carcinogens—a strange but interesting problem.

1988 Seoul, South Korea. Olympic diver Greg Louganis attempts a reverse two-and-a-half pike and hears a “big hollow thud…” his head hitting the springboard. [1] A few stitches and he returns to ultimately claim the Gold Medal. Not all of us are that lucky. Can physics help us understand the risks?

Catastrophism in the media and our lives
Friendship and politics
Why do Americans own so many guns