A surprisingly large percentage of physicians have recommended vaping as a safer alternative to their smoking patients, a new study shows. The results suggest that many doctors have parted ways with the abstinence-only approach to smoking cessation championed by tobacco-control activists.

Imagine running long enough to get out of breath, long enough to be winded for a minute or two. Now imagine that same need for air after walking from your bedroom to the kitchen. That is the lived experience of individuals with severe respiratory illness, like the on-the-job illness we call black lung disease.

Epidemiological studies have reported statistically significant relationships between long-term air pollution and mortality over the past 50 years, frequently without controlling for smoking. Smoking is perhaps the strongest actionable risk factor in our longevity, and despite dramatic declines, it remains so in modern society. Smoking more than one pack per day can double the risk of all-cause mortality and increase lung cancer risk at least 10-fold.

Ukrainians are being urged to get their hands on a supply of potassium iodide for radiation sickness in case Vladimir Putin uses a nuclear weapon. Does iodide work? The short answer is yes – but for only one cancer.

The debate over when to lift mask mandates continues. The CDC extended mask guidance on airplanes, among other forms of mass transit, for an additional two weeks. The war over masks in elementary school continues to be waged. A new model attempts to provide more data on the interaction of the three horsemen of non-pharmaceutical intervention, face masks, room ventilation, and distance in short and long-range airborne transmission.

Rembrandt Foods is closed … again. It has sent their employees home and is sitting idle as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) claims the lives of over 5 million laying hens. This Iowa liquid egg producer also shut down in 2015, when waterfowl migrating up the Mississippi flyway brought the HPAI strain to their barns and flocks.

As earth day approaches, activist groups have amplified their predictions of an impending environmental disaster. A brief survey of the evidence shows that the situation isn't nearly as dire as they claim.

Socioeconomic risk factors have gotten much attention as they relate to disparities in health outcomes. Lower income, lower educational attainment, and so-called lifestyle issues – drinking, smoking, eating, and exercise – seem to be fellow travelers. A new mediation analysis seeks to disentangle them and point us toward the real drivers of health disparity.

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) has produced some eight million children since its inception in 1978 with the birth of Louise Brown. But, like many novel technologies, problems abound - including errors and malfeasance on the part of the very lucrative IVF industry, which in the US is virtually unregulated. The novel technology, its problems, related lawsuits, and lack of legal redress in some cases raise essential questions about the value of a human life.

Every day of the week, surgeons stand before their peers to discuss and explain the most recent bad outcomes. It is part of our training and our work. As we continue to discuss and explain the public health, behavioral, and political choices during the pandemic, those weekly surgical conversations about morbidity and mortality can give us some insight into how we respond to what went right and what went wrong.