We continue to be awash with COVID stories. But let us cut to the chase. How many annual COVID-19 deaths are the nation prepared to tolerate on a routine basis? Substantial public health efforts have been devoted to reducing these other causes of death; why should COVID be different? Reducing traffic accident deaths by mandating vehicle seat belts comes to mind, for which some 9000 lives were saved each year. How prepared are we to similarly enforce a comprehensive COVID-19 vaccination program?

Should we end anonymity on the Internet to bring civility back? The Great Barrington Declaration, Making a Deal with the Devil, a contrarian opinion on the value of a vegan diet.

Yay! We have another variant. But this time, the scientists who isolated it named it after themselves. Shameless? I say yes.

Hospitals are noisy places. What with the alarms and the interruptions to take medications or check your blood pressure, pulse, or blood sugar. It is challenging for patients to get any real rest. Short of a medically induced coma, is there anything to be done? A new study offers up a possibility.

Hello, nut cases! Have I got a book for you. Comedy writer Dennis DiClaudio's  "The Hypochondriac's Pocket Guide to Horrible Diseases" is both repugnant and hilarious. Here are three (of many) diseases you don't want to catch. Not for the squeamish. Plus some science thrown in. No extra charge.

Are GM crops a tool of "neocolonialism"? The answer is "no." I joined Dr. Kevin Folta on episode 325 of the Talking Biotech Podcast to explain why.

We know that Omicron is more contagious than Delta. Those 30 mutations on the spike protein alter its activities in ways we are just uncovering. A new study suggests that those nasal swabs may be so last year.

There are chemistry teachers all over the U.S. that know this simple truth: chemistry matters in everyday life. Nothing demonstrates this principle more than when you look back at the lead water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

Marie Curie died of aplastic anemia, a disease brought on, in her case, by exposure to a large amount of radiation from both her laboratory work and from her work running field x-ray machines during the First World War. There was no surprise there, given the little known about radiation and its effects on our bodies when she did her early work. But it turns out that it’s not only Marie and Pierre Curie who were contaminated - even her notebooks are stored in a lead box.

As Omicron continues to infect its way across America, let us not forget its viral companion: influenza. How is that working out?