These local markets are the revival tents of fresh food seekers, part of the “buy-local-eat-healthy” movement, offering personal interactions between growers and consumers. But this dirt-to-dinner arrangement presents food safety issues and handling challenges for growers, small food businesses, and consumers.

Phosphorous was selected by Mother Nature to be the element responsible for holding together all genetic material. As its phosphate form, it is the basis for life. But a small modification of phosphate will take that life away quite efficiently - Sarin. Oh, yes - it's time for The Dreaded Chemistry Lesson From Hell!

Being an inspector for Michelin, the origins of the CT scan, the hygiene hypothesis appears as a call for biodiversity, the politics of writing about science in the age of COVID

A new report from a Congressional subcommittee concludes "that commercial baby foods contain dangerous levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium." While these products inevitably contain tiny quantities of these heavy metals, which are ubiquitous in nature, baby foods generally pose minimal risk to young children.

It's intuitive that a robust immune response to COVID-19 will result in a less severe, even asymptomatic infection. A new study puts some numbers to the term "robust."

YouTube announced last week that it's banning a number of high-profile anti-vaccine activists from its platform. The policy shift is meant to stem the spread of misinformation, but it raises some troubling questions. Most important among them: is more censorship worth the cost it imposes on society?

The following is a compendium of articles and op-eds I have written since 2013. It is an updated version of "Analyzing The Opioid Crisis: 65 Articles By Dr. Josh Bloom," which was published in 2019.

Statins, which are used in treating heart disease, are among the most widely prescribed medications in the U.S. Diabetes is associated with a very high risk of heart disease. So the thinking has been that a pre-emptive statin, before heart symptoms appear, would be beneficial for those patients. But statins accelerate the progression of diabetes. A new study tries to determine their downsides.

The anti-GMO movement is gradually campaigning itself into irrelevance. Unfortunately, this positive trend has been slowed by public universities that pay activists exorbitant speaking fees to promote their questionable ideas. This is but one example of taxpayers subsidizing ideological advocacy with potentially serious consequences.

The other week, our Dr. Bloom tooted out an article on the gaseous composition of flatulence, or farts. Just a week later, an academic meeting of gastroenterologists took up the same issue. Time for a scientific update!