Some experts have argued that America's expensive, inefficient health care system is to blame for our intense vaccine hesitancy. While this is a plausible explanation, it misses the key problem—the politicization of medicine, along with almost everything else in our culture.

The DEA just issued a Public Safety Alert about the presence of deadly doses of illicit fentanyl in counterfeit pills, something that has been known for years. Why the delay? Dr. Jeffrey Singer of the Cato Institute (and an ACSH advisor) explains.

As a society, we are increasingly overweight. Some argue that it isn't weight; we're just big-boned. Others say that excess pounds do not equate with being either unfit or unhealthy. Can you be healthy and significantly overweight? What does "science" say?

Beauty and personal care products are a vast industry, for both women and men. In 2019, the personal care products industry generated sales of $49.2 billion in the U.S., and $380 billion globally. Women spend an average of $35/month, while men spend an average of $29/mo. Some believe these products pose significant risks to our health. Is this another case of a big fear and little risk?

The constant barrage of news, cloaked in attention-getting words and images, is playing havoc with instinctual behavior that is millions of years old. There is, for me, a direct connection between fight or flee, chronic stress, and how we have chosen to use the medium of digital communication. Digital media is an out-of-control fear machine.

Here's the news, straight from the headlines: “70% of fully vaccinated prisoners caught COVID-19 in a Texas Delta outbreak, the CDC says — but vaccines protected against severe disease.” This is not misleading; just incomplete. It was a choice to report the easy narrative, rather than digging deeper. Here's what information was overlooked.

Japanese consumers now have access to a genetically engineered -- specifically, a CRISPR-edited -- tomato that can help prevent high blood pressure. Hopefully, it's one of many gene-edited products we'll begin to see in grocery stores around the world.

Whether the source is carbohydrates, protein, or fat, a calorie is a calorie. New dietary math based on the microbiome says that a calorie may get eaten– not by us – but by our bacterial companions, altering the balance needed to reduce one’s weight.

Remdesivir, an antiviral drug with the potential to treat COVID, has been largely ignored since its "introduction" to the world at the beginning of COVID. It just didn't seem to work very well. But data from a Phase 3 trial by Gilead was a surprise. The drug, when given to COVID patients in a non-hospital setting, did a very good job of keeping them out of the hospital. Here's a summary of the clinical data.

Shane Ellison, the self-proclaimed "People's Chemist," has a lot to say about chemistry, drugs, and vaccines. Let's see if he knows what he's talking about.