We're a decade into the "opioid crisis" and some people still cannot understand that prescription pain pills are, at worst, minor contributors. Yet the war against prescription analgesics goes on. This time it's Elizabeth Warren (and colleagues) who just don't get it. The Massachusetts Senator is pushing the DEA to allow partial refills of pills to reduce overdose deaths. What a ridiculous idea.

In 1938 the FDA was given regulatory authority over experimental drugs. But it wasn't until 1961 that it regulated clinical trials and their methods. In 1954, a foundation performed a methodologically controversial trial with 1.6 million children, ages 6 to 8. It was called the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis's Salk Vaccine Trial. As we hurdle at "warp speed" to a COVID-19 vaccine, perhaps we can reflect on how much has changed, or not, in our search for safe, effective vaccines.

In 2020, empirically determined knowledge is only considered true if it first passes a litmus test -- not the geeky pH variety but the obnoxious political one. The results are as absurd and dangerous as you'd imagine, particularly when it involves COVID and cable news.

In this month's round-up, you'll find that we've been writing about and discussing a range of topics, from the ever-present dangers and complexities of the coronavirus to the need for accurate scientific journalism. And not only are we laser-focused on the deadly force of the tiny microbe, we've also got our eye on that big, wandering moose. What do we mean by that? Read on.

There is something uniquely human about blaming someone else for our problems – so much the better if you can sue someone for causing them. COVID-19 doesn't change the calculus. 
Since the epidemic began, we've already seen four breeds of lawsuits emerge:

It's no secret that football players of all ages regularly experience head impacts and are at elevated risk for a concussion. Concern over the long-term consequences of multiple sub-concussive hits has increased public interest in new products to keep athletes safe from brain damage. However, this market space is filled with products rooted in pseudoscience. Let's take a look.

While there is much back and forth around how aerosols may impact the "correct" social distance, this has been a great concern to anesthesiologists, nurses, and technicians who have to place breathing tubes into patients (intubation) requiring mechanical ventilators. After all, they are only a few inches away from those respiratory aerosols, and they have no other way to be more socially or professionally distant. A new study should bring them, and us, some ease of mind. 

An Australian group has examined how long coronavirus can exist on different surfaces and at different temperatures. What does this really mean?

Even innovative-sounding equipment cannot stop concussions in contact sports. Unfortunately, we may not know if long-term brain damage can actually be limited by new technologies until it is too late.

There was never much evidence in favor of using hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a treatment for COVID. Now, a trial involving over 4,700 patients definitively proves that HCQ does not work.