The leaves are turning beautiful colors, the air is crisp and pumpkin spice lattes are back. Simply put, moving from September into October could perhaps be the best time of the year. But no matter how much fun we're having on the side, we never lose our focus on defending good science. Here's where we appeared in recent weeks.

As our population ages and our medical care improves, we have increasing numbers of frail patients. The frail require gentler, longer, and frequently more expensive care. A new study looks at these outcomes.

From a public health perspective, what's the biggest preventable cause of cancer? Pesticides? Poor diet? Pollution? UV light? No, no, no, and nope. It's tobacco, by far. Obesity and infectious diseases are #2 and #3.

A new study looks at how the American diet has changed after 17 years of cajoling. It's time to begin thinking outside the box -- pizza or otherwise.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, having virtually eliminated the diversion of prescription pain relievers into the underground market for nonmedical users, appears to be setting its sights on regulating the medical management of pain, a mission not suited for law enforcement.

Vaxart, a biopharmaceutical company, is working on a vaccine for the dreaded norovirus. The company just released its Phase Ib results. Did it work? Our lips are sealed. But here are some thoughts on its chances for success.

Antibiotic resistance is spotty. If you are hospitalized in New York and you acquire a Gram-negative infection in the hospital, there is a reasonable chance it will be caused by a highly resistant pathogen. If you go to a hospital in New Hampshire or Vermont, there is almost no chance for that to happen. ACSH advisor Dr. David Shlaes explains.

Since nails can be an important source of health information, it is important to keep them in tip-top shape. To do so, you may want to note the following do's and don’ts and facts and myths.

In 2017, ACSH interviewed Dr. Harvey Friedman (pictured) from the Infectious Disease Division of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. We discussed his group's prophylactic herpes vaccine. The animal data generated since then have been eye-opening, and the group is preparing for human clinical trials. If it succeeds it would be the first successful herpes vaccine in 100 years of research.

Genetic engineering, despite its numerous contributions to our health and welfare, continues to face opposition, and sometimes from unexpected sources. The most recent "boogeymen" are genetically modified mosquitoes, which are a critical innovation for protecting us from some very nasty viral diseases. Dr. Henry Miller explains.