Just about 10 years ago, ACSH published the first edition of our booklet Celebrities vs. Science, calling out a number of well-known personalities for promulgating non-scientific nonsense. Unfortunately, that trend has continued, as a new essay points out.

Somebody is pulling a conceptual fast-one over those gullible enough to believe it, both on and off the ice. It's the selling of a false reality, rooted in a baseless premise that changing a uniform's color can make athletes skate faster. Absurd doesn't begin to describe this.

For those with celiac disease, everything that enters into their bodies must be assessed for the presence of gluten. A new recommendation from FDA extends this precaution from food ingredients to oral medications. 

The FDA really doesn't want you taking pain meds. How strong is the agency's position on this? Pretty strong – enough to recommend that physicians receive extra education in alternative pain management methods. While that's fine in theory, one of the methods happens to be acupuncture, which is not fine at all.

When it comes to medical developments, it was an exciting year in the pursuit of what was once impossible. Here are some top picks that genuinely are changing the medical and tech landscape.

Wasting food, a precious resource, is bad. Does French regulation make for less waste? Or could there be an equally simple free-market solution?
 

The senior senator from Arizona, diagnosed with brain cancer in July, was hospitalized for "normal side effects of his ongoing cancer therapy." Here's what that means.

Injuries aren't always what they seem, and not all scars and bruises are the same. They can tell a very different story. For instance, are you certain that item you re-tweeted of suspected abuse was actually that?

Typically, the peer review process is "single-blind," meaning that reviewers are aware of an author's identity. Yet it can also be "double-blind," where neither the author nor the reviewers know each other's identity. But, bottom line: Does knowing who wrote a paper influence the reviewer's opinion of it? 

Researchers say they have "gained crucial insights" as to the brain's inner-workings and how stuttering manifests itself. This moves the scientific community one step closer to a cure for a condition that affects 1 in 100 adult Americans, and 5 percent of all children for stretches of at least six months.