In 2017 I did an extensive search of Cochrane Reviews that addressed the efficacy (lack, really) of Tylenol (acetaminophen) in controlling pain. With few exceptions, it did little or nothing. In the six ensuing years, there have been more published data on the efficacy of the drug. And the message is the same.

“Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.” It is a concept entangled in both Chinese and Japanese culture, and while difficult to explain well, especially for a novice understander like myself. It is a way of understanding, a particular lens on life.

It is increasingly clear that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to transform our lives in myriad ways, from weather prediction to military planning and in innumerable medical applications. I recently encountered first-hand a new, significant advance – the use of AI to improve the detection of lesions during colonoscopies.

“Policymakers embrace the neat, plausible, and wrong explanation for the overdose crisis because it is easier than accepting the inconvenient truth.”

A new study of associations between incident dementia and air pollution caught my attention because air pollution studies like this have been driving me toward dementia for decades. Let’s unpack their findings.

If alien life does not resemble ET or the Lead Alien in the eponymous movie, how will we recognize them once we meet? Assembly theory may offer a clue.

The consumption of raw oysters is being discouraged in the New York area, thanks to the appearance of Vibrio vulnificus, aka, the flesh-eating bacteria. Although Vibriosis is (thankfully) very rare, it can also be very serious, even deadly. The exceptionally warm ocean temperatures this summer have allowed the bacteria to spread northward, where there has been one confirmed death from raw oysters and two others from skin infections. Is there anything to worry about here?

A new study suggests that 25% of “marginalized” patients – Black, Hispanic, or insured by Medicaid – were “jumped over” by the less ill, or those arriving later in emergency departments. Are these disparities the result of the social construct of race? Could it be a “racism or classism” of institutions or personnel? Or could the term disparity be used to by authors to jump the publication line – to sooner rather than later?

According to the Affordable Care Act, anyone needing emergency care is entitled to treatment. In 1985, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) was enacted to provide federal protection. Even so, insurers have tried to get around covering emergency services. The federal government has now muscled up, suing insurers for denying emergency coverage.

To space and beyond
A tale of statistics
Are we part of Earth’s microbiome?
The astronomical cost of drugs for rare orphan diseases