Discussions of “climate change” or “global warming” tend to focus on increasing temperatures in summer, especially the current run of severe heat waves.  The 85-page summary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report mentions “winter” only once, the surname of one of the authors, but the adverse health effects of cold winters have long been recognized. Can the health benefits of warmer winters compensate for the damaging effects of hotter summers? 

The FDA is allowing women over-the-counter access to one brand of one form of birth control pill. But the agency should follow the advice of medical experts and let women exercise their right to self-medicate with all hormonal contraceptives.

Tori Bowie, a 2016 US Olympian, died from complications of childbirth; Serena Williams experienced a pulmonary embolism after delivery that was initially ignored. According to the World in Data, US maternal mortality per 100,000 live births lies “comfortably” less than in Grenada but more than in Latvia or Puerto Rico. Let’s get behind the headlines, and delve deeper into a “preventable” problem.

It is a palliative care initiative in which clinicians inquire about and implement final wishes for patients who are expected to die imminently. The staff recognize that in their final hours, most people have fears, regrets, and maybe a last, often simple wish.

Although Kansas' effort to prevent drug-impaired driving is admirable, the method the state is using to detect it is flawed. SoToxa, Abbott's hand-held analytical device can rapidly detect and identify common drugs in saliva but gives no information about the amount of drug present. I predict this will cause all kinds of problems

According to the common narrative, ultra-processed foods are evil, unhealthy, and unnatural. But a new contrarian study in the Journal of Nutrition demonstrates that a diet containing 91% ultra-processed foods was far healthier than the typical American diet and, get this, well aligned with Dietary Guidelines for Americans. When it comes to shaming and blaming UPFs, the emperor has no clothes.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently concluded that the popular artificial sweetener aspartame, widely used in foods and diet drinks, is “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” an alarming conclusion because aspartame is used in thousands of low-calorie products. However, another WHO organization, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), concluded that it is safe to consume aspartame. Can we make sense of the conflicting conclusions?

The FDA has finally allowed women to have access to one brand of one form of birth control. it’s time for them to follow the advice of the medical experts, and allow women access to all forms of hormonal contraceptives.

Roundabouts vs. traffic lights
Françoise Gilot and Jonas Salk
Where will all the gas stations go?
Those dangerous lithium batteries

While some extol the psychological benefits of psychedelics and bemoan their unavailability, at least one FDA-approved agent with psychedelic properties, Ketamine, does exist. The problem is that it is being abused- and oversight is wanting.