Economists and policy analysts have long understood that enforcing drug prohibition indirectly increases the drug overdose rate. Now there’s empirical evidence showing it directly increases the overdose rate as well.

“As the field of transgender health care has transitioned from pathologizing patients to a gender-affirming and patient-centered model and from an understanding of gender as binary to a fuller picture of gender as a spectrum, its associated diagnoses have similarly evolved.” An article in JAMA’s newest spinoff, Journal of Ethics, tries to explore the benefits and problems of a medical diagnosis.

Paratek, an antibiotic biotech first established in 1996 has finally met its end. Its story is long, sad, predictable, predicted and its end completely preventable.

New York State's legislators are about to place drastic restrictions on neonicotinoids ("neonics"), a popular, safe, and effective class of pesticides. They're putting the bogus claims of activists ahead of the welfare of consumers and farmers. Let's hope Governor Hochul will be more sensible and veto the bill.

The media have sounded smoke alarms throughout the Northeast this week, for good reason. We haven’t seen air this bad since the 1960s when heavy (and dirty) fuel oil was the heating medium of choice. The main culprit was particulate matter from black smoke, especially severe in the winter heating seasons. Now we see dirty skies emanating from Canadian forest fires transported by unfavorable wind conditions.

A recent study linking marijuana use to schizophrenia attracted widespread attention. Now that the excitement has died down, let's take a closer look at the science. How does Pfizer's weight-loss pill compare to Ozempic, the obesity treatment beloved by celebrities the world over?

Even as the Surgeon General bemoans the dangers of social media to young people, several states are enacting laws allowing those 14 and over to work without permits, reversing child labor laws enacted almost a century ago. How did we get to the point of curtailing the protection of our most vulnerable segment of the population?

Color me concerned?
Walking About
What does Saudi Arabia have in common with Arizona?
Does the duck-rabbit illusion explain our polarization?

With the growing concern – especially in the Northeast – about the air pollution now coming from the Canadian forest fires, we thought it would be worthwhile to address the potential health effects, especially the difference between acute and chronic.
Most of the daily air pollution studies on health have focused on statistical significance to establish the existence of the phenomenon, which has already been shown by the Great London Fog of 1952, during which black smoke levels increased about 10-fold, and thousands died over several days. The scientific community would be better served by addressing epidemiological and physiological questions.

Let us consider Nature's remaining proposals to reclaim and reset the Biosphere and aerosol pollution. The authors challenged us to read their proposals and then discuss them. In the spirit of that challenge, I have let them do the talking (to be found in the quotes). But I do want to share a few final thoughts.