A mixed success record, abuse, regulatory mismanagement, and unintended consequences. Combined, these make the case that the Endangered Species Act is not working as intended. It must adapt or face extinction.
Policy & Ethics
Two organic chemists in China are in all sorts of trouble after being charged with running factories that make fentanyl, the drug this is killing Americans in droves, and its stronger chemical cousins. The chemists based their choice of drugs to make upon the legality of the drug in the US. Most of them are now legal. Here's why.
Doctors, like any other human being, are capable of snapping. In a viral video, a Florida physician is seen unleashing his fury on a patient in his waiting room. But before casting judgment, here are a few points to consider.
Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, has been waging war on prescription pain medications for years. His recently-published piece, "The Opioid Epidemic in 6 Charts," is full of inaccuracies – intentional or otherwise.
Researchers at Harvard's Belfer Center scoured the globe for whatever was publicly available on North Korea's biological weapons program. Referencing news articles, journal papers, expert interviews and government reports, the team assembled a comprehensive study of the knowns and unknowns. Here are the main findings.
With respect to the state of England's National Health Service and its rapidly eroding quality of care, the bad news just keeps coming. Recently, its new chief hospital inspector declared that, among other serious issues, current practices endanger patients.
It is Game On! for President Trump appointee Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Things are definitely changing there, and at this point, it's a pretty good start.
As the chief junkyard dog of US Right To Know, an industry front group created to harass and intimidate scientists, Ruskin has managed to pay-to-publish a Short Article which allows him to claim he has been in a peer-reviewed journal. Authors, would you like this kind of anti-science dreck to be published alongside your work?
What does Germany's election mean for science? Absolutely nothing, except that the preexisting anti-nuclear, anti-GMO, and anti-technology policies that were already prevalent under Mrs. Merkel will be reinforced. And the world won't notice.
There is ongoing discussion in the medical community and among politicians about when and whether terminally ill patients can receive access to medicines not approved by regulators. With the support of the “right to try” movement, 37 states—and recently, the U.S. Senate—have passed laws aimed at providing easier access to experimental treatments that have undergone only the most rudimentary human testing.
For nearly two decades the federal government has provided organic food corporations with a key ally. However, Miles McEvoy, the deputy administrator of USDA’s National Organic Program, is stepping down, so the road may get a bit rockier for that industry.
Lethal injection is a hot-button issue under any circumstances but has become more so in the past five years since prisons can no longer get the drugs they need. Some states have tried alternatives resulting in some ghoulish failures. And Arkansas is about to make the same mistake.