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Did Andrew Kolodny's op-ed on kratom in The Conversation make you see red? Well, it should. It's largely the same old self-serving spiel we've come to expect from him: opioids are bad, and he alone seems to have all the answers.

For decades, we’ve blamed overeating on food that’s simply too delicious to resist. But a growing body of research suggests that taste may not be in the driver’s seat at all. Instead, hidden unconscious signals deep in the body may be quietly shaping when, what, and how much we eat.

Policies that push drug use underground don’t make it disappear—they make it more dangerous. A New York Times article shows that producers systematically experiment with chemical formulas, swap ingredients based on availability, and rapidly adjust potency and composition to evade law enforcement while maximizing efficiency and profit.

There’s a moment in every physician’s career when words begin to carry real weight. A casual suggestion shapes a patient’s decision; a tentative opinion influences treatment. What starts as personal belief gradually acquires authority, affecting real outcomes. Chiles v. Salazar raises a deeper question: at what point do a doctor’s words cease to be protected speech and start becoming regulated actions?

Antioxidants are supposed to be the good guys—the biochemical equivalent of a cleanup crew, mopping up cellular damage. But what if one—an Amazon favorite—is quietly moonlighting as fuel for cancer? A new study suggests that glutathione, a supplement aisle staple, may have a split personality.

From cars and planes to plastics and drugs, our society depends on "black gold." Hence, why the Iran war is causing such turmoil.

Chronic opioid therapy is often misunderstood as primarily producing euphoria, even in long-term pain patients. In reality, scientific evidence and clinical experience show that tolerance to these effects is common, and continued use typically reflects the need for pain relief rather than the pursuit of a “high.”

Peptides like insulin and the now-ubiquitous GLP-1 drugs have become some of the most influential molecules in modern medicine. Now they are fueling a fast-growing, loosely regulated market promising everything from fat loss to longevity. What’s emerging is a conflict over how medicine should balance innovation, evidence, and risk.

Are pharmaceuticals in drinking water an invisible cocktail of modern medicine from the tap or just trace amounts detected at extremely low levels? Understanding what the EPA’s latest actions truly signify requires separating scientific evidence from rhetorical urgency.

Microplastics are everywhere, and the numbers keep rising. Why? The obvious answer is that there are more of them — but that may not be the case. A group from the University of Michigan discovered that they were unknowingly contaminating their samples with standard lab gloves, inflating the results. Here’s how they figured it out.

The surge in autism diagnoses is often treated as a medical mystery. But it may be better understood as a policy story—one shaped by financial incentives, expanded definitions, and weak oversight. The Cato Institute’s Adam Omary and Jeffrey Singer follow the money behind Medicaid’s fastest-growing spending category

A group of (mostly NIH) scientists just published a Nature paper on a drug called DFNZ—a highly potent nitazene opioid that, at least in mice, appears to avoid many of the liabilities of traditional opioids.
If that holds up in humans—and that’s a big if—the implications would be enormous.

A new synthetic opioid, cychlorphine, is emerging in illicit drug markets and forensic labs, raising fresh concerns for public health and law enforcement. Its distinct chemistry and ease of synthesis make it harder to track, underscoring how prohibition continues to drive the evolution of more potent and unpredictable drugs.

Nuclear power: it's safe, sustainable and reliable—arguably the best energy source humanity has ever developed. Yet most people know little about it beyond a handful of misunderstood accidents. That confusion has been weaponized by critics to block the technology, denying the world access to clean, abundant energy.

On this episode of Science Dispatch, Dr. Chuck Dinerstein and Cam English speak with physicist Edward Friedman to dissect the most persistent myths about nuclear power and discuss its ongoing reemergence.

We are living through a paradox in modern medicine: widespread pain, yet shrinking access to the most effective relief. As policymakers restrict certain treatments, millions of patients are increasingly steered toward alternatives that may carry serious—and often underappreciated—risks of their own.

$26 for '26. That's the contribution we are asking from you to help us fight bad science. And if each of our subscribers donates only $26 during our #26For26 campaign, ACSH could support our talented scientific experts for an entire year.

This is just one of the thousands of chemicals to which we are regularly exposed.

We live in a nation of needless pain, where tens of millions suffer daily despite the existence of effective treatments. Yet policy decisions and misplaced fears have steered patients away from appropriate care and toward alternatives that often carry their own significant—and sometimes greater—risks.

Topic du jour: Should men dab their peenies after peeing? It's going crazy on Instagram, so ACSH better cover it. Good thing it's April Fool's Day. Mick Jagger, anyone?

In an era where information is increasingly packaged as entertainment and consumed rapidly, the transmission of meaning has become more fragile. Writers, technologists, and institutions alike are realizing that communication is a complex interaction shaped by audience habits, digital tools, and shifting cultural norms. Each alteration not only affects what we know but also how we understand. The result is a growing tension between expression and interpretation. One that challenges our assumptions about knowledge, attention, and responsibility in the modern world.

Life expectancy has long symbolized human progress, but what happens when that progress slows down or even reverses? Despite decades of medical and social advances, recent data show a troubling plateau in our lifespans. To understand why, we must look beyond simple trends and explore the complex factors influencing the course of our lifespan.

What if the future of Medicare isn’t a choice, but a default? A proposed policy might automatically enroll millions of seniors in private, risk-based plans in which insurers are paid to control overall costs rather than bill per service, all under the banner of “value.” But does Medicare Advantage really deliver on that promise, or does it redefine value on its own terms?

Telehealth has become a permanent part of modern medicine, with strong evidence supporting its use in mental health and chronic disease management. However, the popular narrative of “healthcare without borders” conceals real concerns: overprescribing, diagnostic blind spots, and a digital divide that could leave vulnerable patients even further behind.

Fear of dementia is rising almost as fast as the condition itself. And where fear grows, so does a market promising protection. Among the most popular offerings is Ginkgo biloba, a centuries-old remedy now sold as a modern cognitive safeguard. But when its claims are tested against rigorous evidence, the story becomes far less reassuring.

Another year, another scary "don't eat this" list from the Environmental Working Group. If you believe this nonsense, you'll be hurling your spinach, blueberries, and 10 other "produce demons" out of the window. But it's a bunch of nonsense. Here's why.