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When it comes to medical developments, it was an exciting year in the pursuit of what was once impossible. Here are some top picks that genuinely are changing the medical and tech landscape.

The senior senator from Arizona, diagnosed with brain cancer in July, was hospitalized for "normal side effects of his ongoing cancer therapy." Here's what that means.

The FDA really doesn't want you taking pain meds. How strong is the agency's position on this? Pretty strong – enough to recommend that physicians receive extra education in alternative pain management methods. While that's fine in theory, one of the methods happens to be acupuncture, which is not fine at all.

Wasting food, a precious resource, is bad. Does French regulation make for less waste? Or could there be an equally simple free-market solution?
 

Injuries aren't always what they seem, and not all scars and bruises are the same. They can tell a very different story. For instance, are you certain that item you re-tweeted of suspected abuse was actually that?

Like us, so many people in New York love this educational treasure. What we don't love is the pseudoscience junk that we recently found for sale in its gift shop.

For those with celiac disease, everything that enters into their bodies must be assessed for the presence of gluten. A new recommendation from FDA extends this precaution from food ingredients to oral medications. 

Researchers say they have "gained crucial insights" as to the brain's inner-workings and how stuttering manifests itself. This moves the scientific community one step closer to a cure for a condition that affects 1 in 100 adult Americans, and 5 percent of all children for stretches of at least six months. 

As if having Gwyneth Paltrow's "lifestyle" brand in the U.S. isn't bad enough, the company's vaginal egg-lined path now leads north, with products available to be shipped to Canada. Now Canadians, too, will be able to waste a ton of money on GOOP's nonsense.

The Boogyman was a creation used to control children's behavior. That said, it has no role in the debate over public health policy.

A recent study published in Annals of Internal Medicine presents a cost analysis of personalized blood sugar goals for diabetic patients. While its numerical conclusions may not be as precise as the figures would make you believe, it does contain some interesting information.

A recent report identified a flaw in previous research on concussions, while proposing a fix. It's an improved protocol for baseline screening that includes a specific test, which trainers can use themselves to identify dyslexia in their subjects, instead of relying on their possibly inaccurate self-reporting. 

For a civilized nation, we can be mighty uncivilized. If you're a pain patient and cannot get the meds you need, you know this only too well. As Christmas wishes go, how about a return to sanity and compassion where people don't have to beg for relief? We have precious little or either right now. 
 

This year, I don't want you to go to the doctor.
That seems obvious. Most people go to the doctor when they are ill, and I don't want you to be ill or have an accident. But I don't want you go to the doctor even if you are well. 

Ron Swanson, a character from the TV "Parks and Recreation," can teach us valuable, practical lessons about science and culture this holiday season.

As part of regulatory reform, and given the increasing use of computer algorithms in patient care, the Food and Drug Administration released draft guidelines for software use that aids both doctors and their patients.
 
 

An international team of researchers explored the effect of anesthesia on plants, which is the basis for a newly-published paper in the Annals of Botany. The goal was to link information about how anesthetics work in the plant system to the animal system.

If you're not a Game of Thrones fans, you should change that status immediately. Yes, it is that great. And one of the many things that makes it great is the character Tyrion Lannister, who is played by the incomparable Peter Dinklage.

Photos: IMDb (left), NY Daily News (right)

These days having a conversation about politics and the state of our nation often devolves into an ideological pitched battle of wills. That's why this year my Christmas wish is for 24-hours of argument-free discourse.

The Centers for Disease Control reports more than 7,000 confirmed cases of the flu. That's more than twice the number reported at this time last year. This is centered in at least five Southern states, as well as Massachusetts and Virginia, where "widespread influenza activity" is occurring.

Scientists are generally regarded as ethical and honest – the polar opposite of politicians. But there's a disturbing trend taking place in the scientific community: retracted papers, often due to fraud. This one, which appeared in the journal Science, focuses on harm to fish from tiny plastic particles. It is a doozy.

In a very early science confrontation, Galileo recanted his view about the Earth’s movement. Fast forward to today. “Climate deniers are right-wing nuts” and “tree huggers fear genetically modified foods.” If you nodded your head to either of these statements, then you're using stereotypes to define science skepticism.

With the rise in popularity of open-access publishing, and over 28,000 scientific journals in existence, it's often hard to tell which journals are reputable and which are simply junk. A new study did a cross-section analysis and came up with 13 traits of predatory journals, so now you can tell the difference. Here's how.
 
 

Predatory journals – which are non-indexed, non-archived and lack transparency – have been called a “corruption of the communication of science." Because our organization's mission is to improve the communication of science, we want to stop them in their tracks. But what can be done? 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Significant issues have plagued a paper that appeared in the journal Science since its publication a year ago. Consider the case now closed with the recent ruling that the two primary investigators involved committed scientific misconduct.