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Recent coverage in the Washington Post illustrates how the media (and even some in the scientific community) have exaggerated the risk COVID-19 poses to the elderly and downplayed the efficacy of vaccination in this age group.

Marijuana is being decriminalized across the US. Most are celebrating, but there is a real (and sometimes serious) public health threat that tags along. Most of you will be unaware of what you're about to read. Dr. Roneet Lev, the former head of the Scripps Mercy Hospital emergency department and also an addiction specialist shares some eye-opening information in the following interview.

On Episode 2 of the ACSH Science Dispatch Podcast, we examine New York City's now-defunct COVID vaccine mandate. Did it work, why or why not? We then dive into recent research showing that diet soda can help you safely lose weight, despite popular claims to the contrary.

A recent study showed that Pfizer's Paxlovid, the most effective Covid drug, failed to prevent infection when given to people who were exposed to the virus but had not yet become infected. Bad news, right? Actually, no - it's quite the opposite. Here's why.

Retailers have begun to ration infant formula, as the supply is hovering above 50% out-of-stock in several states. Due to supply chain disruptions, recall of products due to pathogen contamination, and inflation, some pharmacies are limiting purchase to three units per customer. This has caused a shockwave among parents of infants.

Introducing the ACSH Science Dispatch Podcast — the weekly show where we separate science fact from science fiction.

New research suggests that vegan diets promote weight loss. There's a little bit more to the story, though.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Rainbow Family of Living Light’s first gathering for peace and love. Followers are returning to Colorado in June to camp for one month at their original site, near Granby. Let’s consider this annual gathering as a food safety case study on what *not to do while camping.

A reader asked us to examine a recent opinion piece full of spurious claims about the weed killer glyphosate. The story further confirms that newspapers cannot be trusted to faithfully report the facts about pesticide safety.

ACSH has gotten into it (again) with Carey Gilliam, a self-inflated journalist who just won't shut up about glyphosate, even though no one cares what she has to say. This time my buddy Cameron English was the "target." Not that he needs it, but I come to his defense!

There were more COVID deaths in 2021 than 2020, acceptance of vaccination remains stalled, and some locations are making progress but others are not. Nevertheless, masks have been coming off. Some jurisdictions have declared victory over COVID, but wishing will not make it so.

A recent study suggests that vaping is much less harmful than smoking. The authors and the journal that published the paper tried to minimize this result. Do they have an anti-vaping bias?

As "fat acceptance" gains cultural traction, a growing coalition of health care providers and advice websites downplays the dangers of obesity to appease social justice activists. LiveStrong offers yet another example of the intellectual tap dancing this charade requires.

If we've learned anything about Covid it's that when we think we start to understand it the virus changes behavior, as if to spitefully prove us wrong. It's happening again. Now there are Omicron subvariants that can infect people who have not only had Covid but were infected with a slightly different Omicron variant. This pretty much buries the idea of herd immunity – something we were chasing early in the pandemic.

Anti-pesticide activist Carey Gillam is beside herself because the public isn't worried about glyphosate exposure. Her complaint inadvertently and helpfully confirms that the anti-GMO movement has lost its sway over the food-safety debate.

When does Elsie, the Borden cow, go from being an icon to being a Big Mac? When do children and adults decide which animals are pets, and which are eligible to be eaten? A new study suggests these decisions begin when we are tweens.

In my experience, orthopedic surgeons are the most fanatical of all surgeons regarding infection prevention. It makes sense since much of their work involves implanting hardware into bones – and an infection in a bone, let alone in the presence of hardware, is very tough to eradicate. So, when a new study looks at orthopedic thought on infection prevention, it is worth considering.

A non-profit seeks to disrupt the way we finance scientific research
Before it was the Big Apple, it was the Big Oyster
Eating monkey brains, what could go wrong?
There is no such thing as junk food.

There is a structure to how we have organized care. Primary care physicians care for our day-to-day and chronic illnesses while helping us navigate the landscape to find specialists and hospital care when that is needed. They are our Sherpas – knowledgeable of the landscape and its pitfalls and nuances. You wouldn’t attempt to climb Everest without them. Ultimately, because a rope connects you, you must trust them with your life. While that may be a bit dramatic an analogy for a primary care physician, that rope, that trust, is built from many smaller, lower risk encounters. A consistent health Sherpa results in better care.

Remember the 1983 movie, War Games, in which a teen played by Matthew Broderick hacked into a military computer system? He was asked, “Shall we play a game?” and he responded, “Sure, how about thermonuclear war.” Well, Twitter has gamified conversation and turned discourse into a different kind of “thermonuclear” war, without the missiles.

Caviar, especially from Beluga sturgeon, is an acquired and expensive taste. With changing geopolitics, would it surprise you that China now produces a third of the global supply? Much of that supply is farm-raised, 500-fold more than wild-caught.

Academic collaborators with industry?
Lawyers and Courts practicing medicine?
How to find a good doctor.
A hilarious take on TV’s medical ads.

Prediabetes is a cautionary warning, based upon a blood glucose or HbA1c, a marker of long-term glucose metabolism that signals if you might be at risk for developing diabetes. If prevention is indeed worth a pound of cure, prediabetes is the signal to make some changes. A new study looked at how Johns Hopkins, #8 in US News and World Report’s listing of hospitals for endocrine care, is heeding that signal.

The pressure for medical treatment for COVID generated lots and lots of studies. Some good, some awful, few peer-reviewed before being widely and wildly disseminated. A new study looks at how we might separate the good from the bad and ugly.

Good genes and a good diet should spare most of us from developing Type II diabetes. The popular nutritional thought suggests that it is predominantly a bad diet, perhaps woven with a genetic “propensity” that gets the rest of us in trouble. A new observational study pulls at the threads of that argument.