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Here's what's on tap: The how-to of COVID-19 testing ... an extremely well-informed skeptic wonders about our pandemic actions ... a possible silver lining to the massive economic fallout ... and what's behind the long lines of climbers trying to summit Mount Everest?

Gene drive technology is powerful and slightly frightening. But the coronavirus pandemic reminds us that we want to have multiple weapons in the public health arsenal, should we be confronted with another life-threatening microbe.

The Atlantic says that the new coronavirus strain is a "huge danger." However, the virus already mutated early last year to become more infectious. There's no reason to panic yet.

Obesity is known to be a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, as well as for the insulin resistance that's a hallmark of the disease. Mouse studies suggest that obesity results in the production of microRNAs by adipose tissue, which diminishes the ability of tissues to respond to insulin.

In 2012, the hepatitis C universe changed forever when Gilead's Sovaldi was approved. Finally, there was an excellent drug that could eliminate the infection almost all the time. But some strains of HCV are tougher than others to treat. But now, Gilead strikes again.

To cope with high pollen levels during vigorous exercise should an athlete pop a couple of antihistamines? There’s no definitive answer, but new research finds that 27 percent of genes activated after vigorous exercise become blunted in their responses during a three-hour recovery period, if exercisers had taken strong doses of antihistamines.

The FDA has greatly relaxed a previous lifetime ban on blood donations from gay men who have sex with men. But even this new policy is perceived by some as needlessly precautionary.

HIV drugs have performed in ways that are nothing short of miraculous. Of the 673 HIV-negative gay men in San Francisco who participated in a study of the prophylactic efficacy of Gilead's Truvada, all 673 remained uninfected two years later, despite lower condom use by gay men. Amazing. Gilead also came up with the first cure for hepatitis C. Yet, the company is routinely demonized.

Anthem continues to practice medicine without a license in determining which patients should have anesthesiologists providing care during cataract surgery. 

As if hospitals aren't bad enough, a really dangerous bug called Clostridium difficile is all over the place. And this bug, more commonly known as (C. diff), is not so easy to kill. Researchers looked at what happens when you wash contaminated sheets. The expression "it call comes out in the wash" does not apply.

When the recent publication of a paper in Nature Methods claimed that using the CRISPR-Cas9 technique may cause unexpected mutations to occur, you might say that produced a collective gasp in the scientific community. But those who discovered CRISPR-Cas9 are not taking this criticism lightly – and they're fighting back.

Is it too early to address what went wrong when the COVID vaccines were rolled out? This is not about the “first rough draft of history." Instead, it's a more dispassionate, high-altitude view that allows us to assess this public health moment through two different critical theory lenses: complex systems and scaling.

This past week, Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health hosted a webinar on the putative dangers of ultra-processed foods (UPF). Let me share my recap.

The U.S. has been adept at inventing The Next Big Thing, but sometimes stumbles when it comes to exploiting it. From cars to electronics, solar panels, and semiconductors, this pattern has been repeated. Biotechnology could be next unless we invest aggressively and regulate wisely.

Not literally, but figuratively. Journalism's rule of thumb is true; bad news sells, and courtesy of a new study, we have some numbers to back that claim up. What we don’t know is why we prefer the negative over the positive.

The Michelson Philanthropy Prize in Immunology was awarded on Feb. 24 to Dr. Paul Bastard at the Necker Hospital for Sick Children in Paris. Why should you care? Because his work helps us better understand the biology of why some die from COVID-19, while others are seemingly – and are – immune.

In what is being hailed by some as a historic decision, the FDA has decided to change its recommendations for blood donations from gay and bisexual men. In 1983, during the height of the AIDS crisis, the FDA

The Mississippi Baby, a baby born HIV-positive, was introduced to the world last year as cured and virus-free. However, several

Last week Arizona Governor Doug Ducey exercised his best judgment, aiming to expand the scope of the health care workforce during the COVID-19 public health emergency. And yet health care practitioners lack the same ability, based upon their knowledge and their patients’ circumstances, to use their best judgment when treating pain.

As if there aren't enough ridiculous things to study – and worry about. A group in Great Britain thinks that sandwiches are causing the Earth to warm. Now there's a baloney sandwich – if there ever was one.

There’s considerable discussion about whether COVID vaccines are responsible for the barrage of variants that keep hitting us. Is selective pressure driving this – like with bacteria and antibiotics? Let's take a look.

It's been said that truth is the first casualty in war. It could also be said that truth is the first casualty in a decadent and declining society ... and journalists are leading the way.

Josh Bloom in The Wall Street Journal, "A Welcome Boost in the Race for New Antibiotics"
The members of the "I hate the pharmaceutical industry" club must be beside themselves. And the anti-big-government folks are probably not terribly happy either.

"Oh great, my child's going to be a mutant," says Lou Terrier as the woman explains to him why she wants to look inside his car.
--First line of a "Men's Health" article
The current issue of Men's Health magazine contains an article that, while making every effort to be scary and authoritative, actually contains no good advice about anything relevant to men's -- or anyone's -- health.

The progressive spread of a highly infectious strain of avian flu virus infections to more mammal species is a concern to scientists, public health officials, and farmers. However, the publicly released genomic data do not include critical information on the outbreak’s origins and evolution.