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Electronic Health Records, those over-hyped, energy and time-sucking billing algorithms sold to the American public and healthcare professionals as THE answer continues to search for some valuable clinical role. Clinical decision support are algorithms that scan our data and send timely reminders to our physicians to “Do the Right Thing.” While it may work well in the Ivory Towers, and even that is debatable, when taken out for a real-world test, clinical decision support is nowhere near ready for prime-time.

What can we learn from Joe Rogan and Daniel Ek? Growing rice for saki. What’s up with Djokovic? The topmost dishonorable moments in healthcare this year – the Shkreli Awards.

There is a campaign underway to discourage health care providers from weighing their patients unless it’s "medically necessary." Proponents of this effort are rightly concerned about the stigma often attached to obesity, but they're going about it the wrong way by minimizing the risks of being overweight.

Drs. Robert Popovian (a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at ACSH) and Radife Kiral, both at Pfizer, examine the response of our healthcare system to the COVID pandemic. In some areas we did well; in others not so well. What can we do better in the future?

Dozens of studies examining the effects of vaccine mandates have been published over the last year. A pre-print review of this literature has found that requiring COVID-19 vaccination may carry significant costs, including a deepening distrust of public health authorities and greater vaccine hesitancy.

The U.S. dithers, Europe ponders and the extinction of life-saving antibiotics continues apace.

There is a tussle between those that believe that our COVID vaccines are net beneficial and those that argue that there are too many adverse side effects. The combatants cite data from varying sources, always pointing out that their opponents’ data are, as Mark Twain states, “lies, damn lies, and statistics.” A new paper from JAMA Network Open puts some context to the numbers.

Consumer Reports (CR) promotes itself as an unbiased source of a wide variety of product ratings. It also publishes Should I Eat This? Simple ways to know what to eat and what to avoid. I recently received the updated 4th edition. Let's see how much of the content we should swallow.

Just when there are signs that people, elected officials, in particular, are starting to understand that what we've heard about the opioid epidemic is largely a myth (one that does little more than harm pain patients) along comes an anti-opioid hit piece in Forbes. It's based on an interview with an anti-opioid zealot, the chairman of an anti-opioid commission at an anti-opioid university. Let's take it apart.

Consider that committing a crime is a choice involving tradeoffs; the initial one is whether criminal action will be more lucrative than working. Of course, those lucrative moments are short-term gains, and they come with the risk of being caught and suffering long-term, or latter-term, losses. Can an individual criminal’s preferences – for short-term gains (impatience) and risk adversity (avoiding latter-term losses) – predict crime? A study of young Danish man suggests a link.

The latest results from the USDA's Pesticide Data Program confirm that America's food supply still very safe, despite allegations from activist groups to the contrary.

It's been an interesting month COVID-wise. The COVID antivirals made their way to pharmacies. All in all, things went pretty well (unless you happen to be Merck). Here, you'll learn how to locate pharmacies in your area that have been selected to carry the drugs, and how to see if the pills are in stock.

A new take on sin taxes, Wordle and the Internet, who is an expert, and the return of human sacrifices?

Haven’t we all seen those heart-rending news articles about a child with cancer, their parents unable to pay the bills? Just then a GoFundMe site comes through, helping the child receive necessary care and preventing a financial catastrophe for the parents. However, researchers are finding that the GoFundMe so-called safety net is riddled with holes, and it's basically a lottery that's “rigged” toward those in higher-income communities.

Sri Lanka ran a cruel experiment on its population last year by trying to mandate all-organic food production. The results are in, and they're tragic.

Why are catalytic converters becoming an endangered species? Because they contain three valuable metals - platinum, palladium, and rhodium - making them worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars, stolen or not. It's the rhodium thieves are after. It's very rare, very expensive and has some strange properties. Could there be a better time for a Dreaded Chemistry Lesson from Hell? I think not.

I’m a big fan of the theory that the medium is the message. More specifically, linear media, like words in paragraphs and articles, promote our more linear, analytic thinking. Non-linear, more visual media, like memes and pictures, promote our more emotional, intuitive thinking. Here, an analysis of the language found in books is an example of what I mean.

Catchy phrase, but let me ask you this: does it have a different meaning to you when spoken at a Women’s Day rally as opposed to an anti-vaccine mandate confab? It does for me; I wonder why.

The scarlet “A” was meant to shame Hester Prynne, stigmatizing her to the community as an unworthy individual. Today, the letter is often replaced by words. A new study suggests that physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants often use stigmatizing words in describing their patients. But as you will read, many of their “findings” depend upon whether you believe those words are, in fact, stigmatizing at all.

Methane is a far more potent (30-80 fold) greenhouse gas emission than carbon dioxide, but far less is generated in the Anthropocene era, and carbon dioxide gets most of the headlines. Methane is most frequently blamed on cattle and leaks in our natural gas distribution system. But it made the headlines last week.

Baby food giant Gerber faces a class-action lawsuit alleging that it falsely marketed some of its products as "non-GMO." The litigation is frivolous, but Gerber could have done itself a favor had it avoided labeling schemes in the first place.

It's time for the UK to embrace the benefits of crop biotechnology to boost its farm sector. I make the case in a recent report for the Adam Smith Institute.

Where did hobbies come from? Is it time to reboot “willpower?” How rice crippled a country. And a report from a youngster about their first time being really ill.

In an attempt “to ensure the full potential for optimal health for our patients,” the American Medical Association, in conjunction with the Association of American Medical Colleges, developed a whitepaper, Advancing Health Equity: A Guide To Language, Narrative And Concepts. It is a challenging document to get one's head around. Let’s you and I take a deeper look inside.

California is poised to empower children as young as 12 to receive COVID vaccines without parental consent. The Golden State is on the wrong path.