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In a piece dripping with sardonic disgust, Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Tabatha Southey took on the new curriculum at the august University of Toronto recently. Entitled Anti-vaccine course brings U of T one step closer to offering a masters of pseudoscience, Ms. Southey takes note of the recently-released official report of the approval of a course called Alternative Health: Practice and Theory, to be taught (so to speak) by the well-known homeopath Beth Landau-Halpern.

A study of elephants finds these massive animals get cancer at a far lower rate than humans. Researchers also found the reason: they have an astronomical number of copies of a vital gene. The news is interesting, but is unlikely to do more for improving human health.

A new study suggests that certain plant-based (organic) pesticides that are used in organic farming kill bees something that they're not supposed to do. But the study is flawed. Although these botanical pesticides do kill bees, the conditions under which they were tested render the entire study meaningless.

FDA Panics
According to the Associated Press, “[FDA] officials urged pediatricians Monday to temporarily stop using one of two vaccines against a leading cause of diarrhea in babies, after discovering that doses of GlaxoSmithKline’s Rotarix were contaminated with bits of an apparently benign pig virus."

As we round the corner after Thanksgiving, many Americans will shift into high gear, heading down the straightaway toward tacking on an extra few pounds during the infamous season of holiday weight gain. But a new meta-analysis of 19 long-term studies consisting of approximately 1.5 million white adults finds that those who are overweight have a 13 percent increased risk of death.

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls: there are obesity updates for all. For all the kids out there, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a new report Wednesday offering early childhood obesity prevention advice for daycare centers and households alike.

When it comes to vaccines, the non-issue of harm to children should have been put to bed long ago. However, this faux concern continues to surface. Alex Berezow, from RealClearScience, puts another nail in a coffin that already full of nails, delivering a piece that's a must-read.

Jonel Aleccia of NBC News took on a rather unpleasant subject norovirus (aka the stomach flu or the winter vomiting bug) in his recent article.
Although it is an intriguing topic, and dispels some myths, the overall message that if you simply avoid eating at restaurants (especially the salad bars) you will dodge this hideous infection is misleading.

As the COVID-19 vaccines roll out, the anti-vaxxers have been increasingly more militant in their misinformation campaigns, actively and effectively dissuading vaccine uptake. The question becomes what can we do about this activity which harms us all? 

Introducing exercise snacking: tiny bursts of vigorous exercise that can fit into even the busiest schedules. While it may sound like a lazy person’s dream, recent studies suggest these mini-workouts can significantly boost your health, making them the ultimate life hack for the chronically time-crunched.

We normally butt heads with the Center for Science in the Public Interest. But its recent attack on Joseph Mercola's magical COVID cures deserves praise. CSPI could be a great organization if it focused more on eliminating quack medicine and less on labeling bacon as causing cancer.

Responding to the urgent, ongoing need for essential and accurate information to counter the harm caused by years of medically and scientifically flawed opioid policies, ACSH is adding two world-class experts in this field – Jeffrey A. Singer, MD, and Danial Laird, MD, JD – to its Board of Scientific Advisors. In addition, Henry Miller, MS, MD, a staunch and influential supporter of patient rights, is returning to the advisory board.

We must be doing something right. We have received so much media attention in the past several days, that it's hard to keep track. Here's where we've appeared.

A couple of years ago Panera Bread went crazy. Those high up in the corporation decided that selling really great tasting food was no longer a sufficient strategy. No, they reasoned, if Panera Bread wanted continued success it needed to go on a full-frontal assault against science. 

Hearts don’t open and minds don’t change when you yell at people. Or berate them. Or chastise them. Not with vaccination, or any other medical intervention.

An ordinary (or worse) study sets out to rehash the same nonsense about how deadly prescription opioids are. In addition, it ends up botching the conclusion to appear that it's contradicting itself. This is seriously strange.

The Organic Consumers Association, which promotes conspiracy theories about 9/11, chemtrails, and FEMA, is pushing another one: Pesticides cause school shootings.

In 1995, an activist husband-and-wife team published Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras. Because scaring people is an excellent way to make money, it's time for a second edition this year. Also, they're recruiting women into a sham cohort study to "prove" their wacky belief that the latter causes the former.

In Part 1, we looked at some very strange science coming from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Here, we examine some possible reasons for an apparent intentional omission of crucial data, which led to the misclassification of glyphosate as a "probable carcinogen." Looks like IARC knew this, but misclassified it anyway.

Of the many lies spread about Monsanto, perhaps none is so malevolent as the claim that the seed giant is to blame for farmer suicides in India. This falsehood, spread by anti-biotechnology activists like Vandana Shiva but debunked years ago, is still parroted by credulous left-wing outlets.

Standing on the doorstep of 2017, we can only wonder which anti-science voices will be the loudest next year, as we consider how best to debunk their anti-science messages.

1. There's no question some parts of American culture, including academic and private sector science, have been hijacked by 'virtue signaling' - subject to condemnation or praise by groups to show how virtuous and superior they are to those they self-identify with.

Do you know what a “bezoar” is? Probably not, but we'll explain. However, you have likely heard of the term "psychosomatic," which means an ailing mind can actually, physically bother or impair your body. Sometimes the primary disease is truly in your head, or at least it seems to have started there.

Have you heard the one about the bees collapsing? Bees and other pollinators are of crucial importance to agriculture. Over the past few years, the media has been replete with scary stories about bee colony collapse. Science 2.0 s Hank Campbell lends perspective.

We ve been talking about vaccines almost non-stop recently. We would rather not have to, but it seems as if the tide is now turning in the right direction.