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Antiviral drugs will be a necessary addition to vaccines to tamp down COVID. Both Pfizer and Merck have drugs in the clinic and they both look good. Roche also has a candidate but things are looking pretty grim. How grim? Better read this.

Some scientists say we need tighter gene-editing regulations to mitigate the serious risks associated with the technology. There are some critical flaws in their argument.

Apparently, the U.S. Department of Justice thinks the answer to the above question is “yes.” The agency presumes to know just how much pain medication, and what type and dose, each and every inhabitant of the country will require each year, an upside-down debacle by any measure.

California Governor Gavin Newsom wants to mandate that public school students get their COVID shots. He's also fighting to exempt the state's correctional officers from a vaccine requirement. Let's examine the consequences of hypocrisy.

Just what we need: another COVID variant. This one is called Delta AY.4.2 and it's now circulating in the UK. It might be a bit worse than the already awful Delta variant. Should we be concerned? And what does this suggest about COVID in the future?

This article is written by Dr. Peter Attia [1]. It is helpful to understand the study of health, especially in the time of COVID. Summarizing it does not do it justice - so we are reprinting it from his website, with their permission.

Perhaps I should not give this study any oxygen, but the cherry-picking of words is so egregious that it must be called out. I am talking about a study done by the Lown Institute, a “nonpartisan healthcare think tank.” As Becker’s Hospital Review reports, “Overall, Lown found that “racial segregation is common in urban hospital markets.” Segregation? Does that word inform or inflame?

Pig pandemic, beef monopoly, agrivoltaics?, and deep listening.

Once, a long time ago, it seems, individuals used rules-of-thumb, fancy name heuristics to navigate transactions – social or commercial. As the scale of our interactions grew, rules-of-thumb gave way to algorithms, which were, in turn, unleashed to create new algorithms based upon artificial intelligence. Somewhere along the way, those artificially intelligent algorithms became dangerous. What is high-risk artificial intelligence? Spoiler alert – it is already upon us – welcome to our version of Skynet.

Most of us, up until COVID-19, would greet one another with a hug, handshake, or kiss. How did we learn these social conventions? More interestingly, how did the fist-bump or the high-five come in and out of our lives? The answer lies in how information spreads or diffuses throughout our networks. Therein lies an important finding, in the time of COVID-19.

“Scientists initially estimated that 60 to 70 percent of the population needed to acquire resistance to the coronavirus to banish it. Now Dr. Anthony Fauci and others are quietly shifting that number upward.” NY Times December 2020
“Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the US, Experts Now Believe” NY Times July 2021
Is this poor communication, flip-flop, or evidence of conspiracy?

Europe, as opposed to various national authorities, is well poised to provide funds to support the broken antibiotic market. If this ever comes to be, how will products deserving of such support be chosen? Separately, will European regulators continue their slide back to requiring infeasible clinical trials and thereby limiting access to new antibiotics in Europe or will they wake up?

A new study suggests that smokers who take up vaping may "relapse" to cigarettes. But this is more a problem of definitions than evidence that e-cigarettes don't promote smoking cessation.

It's a constant battle for those of us who have been pushing to overturn failed opioid policies. Specifically, those based on the faulty premise that the overdose crisis arose from doctors overprescribing painkillers. Lately, there’s been some progress. So, the last thing we need now is a miniseries that gets it all wrong. Hulu's “Dopesick” does just that.

October 16th was designated "Ether Day" in 1906 in celebration of one of the most important discoveries in history. Read this and you'll get some fascinating history about ether and also another hideous chapter in The Dread Chemistry Lesson From Hell series. How can you not?

The logistics of returns, Disney, and nuclear power – “Our Friend, the Atom,” and the fine immunologic line that is pregnancy.

As I have been arguing of late, the gist, the information, and the emotional components all play a role. A new study looks at the helpfulness of consumer reviews in guiding choice. The emotion they chose to consider – anger – is, unfortunately, around us 24/7/365.

“Telehealth” and “digital healthcare” have become buzzwords for corporate types and consultants – as well as an increasing reality for many patients. What do corporate leaders believe should be our path forward?

"Synthetic chemical in consumer products linked to early death, study finds.”
“People with the highest levels of phthalates had a greater risk of death from any cause, especially cardiovascular mortality, according to a study published today in a peer-reviewed journal.”
Let’s take a look behind the headlines, at the study itself, to see what it actually says. [1]

Mandates are rarely a good idea. It’s not even good parenting to order children about with a “because I said so.” Better to persuade, cajole, give choices. That’s what reasonable parents do. But there are times, especially during emergencies - when time is of the essence - that better parenting (and governing) requires an imperative, and “because I said so” becomes the proper, prudent -- and sometimes life-saving -- approach.

Those are the words of Pliny the Elder (except for the COVID part). Coincidentally, he died while trying to save friends during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. As it turns out, today's home is also where COVID-19 comes to visit, brought in by household members.

We now have both mRNA (Pfizer, Moderna) and vector (AstraZeneca, J&J) vaccines. As we move to boosters, can we – should we – mix and match? Is choosing one from Column A and one from Column B better, worse, or just the same?

Antibe Therapeutics has been developing otenaproxesul, a "miracle drug" that, at least in early trials, controlled both pain and inflammation -- but without the side effects of NSAID drugs. However, the company hit a snag and is now going in a different direction. Will it succeed?

Flu season is here. With COVID-19 still wreaking havoc in certain parts of the US, getting a flu shot is more important this year than ever before.

The vast majority of Americans don't trust the media to "report the news fully, accurately and fairly," according to a new Gallup poll. Let's examine some recent examples that may help explain why the public is so skeptical of journalists.