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We know that Omicron is more contagious than Delta. Those 30 mutations on the spike protein alter its activities in ways we are just uncovering. A new study suggests that those nasal swabs may be so last year.

We continue to be awash with COVID stories. But let us cut to the chase. How many annual COVID-19 deaths are the nation prepared to tolerate on a routine basis? Substantial public health efforts have been devoted to reducing these other causes of death; why should COVID be different? Reducing traffic accident deaths by mandating vehicle seat belts comes to mind, for which some 9000 lives were saved each year. How prepared are we to similarly enforce a comprehensive COVID-19 vaccination program?

There are chemistry teachers all over the U.S. that know this simple truth: chemistry matters in everyday life. Nothing demonstrates this principle more than when you look back at the lead water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

Marie Curie died of aplastic anemia, a disease brought on, in her case, by exposure to a large amount of radiation from both her laboratory work and from her work running field x-ray machines during the First World War. There was no surprise there, given the little known about radiation and its effects on our bodies when she did her early work. But it turns out that it’s not only Marie and Pierre Curie who were contaminated - even her notebooks are stored in a lead box.

As Omicron continues to infect its way across America, let us not forget its viral companion: influenza. How is that working out?

The published literature on COVID now exceeds 211,000 papers, books, and documents, which include: 22,866 observational studies, 19,591 reviews, 1496 meta-analyses and 781 randomized control trials. These publications comprise the backdrop for our research and writing. The project began in the spring of 2020 based on a limited source of cumulative COVID-19 data and has broadened considerably. Here is what we have learned.

I immigrated to the U.S. in February 2020, not knowing that going back home would not be easy. Two weeks later, international travel was banned due to an unpredicted outbreak of COVID-19, and I was trapped ...

Scientific American's descent from respected publication to ideological tabloid is nearly complete. The magazine is now promoting anti-GMO activism under the guise of "social justice."

All of a sudden we have two (provisionally) FDA-approved COVID antivirals, which will be in pharmacies soon. They are quite different. Which is best for you?

Two sources of immunity from infectious diseases are widely recognized: vaccination and immunity acquired naturally in survivors of previous infections. The latter may be involved in the roller-coaster up-and-down behavior seen in the progression of daily new COVID cases after the current pandemic began in early 2020. Cases increased as the virus spread throughout the nation, in part due to insufficient attention to limiting exposures, but what could account for subsequent decreases? We (and others) ascribe the long downward slide from the 2020-21 winter peak to the coincident national vaccination program. Here we set out to investigate possible contributions from infection-acquired immunity.

Alternative health guru Joe Mercola claims there's been a massive increase in autism cases since the 1960s and that the weedkiller glyphosate is a "key culprit." He's wrong on both points.

Multiple studies have shown that vaping can help smokers give up cigarettes if they want to quit. But research is beginning to show that vaping may actually incentivize smokers to quit, even when they have no plans to stop.

Let’s face it, Dr. Google remains the Dr. Benjamin Spock of our current generation; 53% of Americans search there for health information. A close runner-up is Mehmet Oz, a cardiovascular surgeon and now influencer – and when he speaks, he moves markets, at least for diets and supplements that often, although not always, have scant if no scientific basis. A new study looks at how we combat or, more appropriately, do not combat the Oz Effect.

It is that time of year when we present listicles of our top 5 or 10. Here are our most popular articles based on your page views. On behalf of myself and all of our wonderful writers, thank you for all 400,000 reads.

Fear porn, humane “washing” food labels, catching up with Sisyphus, junk food diets - for plants

A recent Newsweek report on the toxicity of ultra-processed foods was based on a carefully performed study comparing the responses of 20 individuals to both unprocessed and ultra-processed foods. It is worthwhile, as citizen-scientists, to look at the study for ourselves. We cannot argue the dots but may disagree with how they connect.

We are fortunate enough that there is now an FDA-approved drug called Paxlovid, which does an incredible job of keeping COVID patients out of the hospital (or morgue). Yet NBCNews.com chose a sensationalist, scary headline about the drug as its lead health story of the day. Really lousy journalism.

It was pretty much a forgone conclusion, but the FDA's decision to grant an Emergency Use Authorization to Pfizer's COVID drug, Paxlovid, could mark the turning point in our battle against the virus. Here's the story that you won't find anywhere in the press.

Is it tax avoidance or tax cheating, robot dogs from Electro to Spot, synthetic meatspace, and synthetic meat and the coming bio-economy

Some social justice activists have alleged that Western companies use biotechnology to "colonize" the developing world. There isn't a bit of evidence in support of this popular but very dangerous accusation.

Name’s Kluge. KLOO-GEE. Sam Kluge. I work for OSHA: S.Kruge, license 24680. One other thing you should know: I hate Christmas. No surprise they call me Skrugj.
So why do I hate Christmas?

Most COVID-19 concerns have focused on daily infections and their accumulated impacts. Relatively little attention has been given to the lingering symptoms known as “long-haul COVID,” even though it comprises some 30% of cases. The available data are spotty but amenable to the same kinds of population analysis that has been applied to daily cases.

Yet another high-quality study has shown that vaping can help smokers permanently give up cigarettes. The media seems not to have noticed. Why?

"For everything, there is a season,
A time for every activity under heaven."
Just as there are patterns to our lives, there are patterns to our afflictions. More specifically, in the time of COVID, a pattern to how it spreads, our symptoms, and outcomes. A new pattern discerns a subtle but intriguing pattern that may help to explain why delta is more transmissible than alpha. Perhaps it can help provide a clue to omicron’s heightened powers.

As the Supreme Court gears up to determine “the fate of the fetus,” the state of their “pre-genitors” also remains murky.