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Can a predictive algorithm or electronic messaging improve outcomes for patients with acute kidney injuries? Potentially, yes. But practically, not yet.

We are officially in the midst of Summer's Dog Days. Here at ACSH, we have been howling with joy due to the media coverage we have garnered in our tireless effort to promote good science. Here's where we appeared in recent days.

Here's what's in store this time: A bit of beautiful writing (really a meditation) on working with your hands. A possible explanation for why some objects become tainted, i.e. wrapped in the shadows of its origins, like "blood diamonds." Wealth work in the gig economy. And finally, another rapidly diminishing resource: sand.

In the most common type of pancreatic cancer, the abnormal cells contain highly fragmented mitochondria. New research suggests that they can serve as a novel target in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Do we act one way at work and another at home? Are ethics part of our personality or more situational? A new study offers some insight, at least based on our cheatin' heart.

The problem of high drug prices is multifaceted and complex. Referring to the pharmaceutical industry employing "crooks" might be good for some cheap applause, but it's demoralizing to the thousands of scientists who work in it. Senator Sanders should apologize.

In the never-ending campaign to demonize any drug that could possibly be abused, a physicians group at the University of Pennsylvania claims that music is a viable alternative to Versed (a benzodiazepine) in calming patients before outpatient surgery. But it is not. All you have to do is read the paper and this becomes obvious. Better orthodoxy, worse medicine.

Dr. Jeffrey Singer (pictured) is one of the brave physicians on the front line in the battle against anti-opioid madness. He graciously gave us permission to reprint his recent Cato Institute blog post. It speaks directly to the role of government in determining who gets what pain medicine, and how much. Dr. Singer addresses just this as he explains why Sen. Robert Portman (R-OH) went way off the deep end, proposing a national three-day limit on opioid prescriptions following surgery -- evidence be damned.

Patients with diabetes frequently have damaged nerves, resulting in neuropathy and a muted immune response. Scientists have found linkage of the two.

Just as the Roman roads helped the Visigoths run roughshod over Southern Europe, cancer’s invasion of distant organs exploits literal veins and arteries. This has implications for treatments and cures.

A new study tells us that since Florida passed a law restricting post-surgical opioid prescriptions, there are fewer post-surgical opioid prescriptions being written. This and other brilliance. Ripe for the picking.

Nutrition facts labeling is changing. Coming soon to a product near you, there will be a new information line telling you how much of the total sugars content is added. But will the new labels make any sense? Angela Dowden weighs in.

Surgery can be risky business. A new study looks at how complications can result in patient death. It doesn't add new information, but it was peer-reviewed. Replication is fine, but is it always necessary?

The idea that Lyme disease is due to bioweapons research gone wrong is easily disproven. Our legislators could better spend their time fighting for efforts to prevent disease, instead of investigating a far-fetched story that’s based on misinterpretation and innuendo.

A new, anti-5G "documentary" was created by people who are also "paranormal consultants." That's right, today's real-life Ghostbusters are afraid of iPhones.

Running amok is not an exercise, nor is jumping to conclusions. When it comes to exercise, we honor it more in word than deed.

It's not often that a politician is openly pro-GMO, particularly in Europe. But the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom just praised genetic modification in his first speech to Parliament.

Did you ever pop open a Diet Coke, take a sip, and spit it out because it tastes like battery acid? The aspartame has gone "bad." But is that bad for you? Organic chemistry gives us the answer.

Can we sufficiently alter our diet to eat our way out of a changing climate? Probably not. And even if we did it would require massive changes in what the world consumes. Changing diets would be good news for cows and sheep, less good for chickens and pigs, and tough on plants.

Chemistry can be amazing. A chemical isolated from a marine fungus reacts with the stinky chemicals in skunk spray. And it works just like the drug that is given to Tylenol-overdose victims. What can these possibly have in common? You'll find out if you ...

Not all worrisome infectious diseases target humans. Some target animals and the consequences can be devastating, not just for local ecosystems but for the economy. Such diseases should be monitored as potential agents of bioterrorism.

A new study finds that your fate may not be written in the stars, but instead hidden in plain sight in a chest X-Ray. Can one image predict your mortality?

Expert societies, especially the infectious disease pharmacists, should consider making recommendations regarding off-label use of antibiotics. These recommendations should be based on clinical, microbiological, and pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic data. 

There's more tree cover on Earth now than there was 35 years ago. Why? Because of technology and wealth. If we want to save the planet we should encourage more of both.

The press reports global estimates of 7 million premature deaths associated with air pollution. That's despite dramatic improvements in air quality. How clean is clean enough?