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Lawyers and activists who allege that the weed killer glyphosate causes cancer have moved on to a second target: another herbicide called paraquat. Claiming this chemical can cause Parkinson's Disease, these courtroom crusaders are now suing the herbicide's manufacturers in pursuit of another payday. The science is not on their side.

A persistent characteristic of the COVID-19 pandemic is the large range of effects over time and among locations, often exceeding an order of magnitude. We analyzed cumulative effects over 15 months, and focused on variability among 100 urban counties concerning selected plausible risk factors. We developed linear regression models and found highly significant risk factors. These models explained up to half of the observed variance, much more than typical epidemiology studies.   

Are some COVID-19 shots engineered to control your thoughts? A prominent anti-vaccine campaigner claims this might be the case. He's wrong, but debunking his concern gives us a chance to discuss cool gene-therapy technology.

The strange neurological symptoms of "long-COVID" may have an explanation: another virus. A study has examined whether COVID promotes the reactivation of the Epstein-Barr Virus, an ubiquitous herpes virus that causes mono in teens. The evidence suggests that this is, indeed, the case, and it's EBV that's causing some of the long-COVID symptoms.

I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t fear the big “C” diagnosis. Most people spend a lot of time trying to figure out where it came from. Is this the same kind of cancer that Great Aunt Sally had, suggesting heredity played a role? Maybe there was an environmental/lifestyle cause; spending too much time near smokers, back in the day when smokers were not isolated from the rest of society.       

How does frequent social media use impact our mental health? A recent study attempted to pinpoint the effects of spending hours on Twitter and Facebook, but the inherent difficulty in analyzing human behavior limits our ability to find a precise answer.

A detailed investigation has exposed troubling connections between Scientology-affiliated lawyers and anti-GMO, anti-vaccine groups. For years, these forces have colluded to attack safe medicines and pesticides, while slandering scientists and organizations that challenge activist rhetoric as "Monsanto shills."

Imagine you need emergency surgery, but the hospital’s computers are down – victim of a malicious ransomware attack. Processing blood-typing must be done by hand, delaying the results; X-rays can’t be transmitted to the radiologist on call for review. The hospital is refusing to pay the cyber-terrorist's ransom demand. All the while, your medical records (and you) are in limbo.

Less really is more, bagel rolling, how lucky we are, and the power and limitations of “following the science.”

For most of us, hiccups are a minor nuisance. But for a very few, it can be a chronic and debilitating condition. 

Facebook has proven itself incapable of reliably preventing the spread of "misinformation." If we needed more evidence, the company recently threatened to "restrict" the account of a prominent researcher for talking about science.

COVID-19 remains a seasonal respiratory virus, and the pandemic has waxed and waned with our summers and winters. A new study tries to quantify the impact of three climate variables: temperature, humidity, and ultraviolet light. The study also updates our understanding of PM 2.5.

The lockdowns caused by COVID-19 were a tradeoff between our actual and economic lives. The US, by and large, chose lives over economics. But rather than an either-or, could we have decided to save both? A new study suggests yes.

What can science tell us about fatherhood? Fathers historically have gotten a deserved but bad rap acting primarily as “hunter-gatherers” rather than as caregivers.

Do kids need COVID shots? It's a difficult question to answer, but incendiary commentary has unnecessarily muddied the issue. Let's take a look at what we know so far.

The New York Times (correctly) reports that a COVID pill is needed, not just a vaccine. But the paper also tells this story in its typically biased manner, implying that the government, not drug companies, discover drugs. It's a bunch of nonsense that dates back to... forever.

What do granite and bananas have in common? Radioactivity. As it turns out, radioactivity is all around us and has been for eons.

Thanks to excess alcohol consumption, July 4th is the deadliest driving day of the year. If you find yourself inebriated at a DUI checkpoint blowing into a breathalyzer, you can thank Sir Ewart Ray Herbert Jones for the invention he published 75 years ago. Yep, you've been caught by organic chemistry, specifically, the Jones Oxidation.

Reforms to the U.S. drug pricing environment are required, but to improve patients’ health outcomes, reforms must be grounded in a comprehensive understanding of the current drug pricing system. Otherwise, policymakers will make things worse, not better. An important piece by ACSH advisor Dr. Robert Popovian and Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D.

Most of the extant COVID-19 analyses have been based on national or state-level data; a more granular county-level analysis would be overwhelmed by “noise” since most counties experienced only single-digit daily caseloads. Here we used an intermediate scale, 100 counties that each include a major city. This protocol avoids the noise engendered by small populations and provides enough diversity for meaningful cross-sectional analysis. 

A new report out of the European Union confirms what scientists have known for decades: the weed killer glyphosate poses minimal risk to human health and the environment.

My Medpage feed offered up this headline: "Let's Stop Subsidizing Obesity." I thought I would find an argument over the continued financial support for sugar and corn. Then, I caught the subhead, “Government benefits should only be spent on nutritious foods.” Let’s consider their argument. 

A new approach to mosquito control, the disparities of the gig economy – writers edition, critical economic theory?, are lawyers circling the Wuhan lab?

The FDA has at this time received 79 comments for its "Morphine Milligram Equivalents: Current Applications and Knowledge Gaps, Research Opportunities, and Future Directions; Public Workshop."
Here is the 80th.

Phosphorous was selected by Mother Nature to be the element responsible for holding together all genetic material. As its phosphate form, it is the basis for life. But a small modification of phosphate will take that life away quite efficiently - Sarin. Oh, yes - it's time for The Dreaded Chemistry Lesson From Hell!