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We know that in the 1970s the Soviets used microwave weapons against American diplomats. Maybe with the cooperation of other countries, Putin's Russia is doing it again.

Herd immunity as a way to fight COVID-19 is a hot topic these days -- but for all the wrong reasons. In an opinion column published in the Baltimore Sun, Dr. Katherine Seley-Radtke, and ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom argue that it's dangerous and simply won't work.

Purdue Pharma will pay an $8 billion fine and shut down. Finally, justice has been served, though far too late for the thousands of addicted or dead Americans whose problems began with OxyContin.

If Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine is successful, it will be the first-ever mRNA vaccine on the market. How is the vaccine made and how does it work?

Americans -- so desperate to end the need for masks, social distancing, and limited access to restaurants, salons, concerts, and schools -- will surely be clamoring for a vaccine as soon as it’s available. Or will they?  Recent polls suggest that only about 40% of Americans would take the vaccine. It is vital that this number be increased. But how? Let's explore this issue.

Our friendly neighbors to the north are fibbing about the coronavirus in their country, justifying a border closure with the United States that no longer makes sense.

How's your stomach lately? If it's not so good, you have plenty of company. New York gastroenterologist Dr. Michael Glick explains how the stress and anxiety caused by the COVID pandemic is screwing up America's collective stomachs. And lungs, too.

What do the firebombing of Dresden and the fires on the West Coast have in common? Embedded science, the Fall as a tonic, and a different history of packing the Supreme Court

Here are some of the most relevant COVID-19 developments in recent days: Europe's infections are out of control; COVID reinfection is rare; all treatments probably have serious but rare side effects; the WHO offers a misguided policy; and America's northern neighbor isn't telling the truth.

A new study in JAMA Ophthalmology considers whether eyeglasses confer protection from COVID-19. What it really demonstrates is how a variable -- in this case, eyeglasses -- can point in so many directions as to be useless. (But it will get you published in a peer-reviewed journal.)

I have long been a fan of Danny Meyer's restaurants, including Shake Shack and the Union Square Café. He's a man who understands food, organization, and hospitality. One of the great lessons the restauranteur teaches involves “service recovery” – fixing mistakes with food and food service. The take-away message remains that a customer's bad experience is often corrected and rewarded by how things conclude; in other words, the end counts more than the blip in the middle. And, turns out, that Meyer's observations reflect the way our brain is wired.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed systemic weaknesses in our disaster preparedness infrastructure. Despite prior warnings, politics and apathy nurtured a response system that prioritized appearances — e.g., a national stockpile of rotting N-95 masks — over effective interventions. Perverse incentives encouraged officials to drag their feet when time was short, a failure leading to poor coordination and resource allocation that couldn't counter a global viral threat. We desperately need reforms that will work with human nature during a disaster instead of against it. What do those look like? Let's dive in.

Cinnamon may have many uses in the kitchen, but its popularity is surging for other reasons: health benefits. No matter its medicinal compounds, mega doses of cinnamon supplements are never a good idea.

From dietary tribes and AI-authored messages to fungi saving bees and the evolution of dinosaur imagery, this week’s stories explore how belief, imagination, and science shape our world.

The gut has been called our “second brain,” influencing everything from mood to metabolism. Now, scientists are asking whether it might also be shaping pain. In the case of a rare, debilitating condition marked by burning, hypersensitive limbs, researchers have identified an altered microbial signature that could help diagnose and explain the disease’s mysterious biology.

Elon Musk just joined the club of industrialists who build cities. Starbase, a brand-new municipality in Texas anchored by SpaceX’s rocket launches and Martian dreams, is the latest experiment in corporate governance dressed up as civic innovation. But is this techno-utopia a launchpad for the future or a reboot of a bygone and problematic past?

From the anti-vaccine movement and COVID denialism to the promotion of raw pet food, the wellness-industrial complex has repeatedly shown that its primary concern is profit — not health. The result is suffering and death of animals and humans that could have been prevented.

This week’s reading tour spans the fall of elites, the social glue of hobbies, corporations that have lost their way, and Taco Bell’s bold leap into nuggetdom. From crumbling trust in authority to overpriced pine and industrially processed poultry, it’s a buffet of modern times.

If you've been hopping between arms for booster shots, a new study suggests that your lymph nodes remember exactly where you first got jabbed and perform far better when you return to that same arm. It seems location does matter.

We expected miracles; what we got was a legal minefield. As GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic reshape bodies and bottom lines, a growing swarm of lawsuits threatens to upend the billion-dollar industry. Are patients being blindsided, or is this just the next chapter in America's pharmaceutical blame game?

Your vitamin C supplement isn’t organic or natural. It’s completely lab-made, using GM corn. But its chemical structure is undeniable the same as the real squeezed thing. And you can’t tell the difference.

Can science offer clear guidance when the ground beneath it is inherently unstable? This question lies at the heart of many modern policy debates, where data, algorithms, and statistical models promise objectivity while colliding with messy realities. As science increasingly steps into domains once dominated by moral judgment and democratic debate, we’re left to wonder whether statistical precision can truly define fairness — or merely reframe it.

RFK Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again movement are demonizing seed oils. The conversation about seed oils predates MAHA, but the resurgence is pulling even more people into the confusing, junk-science-addled conversation about whether seed oils are unhealthy. We need to learn to navigate this terrain because we will see these tactics over and over again as MAHA takes control of the narrative around healthcare. 

How stupid are chickens? Stupid enough that in 1954, a scientist put tiny prism goggles on freshly hatched chicks to see if they could still find lunch. Not even close. They spent their early lives blindly pecking at phantom food, not terribly different from today's Yankees hitters.

Real science doesn’t settle debates with a show of hands. It builds momentum across studies, disciplines, and data until the picture gets too clear to ignore. H. Holden Thorp, the editor of the journal Science, argues that’s not consensus; it’s convergence. It’s what we should be listening for if we can hear it over the static.