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We will almost certainly never know the origins of COVID-19. But we can make an informed, by science, guess when it jumped to humans and the early chain of events that followed. A new paper in Science makes the case.

As biotech firm AquaBounty prepares to harvest its GE AquAdvantage salmon for sale in the US, activist groups have trotted out long-refuted arguments in a bid to stir up consumer opposition. Here's everything you need to know.

The CDC just revised its guidance to K-12 schools on the social-distancing guidelines for keeping students and staff safe, from six to three feet. Is the agency following the science? Bending to a new political will? Here's what led to that decision.

Do you have questions about the COVID-19 vaccines, and wonder how safe and effective they are? Of course, you do. We all have them, so you've come to the right place. In his latest video presentation of A Dose of Science, Dr. Joe Schwarcz, the Director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society, clearly and simply explains how the vaccines were tested, and why they are all both safe and effective. Overall "we are very happy with what we are seeing," he says, so "go get the vaccine" because the health "benefits greatly outweigh the risks."

Ever heard of the Hotze Health & Wellness Center in Houston? If not, you're better off. Its founder, Dr. Steven Hotze, has plenty to say about COVID, almost all of it completely wrong.

Is it too early to try and summarize what we have learned about the pandemic? Pompeii's lessons on recovering from disaster. Rules to live by?

According to Sen. Rand Paul – an ophthalmologist, not an infectious disease specialist – natural immunity is better. While not being an infectious disease expert myself, I at least know enough to fact-check before speaking. So the answer, as is frequently the case, is: it depends.

Most individuals simply have a very unrealistic expectation as to how many calories they burn during exercise and what they can achieve in weight loss through exercise alone, even though they may have expended a great deal of effort to do so.

Science should always be open to new approaches and ideas. Perhaps this seems self-evident, but although this may sound good in theory, many scientists view new approaches challenging their long-held beliefs with skepticism or downright hostility. Rather than rationally examining ideas that cause discomfort, ideas are off-handedly dismissed, and the people advancing them are attacked. This is the scientific version of “cancel culture.”

What is it about science that has allowed our knowledge to advance so rapidly? And why wasn’t science invented long before that pivotal figure, Issac Newton? These are some of the questions that Michael Strevens, a professor of the philosophy of science, attempts to answer in a book called The Knowledge Machine. 

Farewell articles are tough to write, which is one reason why I try not to write them very often.

The Pew Charitable Trust just published its analysis of the antibacterial pipeline. Is it adequate to fulfill our needs? The answer is no. Is it supported by the market? Also, no. (Sigh...)

A vanilla-obsessed lawyer is suing 110 companies because they claimed "vanilla" on labels while using ... "vanilla." Also, HuffPost needs a chemistry lesson. And anal glands from beavers. Let's not kid ourselves: You know you're going to read this. Why fight it?

Most of the COVID-19 analyses and media report “milestones,” or instead use averaging to “smooth out” daily random variation. Data on single days lack a temporal context. But here we consider two topics of particular interest: systematic variations such as weekend effects; and COVID-19 infections that might have resulted from family gatherings on national holidays.

Can nudging consumers to make more nutritious grocery choices work? Can discounts and coupons alter our choices? A new study looks at personalized grocery shopping, with an eye towards nutrition and a gentle push motivated by savings. 

Gerardo Gutierrez, a 70-year old deli-worker employed by Publix grocery stores, died on April 28, 2020, from COVID-19. Sadly, Gerry, as his friends called him, died in a hospital – alone, with his family only able to bid goodbye via video call. Even more sadly, it's quite possible he didn’t need to die if, as his attorneys claim, Publix had acted prudently.

In the rush to legalize marijuana for recreational use, driven by changing opinion and the increasing need for tax revenues, should we consider weed’s carbon footprint?

COVID-19 frequently dominates the nightly news, and it’s always there in today’s daily life. Is the pandemic ebbing, or is it still menacing the careless? Charts, tables, and statistics dominate the discussion. Some emphasize counts, some quote short-term percentage changes like a 20% drop. Pictures and statistics tell stories, but with COVID-19, it depends on how you look at them.

“I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied [Morley’s] Ghost. “I made it link by link, and yard by yard.” Our immune system, like those chains, contains our immunologic memories. Ferrets can teach us, that like Morley’s chains, our immunologic memory is forged by experience. Sometimes, a current viral illness may, later on, protect us from a similar viral infection; but we may not be as protected as we hope.

Is aging just a matter of miscommunication? Should we have National Oceans, like the National Parks? Is a virus like COVID-19 alive, or is this just the zombie apocalypse? Would the Sierra Club allow genetic modification of a tree to save them?

A Medscape article entitled "Five-Day Course of Oral Antiviral Appears to Stop SARS-CoV-2 in Its Tracks" was recently published. Don't fall for the title. It's not that simple.

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…” President Theodore Roosevelt
Although his inference was to the expected lack of success in life without these three qualities, the same can be said regarding weight loss programs - without an anticipated level of significant effort, pain, and difficulty will only lead to disastrous long-term results.

Victims of disinformation campaigns can use a five-pronged strategy to fight back and win.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve in Year 2, so too does ACSH's need to cover it as comprehensively and accurately as possible. Further, we're gratified and appreciative to USA Today, which for the second time in three weeks published one of our Op-Ed columns, allowing another of ACSH's public-health messages to reach millions of Americans. This premier placement highlights the varied media exposure ACSH received during the month of February.

Usually, our strategy to handle unfair attacks is to ignore them. But occasionally, the assaults are so egregious that they deserve a full-throated rebuttal. This is one of those times.