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Rabies is a terrifying disease; any mammal can contract it. And for people unfortunate enough to, it's fatal. It's the scourge of the Earth. And yet, with the rise of RFK Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, we need to talk about preparing for its return.

Another week of reading. Where the government dissolves consumer protections like sugar in a banker’s coffee, AI contemplates its cursed existence, and the poultry industry reminds us that maybe—just maybe—prevention is cheaper than mass extinction. Meanwhile, Americans are smuggling eggs, and banks are free to nickel-and-dime you without oversight. But we still have birds doing incredible aerial stunts.

With prescription opioid overdoses plummeting and no more pharma companies to sue, America's drug warriors are running out of bogeymen to justify their crusade against pain killers. The solution? Redefine responsible opioid use as a disorder and turn millions of chronic pain patients into addicts—at least on paper.

The poultry supply chain has perfected the art of turning living creatures into nuggets with more chickens slaughtered in two years than all the humans who have ever existed. Can emerging technologies make this conveyor belt of clucking misery less grim?

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have become the latest villain in our never-ending search for an easy scapegoat. But before we set fire to our snack aisles and declare Oreos public enemy number one, let's take a step back and ask: Are UPFs really the root (or only) cause of obesity and metabolic disease, or are we just indulging in another round of the blame game?

Did you ever take a swig of aspartame-sweetened diet soda and have it taste nasty? Sour, metallic, and vile, but not sweet. It's gone bad but it's not bad for you. Here's why.

Our ancestors had to rely on their vision to find safe, nutritious food. But today, we’re surrounded by so much eye candy that we’re practically glutinous over virtual meals. Let’s explore visual hunger, where your brain sees food, goes into overdrive, and tricks your body into thinking it’s time to eat — again.

The flames may be out, but the real battle is just beginning. The Los Angeles fires have left a toxic legacy far beyond the charred remains of 17,000 structures—now, the EPA faces its most extensive fire clean-up ever. With hazardous chemicals, lithium-ion battery risks, and residents desperate to rebuild, all eyes are on the response of Lee Zeldin’s EPA.

Deny excellent studies, promote poor studies, and call anyone who disagrees with you a shill for Big Pharma.

After a long, soul-sucking commute, fast food may be the great American compromise between hunger, exhaustion, and the ticking clock. Economists, ever the observers of our most mundane decisions, have now quantified how much traffic-induced time loss nudges us toward the drive-thru and away from the supermarket.

Is your breakfast routine being slowly eroded by rising prices and disappearing staples? Orange juice? Endangered. Coffee? Under siege. Eggs? Basically a luxury item now. Meanwhile, political name games over Denali/McKinley continue, evolution is still a hot-button issue in 2025 (because, of course it is), and private equity has found a way to make firetrucks scarce. Let’s dive in.

Imagine resurrecting a long-debunked myth, slapping a fresh coat of pseudoscience on it, and dropping it just in time to sway public opinion before a major political hearing. That’s exactly what happened with a new “study” claiming a link between vaccines and autism. However, this paper isn’t groundbreaking research; it’s a carefully orchestrated stunt, dressed up in scientific jargon, bankrolled by anti-vaccine activists, and riddled with methodological flaws big enough to drive a truckload of expired hydroxychloroquine through.

If you’ve been on the internet recently, you’ve likely encountered Bryan Johnson’s meticulously optimized, data-driven quest for eternal youth, complete with an army of supplements, plasma transfusions, and an alarmingly rigid daily schedule. Is Johnson genuinely cracking the code on longevity, or is this just another ultra-expensive wellness grift disguised as science with a bar chart and biomarkers?

A reader recently requested a chemistry lesson about bismuth. Why?? Beats me. It takes all kinds. Some people eat sweetbreads and some like nipple clamps. What follows may or may not be worse. And, by special request, Dr. Oz visits hell!

There is an eternal chicken-or-egg debate over obesity and Type 2 diabetes—science still can’t quite pin down which causes the other, but that hasn’t stopped researchers from trying. Enter the latest attempt: a fasting plasma glucose (FPG) test-based algorithm that promises to predict diabetes risk over a decade. Turns out, your risk isn’t just about being too high on the BMI scale—being too low might be just as bad. The risk of diabetes is not a straight path.

America’s birth rate is plummeting, and with it, the economic foundations of programs like Social Security. Lars and I discuss the demographic time bomb ticking beneath our feet.

Imagine reaching for your favorite lipstick or lotion only to discover a “toxic threat.” They contain PFAS - once championed for their versatility and now branded as “forever chemicals.” As has been the case before, the latest battleground over PFAS isn’t just about product safety but about whether evidence-based science can prevail over fear-driven campaigns.

St. Patrick’s Day has passed. If your liver is still functional (meaning you didn’t down too many Salty Dogs) and you're curious why the grapefruit juice in one might finish the job, here’s a cool biochemistry lesson.

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is another brilliant human invention that disrupts natural light patterns, throwing circadian rhythms into chaos. As we groggily spring forward and reluctantly fall back, blaming the time change for our increased clumsiness and late starts, a study in PLOS One turns its curious gaze on whether our canine companions are left howling in confusion or simply rolling their eyes at our time-tinkering antics.

For anyone who has struggled to schedule a specialist appointment or sift through a mountain of insurance paperwork, the complexity of our healthcare system is painfully clear. Medicare’s introduction of Principal Illness Navigation (PIN) codes formalizes and compensates the critical support that clinicians have long provided, acknowledging that guiding patients through appointments, documentation, and insurance denials is more than a helpful courtesy—it’s, unfortunately, an essential service.

In the media, every food is either a magical cure-all or a hidden danger lurking in your pantry. Instead of addressing our poor lifestyle choices, they chase sensationalized nutrition fads and rodent-based research to deliver headlines that sound more like infomercials than science reporting. Apparently, the only credentials needed to dispense health advice are a talent for buzzwords and a willingness to ignore basic scientific principles.

The source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, remains elusive. With "low confidence," some federal agencies favor the theory that it originated in and leaked from a Chinese laboratory performing "gain of function" research, while most scientists appear to be more persuaded that it came from a zoonotic spillover in a wildlife market.

Billionaires rubbing elbows at inaugurations, tech giants rewriting the rules of online content, and the ever-blurring line between corporate influence and public policy—it’s just another week in the news. This week’s reading dives into the growing oligarchy in tech and finance, the fight over internet regulations, and how we make tough decisions when certainty is an illusion – stories that remind us that power, truth, and accountability are as contested as ever.

Once there was a company called AffinityLifeStyles.com. It sold Alkaline Waters – and got into “hot” water. It’s now bankrupt. Maybe that’s why Gatorade stepped in to fill the market void – and empty your pocket?

The journey of pasteurization is one of science's most significant public health triumphs, and few know that it was vigorously promoted by the founder of a prominent department store. However, a nostalgia for the "not as good as we remember old days" of raw milk threatens to reverse that progress, heralding a new wave of raw-milk-related childhood deaths that pervaded yesteryear. As raw milk champions move into the Department of Health and Human Services, we’re on a collision course with public health disasters that beset the past.