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Saunas, for the most part and for legions of adults, enjoy a warm reputation as being good for you. And a recent study of Finnish men and women seems to add more credence to sauna's health benefits, in defending against stroke. But were these favorable results skewed because this activity baked into Finland's culture?

Shaming and blaming isn't part of improving patient safety or resolving the opioid crisis. Healthcare workers and Congress frequently blame others and rarely take personal responsibility, and that's not a culture that fosters reflection and meaningful improvement.  

In high school, I took organic chemistry, microbiology, genetics, and anatomy & physiology. Without a doubt, I received a world-class science education, despite growing up in a largely rural area that wasn't wealthy. So for Teacher Appreciation Week, I'd like to thank the middle school and high school leaders who greatly shaped my life.

All kinds of stuff is pouring out of the Kilauea volcano. But perhaps the chemical of most concern – sulfuric acid – doesn't come from the volcano itself. Sulfur dioxide, however, sure does, and it's converted into sulfuric acid due to environmental factors. And if that's not enough, we share the secret of how to know how hot the lava is. Something for everyone!

Only 10 finalists remain in a science competition that began in 2016, one which promises a huge payday for the best solution to America's ever-worsening algae crisis. Massive green, choking blankets of algae are formed by excessive phosphorus runoff. The best idea that separates the mineral from water has the potential to revitalize waterways from Florida to the Great Lakes, and beyond.  

It's refreshing that the First Lady's program shines a needed light on neonatal abstinence syndrome, also known as newborn opioid withdrawal. Despite the issue's ever-escalating importance, it was mostly ignored in the media's recent coverage. So here's what it's about.

Dr. Michael Dourson, who sits on ACSH's Board of Scientific Advisors, discusses changes at the EPA. He notes the public interest is best served when science is replicable, and when it's not access to underlying data is vital to independent analysis. Without quality risk assessment, we can't create effective national regulations.

Race, age and other demographic factors are commonly controlled in epidemiology studies. It makes no sense to compare one group to another group if researchers do not bother to control for confounders – that is, factors like race or age that can cause researchers to draw the wrong conclusion.

As if the government and media haven't screwed up the story of the so-called "opioid crisis" thoroughly enough, why not add some meaningless and confusing terms to the mix? That way, absolutely no one can know what the hell is going on. Let's take a look at the confusion. There's plenty of it.

Though well-intentioned, "at all costs" breastfeeding messages are routinely misguided. And even intellectually dishonest.

The CDC recently cautioned that there's a wide range of diseases being transmitted by ticks, and the caseload is growing. Some, like Lyme’s disease, we are familiar with. To take it an important step further, let's take a look at some others that aren't necessarily on our radar – but should be. 

The second edition of "The Next Plague and How Science Will Stop It" comes with a new preface for COVID-19. Download a free copy!

At the end of life, how do you balance comfort and autonomy? An already-complicated emotional question is made even more difficult when your loved one is severely demented. Families and physicians face this dilemma every day. 

The "American healthcare costs vs the rest of the world" narrative has been with us forever and this is unlikely to change. But it is not a simple problem, even though it is portrayed as just that. Pfizer's Dr. Robert Popovian takes his usual thoughtful look at thorny issues in his latest piece in Morning Consult. Don't miss.

Dr. Oz is a fraud who ought to be fired from Columbia University and have his medical license revoked. Instead, he's headed to the White House.

In a move steeped in nonsense, Dr. Mehmet Oz has been appointed by Donald Trump to the President's Council on Sport, Fitness and Nutrition. Since his views on health and medicine are so lacking in scientific evidence, we have no idea why anyone is still listening to him at all anymore. 

With the cancellation of "The Dr. Oz Show", his alternative medicine audience should not think of it as a time to mourn. but instead should take a moment to celebrate the man who created all their worst fears; they should rejoice a guy who wore medical scrubs during a show in which he suggested apple juice was as dangerous for children as plutonium, who taught concerned viewers to fear chicken and to love juice cleanses.

Now that the results of his posthumous brain examination are in, we now must add Jeff Parker, who played briefly in the 1980s and died last September at 53, to the running list of former hockey players who developed CTE during their careers. Everyone gets the link between head trauma and this devastating brain disease. Everyone, that is, except the head of the NHL.

We started a media firestorm in the Pacific Northwest, and we set the record straight on chemicals for an agricultural trade publication. And we also took a peek into a baseball dugout to see how statistical analysis – personally delivered to field managers by stat geeks – is continually reshaping the game. 

There's nothing magical about a rattlesnake. Just because rattlesnakes are tough and cool doesn't mean that you'll be tough and cool if you eat them. Instead, you might just be a dope.

How far will behavioral economics go to improve our health and decrease costs?

A study from the Commonwealth countries indicates that it will take two weeks longer to get pregnant if you eat fast food. Huh? And you can save yourself a week or so by eating fruit, not vegetables. Really? And, no surprise, It goes without saying that this incomplete study came complete with grievous limitations.

Governments gave subsidies to farmers, who implemented political beliefs about biodiversity, like planting flowers among their rows of food. Did any of it work? Sort of. But there's more to it than that.

The proverbial searching for "the needle in a haystack" can help us understand science's problem with p-values, and why so many studies find contrary things.  

A few weeks ago, a paper claimed that an extra glass of wine will shorten your life. The story circled the globe in minutes. A new paper, with better methodology, concluded what we all knew: Moderate alcohol consumption can be integrated into a healthy lifestyle. It, however, won't receive nearly as much attention as the sensationalist report. Such is the power of the academic PR hype machine combined with a gullible, sensationalist press.