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It's relatively easy to accidentally overdose on acetaminophen. The compound is found in headache and cold medicine. When people get sick, they often take a combination of over-the-counter drugs to relieve symptoms. But there may be an option.

The Environmental Working Group is out with its latest "Dirty Dozen List," highlighting foods it believes you should most fear. That's bad news for farmers, and certainly America's poor. That's because even if you score nearly perfect on this test, you could still fail.
 

So are baldness and height related? After studying the genetic material of more than 22,500 adult, bald men, German researchers determined that "short men have an increased risk of becoming bald prematurely."

Plagues, like tuberculosis and leprosy, have devastated mankind for millions of years. Steve Schow, Ph.D., a 40-year veteran of biomedical research and an amateur medical historian, examines some of the most deadly diseases. In a 10-part series written for ACSH, he asks: What's next? Part One: Going Back to Neanderthals.

Again the mainstream media gets a study wrong, but they do have a great headline. The study concludes we should emphasize good and bad eating habits; it doesn't have any idea how many deaths are attributable to diet.

The Day Without a Woman protest is one of many protests garnering support around the nation. So we thought, what would happen in we had a day without chemicals? Ana Dolaskie tries to live a day of a life we wouldn't want to have. 

A French study appears to implicate pyrethroid insecticides with behavioral issues in children. They give us a whole lot of numbers. But do they mean anything?

There are reports that the former Panamanian dictator was in a coma after suffering a hemorrhage from an operation to remove a benign brain tumor. Here are some basic tenets in neurosurgery, and how operating near the brain is often a delicate dance.

Our academic medical centers are offering treatments that officials know come from flawed randomized controlled studies, or observational/case studies. While they follow the money, they harm medicine as a science. The shamans have returned.

It may seem strange that many important, scientific questions are being answered using the roundworm, which is roughly the size of the next comma in this sentence. But it is, indeed, an incredibly powerful experimental system. 

In a recent documentary, the religion scholar ate a small piece of human brains. That was inadvisable. Given the choice of good journalism or sensationalism, Dr. Aslan chose the latter. And from a health standpoint the decision carried risks.

Our resident pediatrician always advises us not to be fooled by the cuteness. New research analyzed science reporting in newspapers, the results aren't pretty. Beware of shiny-object syndrome! 

Our Best and Worst Science chart sure got a reaction – mostly from those sites selling a veil of science legitimacy while providing very little.

A new study out this week found that American couples are having less sex as compared to couples of past generations. In addition, an earlier study concluded that today's millennial couples are also less sexually engaged, despite all the signs that would indicate just the opposite.

Couch potatoes pay attention — you don't have to run miles each day to benefit your health. Indeed, recent research indicates that moderate levels of activity can significantly lower mortality risks.

There has been a recent eruption (sorry 'bout that) of research geared toward discovering the first vaccine to treat and/or prevent genital herpes. You can add one more contender — Michigan-based NanoBio Corporation. The company just got a NIH grant to do Phase II trials on a promising herpes vaccine. 

Soy has estrogen and anti-estrogen components. This study hoped to determine whether women with breast cancer should eat more or less soy. The study itself has good and bad points. But the media presented misleading headlines, which confused more than clarified. (What else is new?)

The point isn't to scare people about accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, which kills, on average, 374 people per year. Given our population of 319 million, that's a minor threat. Instead, this is to show that the chaotic stuff that makes the nightly newscasts is far less likely to kill you than boring, everyday things.
 
 
 

Used in Dispatch on 2/25/19:
Norovirus, otherwise known as the stomach flu, is back in full swing in the United States. While Dr. Josh Bloom wrote about this nearly two years ago, the topic is just as relevant today. Here’s some worthwhile information on how you can avoid this nasty illness, especially when you go out to eat.
How'd you like to be an unwilling participant of the world's first, and only, clinical trial that studied the transmission of the norovirus as a function of distance? We're guessing, probably not. But a room full of diners in a British hotel had no choice – because they caught it through the air. 

The metaphor of healthcare as a river may open our eyes to why healthcare is hard to deliver and resistant to the broad strokes employed by the government or corporate interests.

Not only can beliefs in cures based on folklore  – such as traditional Chinese medicine – lead one to use ineffective or dangerous nostrums, they can also have a profound effect on the wildlife that's harvested to provide some of them. Here we acquaint readers with a few you may not have heard of.

A number of recent headlines imply that a new case study in the New England Journal of Medicine proves that gene therapy has cured sickle cell disease — a genetic disorder that causes tremendous pain, suffering and diminished life expectancy. Let's unpack the significance of the researchers’ findings.

If you're one of the millions of Americans who is denied a good night's sleep because of multiple trips to the bathroom, you will want to check out this new drug which was just approved by the FDA.

Not only is science journalism susceptible to the same sorts of biases that afflict regular journalism, but it's uniquely vulnerable to outrageous sensationalism – this or that will either cure cancer or kill us all. So to promote good outlets while castigating the bad, we partnered with RealClearScience to create a handy chart. 

We recently discussed the impact of President Trump's address before Congress (and the world) on the rare Pompe disease. Now, we dive into the topic of why these types of “Orphan Diseases” are so important to understand and be aware of, as to help promote and encourage therapeutic and potentially-curative research.