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Last week, I joined Lars Larson to unpack the FDA’s unwise new COVID booster policy.

The EPA’s latest decision to review its own 2024 ban on chrysotile asbestos reignites a regulatory tug of war that has spanned decades, administrations, and now, political ideologies. What counts as an “unreasonable risk” under the Chemical Safety Act has become a political fault line — and asbestos is the test case.

If you spend any time on the Internet, it's virtually guaranteed that you've run into Dr. Steven Gundry. He's the weird-looking doofus who is BEGGING you not to eat blueberries. What's up with that? Welcome to the strange world of GundryMD.

TikTok influencers and users alike are raving about the aptly named "cortisol cocktail," going viral for its supposed benefits in calming nerves and promoting sleep. The non-alcoholic beverage is simple to put together, with five ingredients you can find at home. But is it anything more than a refreshing summer mocktail?

We all know creatine’s a powerhouse, backed by science. But the real buzz? Brain boosting benefits! Let’s break down some of the pros and cons of creatine. Bonus: It's Dr. Josh Bloom approved!

Despite dramatically increasing the national debt, the Trump Administration has made controversial cuts to federal funding for research, including critical areas like vaccine development and disease prevention. Many scientists warn that these reductions threaten public health advancements and technological innovation. Have these cuts crossed a line? Let’s take a look.

The virus has not yet evolved to spread efficiently between people. Excellent vaccine technology exists, but the government has just withdrawn funding for the development of a bird flu vaccine. Every day that passes without investment and planning increases the odds that we will be unprepared for the next pandemic.

The new composition of the committee reflects what can happen when ideology and cronyism replace competence, expertise, and proper vetting. The result: the replacement of evidence-based vaccine policy with ideology-driven decision-making will affect public health negatively for generations to come.

When the government pulls a public health ad campaign, it usually raises more questions than it answers. And when the government's official happens to be an attorney with a controversial stance on vaccines, the questions come faster. An early target was “Wild to Mild,” the fuzzy tiger-turned-kitten flu shot campaign, and the bigger debate it sparks about what “decide for yourself” really means.

Some weeks, the news cycle feels like a clown car — chaotic, packed with noise, and somehow both alarming and hilarious. But buried beneath the honking are signals worth hearing: a blackout in Spain that unmasked our grid’s fragility, a compelling eulogy for literacy, a land war fought with corn and cattle, and a reminder that gold standards in science are only as shiny as the hands holding them.

Your doctor insists exercise is key to longevity. However, is your workout truly lengthening your lifespan or just reflecting your good genes and healthy habits? A study of Finnish twins examines genetics, lifestyle, and biomarkers to investigate whether physical activity alone is the key to a longer life. (Spoiler alert: it isn’t.)

Double-dipping is socially appalling, but is it microbiologically menacing? A group of researchers set out to find the truth behind this communal culinary crime, putting our snack table sins under the microscope. While your companions might silently judge you, your immune system probably won’t.

Welcome to the internet discourse, where winning is more important than understanding and everyone’s armed with a meme. Today, we practice this social sport, where scoring points trumps making sense.

From the collective forgetfulness of overfished herring to America’s billion-dollar love affair with Slim Jims, what we snack on and where we shop (hello, 7-11) says more about us than any sociology textbook. Culture is what happens in Peanuts comics; our protein obsessions and the memory of migratory fish all end up in the same article.

We’ve long blamed osteoarthritis on “wear and tear,” the price of a life well-lived. But could the cause be a more ancient culprit: a misfired developmental program that once built our skeletons and now betrays us in old age? What if joint failure isn’t just mechanical decay but a biological relapse?

A novel therapy involving electrical pulses to the vagus nerve might unlock the brain’s hidden potential to rewire itself, and heal where words and pills fall short.

Have you ever wondered why a drumbeat makes your foot tap before you even realize it? It’s not magic or mystical prediction; it’s the brain weaving biology and culture into every rhythm and harmony. Neural Resonance Theory reveals that our neurons dance with the sound waves, grounding musical in the physics of vibrating cells.

Think today's latest chemical scare accounts for the onslaught of children’s diseases? Think again. America has been swimming in synthetic soup since long before Earth Day was born in 1970 (think DDT, PCBs, PCPs), and blaming the “new” chemical-cataclysm for modern woes is just ignorant nostalgia dressed up as science with dangerous (and diversionary) implications.

Today marks the start of summer. To some, this means beach time, and if you’re brave enough, a dip in the ocean. Here are some rather obscure facts that may be of interest to ocean aficionados. Enjoy our annual "Happy Summer" article.

When two of medicine’s most outspoken reformers publish a roadmap for the FDA, you expect at least coherence. Instead, we get a curious blend of tech evangelism, selective evidence, and lofty ambitions untethered from the practical messiness of regulation. Let’s just say if this is the revolution, it needs a better peer review — and maybe a clinical trial.

A curious term has emerged among the anti-vaccine community, following the Covid pandemic, that has scientists baffled as to how it could be receiving much online attention. Are turbo-cancers real? Or just another overblown scare?

Public health is worsening, autism rates are rising — and so are incident conspiracy theories, including claims that the root of the autism evil is vaccines. As the CDC reopens the vaccine-link debate bolstered by misinformation and false logic that correlation equals causation, it’s time to ask whether that claimed correlation even exists or if society is dissolving into a political hallucination.

Forget squinting at a food diary and hoping someone remembered how many cookies they ate last Tuesday. Nutritional science might finally trade in its crystal ball for a blood test, thanks to the emerging power of metabolomics. The latest research suggests we are one step closer to cracking the diet and disease code with hard biochemical evidence instead of dietary guesswork.

From coffee cards to subway tunnels and AI tutors to numerical epidemics, the week’s reading menu serves up a rich-tasting menu of modern complexity. Whether it’s the illusion of effortless learning, the hidden business behind your morning latte, or why our cities stopped digging deeper, these reads remind us that the stories behind the systems matter — especially when they cost billions.

Forget touchdowns and final scores. What really gets our hearts racing might just be the beer, the bratwurst, and the pre-game bounce house. The true spectacle isn’t on the field but in the parking lot. And now, science is starting to catch on. It turns out that crowds — from sports fans to protesters — aren’t just gathering, they’re syncing up emotionally, their hearts beating as one long before the main event even begins.