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Your dog loves rawhides - that's a fact. But someone may have told you to stay away from them. Why? Take a look at the Good, the Bad, and the Debunked about your pet's favorite chew bone. 

Some scientific discoveries, like human genome editing, challenge our thinking on many levels. And there are many voices getting into the mix of the debate on this subject, taking on the unenviable task of "playing God." 

Thanks to the efforts of plant scientists, we may see a return to tomatoes that ...actually taste like tomatoes. An international collaborative effort has identified both the chemicals that provide the flavor and the genes that control them. But because of anti-GMO scare-mongering, we will have to wait longer than necessary.

How has President Trump done so far in picking science and health leadership? We provide a scorecard.

A large outbreak in Washington State of hundreds of cases of mumps – a disease projected to be eliminated from the United States by 2010 – is raising new questions, two in particular. Why is it back? And can we ever rid the nation of it for good?  

A fungus harvested from termite nests has been traditionally used to treat these two conditions. Now, Taiwanese scientists think they have discovered a plausible scientific rationale for this practice.

1. Nutella scare redux. After we criticized the EU food safety in USA Today for its badly-reasoned claim that nutella was going to give people cancer, they have promised to reexamine palm oil health risks.

Given the media attention devoted to weak observational claims about health (miracle vegetables, chemophobia of the month) and the rampant mistrust of science that has resulted from them, it is worth asking if they're worth the expense. The answer: They probably are – but only for smaller programs. 

A grassroots science movement has amassed a gigantic following on social media, which in turn has resulted in substantial mainstream media coverage. The site, still in development, states that "anyone who values empirical science" can participate. That's good. Unfortunately, other statements are sending mixed messages.

According to a recent study, those who had the opportunity to receive "individual wellness coaching by telephone for weight management lost an average of 10 pounds each and changed their weight trajectories from upward to downward."

Don't have the money for an elite wellness getaway? Here are some low-budget alternatives.

There are so many fad weight-loss diets out there that it's hard to pick a few favorites — but we did. Some are based on pseudoscience, and others on nothing at all. But all demonstrate the amazing creativity that can be brought to bear on a serious problem like obesity.

Human genome editing, like self-driving cars or drone delivery, may become part of our everyday lives faster than we realize it. A panel discussion entitled "The Future of Gene Editing" brought together four experts to tackle the challenges, as they apply to humans, from different approaches and perspectives.

The Brookings Institute recently released a study on what it terms the "Privacy Paradox," in that officials believe that our concerns about privacy are not monolithic, but contextual. Privacy involves withholding information from others to protect a social image, either for a person or the community he/she inhabits. 

Food Safety News has reported that Whole Foods has shut down all three of its regional kitchens because the FDA "discovered a long list of 'serious violations,'" some of which resulted in surfaces being contaminated with Listeria.

Guys, you know the rules: Always pick the urinal the furthest from the other guy. Little did we know that this issue was of such import, that a couple of lunatics with expertise in math and computer science would quantify urinal selection behavior. Sorry, you'll have to read it. It's not live streaming. 

British scientists came up with a plan to decrease the incidence of the dangerous drug resistant Clostridium difficile: Limit the use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, such as Cipro, in hospitals. 

It's a testament to modern medicine that just two days after undergoing cervical cancer surgery, a patient as driven as NFL sideline reporter Erin Andrews can even have the option to jet back to her job. And just three days after that, to be healthy enough to stand before millions of viewers on live national television.

It seems every time I've got a handle on the latest food craze (and believe me, I know my stuff), another super food takes center stage.
Enter Teff: the staple grain of Ethiopia. And according to the Internet, this one blows Quinoa out of the boiling water. Which is especially frustrating, since it took me 6 months to teach ACSH President Hank Campbell how to pronounce Quinoa, and now he doesn't have to anymore. 
The good news is Teff is much easier to pronounce, although its nutritional benefits may be a bit confusing. Watch our video to see why!
 

Even birds know when they're paired up with a mate that's "out of their league." New research from the journal Biology Letters demonstrates that unattractive, male, red-backed fairy-wrens spend more time guarding their female mates – while their sexy competitors spend more time seeking "extramarital" affairs.

The wording of information was a more significant factor in patient decision making than age, gender, medical history and for most patients, the level of education. 

The fight against cancer has been one tough war. Perhaps the most difficult battle has been finding drugs that selectively kill cancer cells while sparing the rest. A research group at Washington University Medical School has come up with a very clever approach — starving the cancer cells. 

Here we go again. Given that there are literally thousands of chemicals to pick on, we can only wonder why scaremongers keep returning again and again to the old ones, like acrylamide. This time, if you can believe it, British consumers were recently warned to avoid browning their toast or other starchy foods.

Officials in the Colorado Basin area, who allocate mountain water runoff to 33 million residents downstream, were perplexed by recurring blankets of dust, which accelerated the snow-melting process. So these hydrologists turned to NASA and its satellites to help them solve the mystery and improve the accuracy of their water supply forecasts.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton collapsed Monday night in front of legislators while giving the State of the State address. Though he rebounded well, he just disclosed a recent prostate cancer diagnosis. Learn about the proper medical care that's needed when someone faints, and why it happens in the first place.