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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.

RFK Jr. has unveiled a new demand for medical schools –– that they offer more nutritional training than they currently do. As we’ve come to expect from him, this demand demonstrates his lack of knowledge about how healthcare works, the health professions, and the actual concerns about food.

A new study from the NIH’s All of Us program is shaking up long-held assumptions by revealing that genetic ancestry rarely aligns with racial labels — and that the interplay between biology and society is far messier than we like to admit. Race might be a helpful lens for understanding inequality, but it’s a terrible shortcut for decoding our DNA.

Health-optimizing enthusiasts are strapping on continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) to fine-tune their performance, prevent disease, and perhaps, just maybe, dodge the carbohydrate bomb that is the potato. A new study peels back the glycemic curtain, revealing how our individual glucose spikes add to our understanding of our metabolic health.

Did you know that eating just three small apricot kernels, or half of one large apricot kernel, can exceed safe levels? Apricot seeds, or kernels, contain a naturally occurring compound called amygdalin. Amygdalin can release cyanide in your body after consumption. Experts warn apricot kernels should be eaten in moderation, or better yet – not at all.

Every time nuclear energy appears promising, a meltdown, political backlash, or cost overrun pushes it back into the shadows. However, with tech giants eyeing carbon-free power for their energy-hungry AI empires and small nuclear reactors (SMRs) offering plug-and-play nuclear with built-in safety features, we may be witnessing the beginning of a fission-powered renaissance.

From failing air traffic control systems to the forgotten toll of COVID, add crystalline experiments inspired by childhood wonder and a deep dive into how disability innovations like the curb-cut effect shape society for everyone.

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic are transforming weight loss and diabetes management. But no good deed goes unpunished, and the manufacturers of these medicines now face a wave of lawsuits, with plaintiffs claiming they weren't warned about rare, but sometimes serious, side effects. Is this litigation driven by solid evidence, or are the tort lawyers out for yet another unearned payday? Let's take a look.

What do French fries, fluoride, and 5G towers have in common? According to "Toxic Nation," the MAHA community’s first film, they’re all part of a toxic tapestry unraveling public health while institutions look the other way.

West Virginia is the hardest-hit of all states when it comes to overdose drug deaths. Must be those damn pills, right? Wrong. Drug overdose deaths from prescription opioids are very low. It can be reasonably argued that it’s effectively zero — that is, prescription opioids rarely cause deaths when taken as prescribed. How can this be possible? Data from the West Virginia Department of Health proves this.

A protein shake and a candy bar walk into a lab — and according to the NOVA food classification system, they might walk out with the same grade. When calories are the only measure and processing is the villain, nuance gets crushed under the weight of oversimplified science.

Medicare Advantage may lure seniors with slick perks and shiny star ratings, but many soon find themselves tangled in red tape and narrow networks. It’s a classic bait-and-switch: attract the healthy, frustrate the sick, and let the system quietly nudge the costly ones out the door.

The agency had a golden opportunity to clean up its act on “forever chemicals” — but fumbled spectacularly. Instead of addressing flawed science and regulatory overreach, it doubled down on outdated assumptions, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill and water systems scrambling.

Although it appears not to cause more severe illness, preliminary data demonstrate that the variant exhibits significant resistance to immunity from prior infection or vaccination. Ensuring up-to-date vaccinations and keeping testing and treatment accessible are modest measures that could save lives in the event of a new COVID surge. But these efforts require public support — and clear, science-based leadership.

When cholera ravaged Hamburg in 1892, politics — not science — drove the response. Over a century later, as we confront modern “epidemics” of obesity, chronic diseases, measles, and COVID, the grab-bag of responses are eerily similar, uncannily echoing the rhetoric of yesteryear. As far as science goes, history doesn’t just repeat; it rebrands.

What's the deal with the "discard after one year" label on pill bottles? Is it based on real science? Or is the FDA just trying to get you to send in "outdated" medicines, especially prescription opioids?

A moment for our colleague, Cheryl Martin.

We’ve all done it: we dip the chip, we take a bite, and we dip again— just like George Constanza in the beloved Seinfeld TV series. But is it an ick factor, or a risk factor? The science has spoken.

In the war against ultra-processed foods, homemade meals have long enjoyed the moral and nutritional high ground. But a new study adds nuance to that narrative, suggesting that when recipes are matched and ingredients equalized, the health halo of “home-cooked” may not shine as brightly.

Mosquito season is returning to the Northeast, and with it comes not only a surge in buzzing pests but also perennial debates about whether spraying them is safe. At the center of this controversy is sumithrin, the active ingredient in the insecticide Anvil, commonly used for mosquito control. This article takes a science-based look at sumithrin’s toxicity, environmental impact, and the importance of separating fact from fear to public health.