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A Modern History of Bail
Streetlights illuminating the Street, and some unwarranted (?) surveillance
Calling people names stifles understanding.
Presentism - wokeness reinterprets history

How good is the evidence implicating climate change as a cause of heart attacks? Not very. Let's take a critical look at some of this research.

The EPA’s model for assessing the rise of carcinogenesis from chemicals and their dose-response models remains controversial. Is the EPA “following the science” or making assumptions?

Hermann J Muller revolutionized radiation genetics, received the Nobel Prize for producing gene mutations, and helped to create the linear non-threshold (LNT), the EPA’s default model for cancer risk assessment. Could mistakes he made haunt today’s most dominant global regulatory strategy?

World War II ended with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those bombings and the late effects of radiation on the development of cancers in those “survivors” spurred scientific inquiry into the mechanisms underlying human carcinogenesis – the development of cancer. Today’s regulatory science of chemical carcinogens is based upon assumptions and beliefs that are now 75 years old. Our understanding of carcinogenesis has evolved; should our regulatory models shift?

Did COVID lockdowns save lives? At what cost and to whom? The answer to both is that it depends. Let’s consider some of the issues that make up “it depends.”

Having Covid is a good excuse to bitch about...whatever. I chose digital thermometers. Hateful monstrosities.

Fat-acceptance advocates are pressuring TV executives to turn popular reality shows into platforms for social-justice advocacy. There is no better example of science-free cynicism.

Could cocoa extract or a multivitamin slow the onset of dementia? A new randomized placebo-controlled study offers some hope. (Spoiler alert: Eating a chocolate bar a day will not keep dementia away.)

The Conversation returns with another awful story about the dangers of "ultra-processed" food. Here's a look at the science they ignored—again.

Kentucky is one of the hardest hit states when it comes to drug overdose deaths. Dr. Jeff Singer discusses how the state can use kiosks that provide drug paraphernalia to address this problem as well as HIV/AIDS and fentanyl poisoning. The essence of harm reduction.

Dr. Lynn Webster, one of the most respected pain patient advocates, managed to get through all eight episodes of Dopesick. In his review, he mentions that it wasn't half bad, provided that you like fiction. Here are his thoughts.

Daily infections and deaths have been the main coronavirus public health concerns. Little attention has been given to the grab bag of lingering symptoms collectively known as “long-haul” or “post-COVID-19 syndrome,”  affecting about 15% of the U.S. population. Here we use public data from two ongoing research projects to summarize the current state of knowledge.

China is 'seeding' clouds to increase rainfall and fight a severe drought. Will it work? A large body of research shows that soda taxes are ineffective, so why do public health experts continue to endorse them? Finally, has climate change increased the number of heart attacks we suffer? No.

A new report by the American Medical Association reinforces what Dr. Bloom, among others, has said for a long time. Opioid overdose deaths are not the result of the prescribing behavior of physicians.

Why special? I had some free time, so I read a bit more; this edition includes
Besties? !
A step-by-step guide to producing pseudoscience
Quals vs. Quants
Unelected, Unknown, and Highly Influential – The Corporate Deep State

Wanna hear something sickening? Neurontin, a drug developed for epilepsy and used off-label for neuropathic pain, had its sales grow 250% between 2004 and 2019. Why? We don't have 250% more epileptics. No, it's because the drug is being forced down the throats of people who can no longer get sufficient pain relief. The result? Abuse and also more overdose deaths. Just another chapter in our psychotic war against legitimate opioid drugs and the people who need them.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, is a horrible disease. Last week in a reversal of a decision the FDA made just a few months ago, their external advisory board approved a “novel” drug for ALS. What changed?

Paxlovid, the “Tamiflu” of COVID-19, the oral medication shown to reduce hospitalizations, also is known for its “rebound” – a recurrence of COVID-19 a few days after completing the entire course of treatment. The New England Journal of Medicine reports on why – it’s the viral load.

Many Americans are obsessed with nutrition or totally disinterested in it. Why are these extremes so common? ACSH contributor David Lightsey joins us to explain. Public health officials committed many blunders during the pandemic. Part of the problem may have been the incomplete and often inaccurate information they were working with. How can they avoid the same errors next time around?

Parkinson’s Disease is one of several degenerative diseases in our neurologic system. It has a celebrity patient, Michael J. Fox. Still, with a million patients living with the disease in the US and sixty thousand new diagnoses annually, it lacks a biomarker to aid in early detection. An artificial intelligence program looking at nocturnal breathing may change that and, ultimately, how we care for these patients.

Most of my dieting or weight-conscious friends rely on the bevy of artificial sweeteners on the market to aid their quest of finding “their svelte outer selves.” For example, we have saccharin, the oldest of the bunch, sucralose, aspartame, and stevia, available in rainbow-pastel-colored packets for the asking. Is one better than the other?

A recent survey conducted at schools in England has yielded additional evidence that vaping is an effective smoking-cessation tool.

Some 400,000 people attended Woodstock 99 in Rome, New York. The weekend-long music festival ended in preventable disaster, and it offers an important lesson to policymakers and activists eager to ban important technologies.

It has long been accepted that statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) cause muscle pain. Everyone knows this. But a study published in Lancet tells us that only a small number of cases of muscle pain are actually from the drugs. Interesting and a bit surprising.