Search results

What do Monkeypox, the opioid crisis, New Mexico fires, Kentucky flooding, and COVID-19 have in common? All have been declared public health emergencies. [1] So what exactly does a declaration of a public health emergency mean?

Personal injury lawyers are either revered or reviled. Sometime purveyors of junk science, they often prey on a vulnerable and scientifically averse judiciary. But things are a’changin- at least for asbestos. And that signals bad news for the talc plaintiffs.

The last several years have even given skeptics reasons to consider reducing our fossil fuel use and replacing it with something else. The problem is that so many of the “something else” alternatives can’t be counted on to keep our cities powered up (try using solar energy at night), and we currently don’t have the technology to store excess energy for a (literal) rainy or windless day. Sure, lithium-ion batteries are growing in capacity, but they’re not yet city-sized and tend to catch fire from time to time. We need a stable, safe, reliable source of power that doesn’t rely on burning fuel – something like nuclear energy.

Daily infection rates are a crucial metric for assessing the spread and intensity of COVID-19, but daily death counts have been of more concern to public health. The lag between infection and death is well known but seldom recognized by the media or various COVID tracking websites. When we hear a pronouncement of increased caseloads but reassurance since death rates remain stable, we’re tempted to respond, “Just wait!” 

Cato Institute Senior Fellow Dr. Jeffrey Singer (also a member of the ACSH Scientific Advisory Board) has written a powerful piece about the inability of policymakers to realize that their plan to reduce drug overdose deaths is wrong on every level.

In general, the dietary supplement industry has the scruples of a three-card monte game. One of the most popular products is melatonin, which is used as a sleep aid because it's natural (wrong) and not a drug (also wrong). Let's take a look at some supplement sleight of hand.

Activist groups like to use children's health as a bargaining chip in debates about pesticide safety. I'm a dad, and I call shenanigans on this disingenuous scare tactic.

Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome
The scent of a woman
Chaos is present everywhere, in physical and biological worlds.
The meat paradox

This summer, there have been more shark sightings, attacks, and public awareness than the summer of “Jaws” in 1975. Systemic infections by fungus are relatively rare in humans (athlete’s foot is a fungal skin infection); one theory holds that our core temperature of 98.6 is a bit too low for most fungal infections to thrive. [1] What do these two seemingly disparate facts have in common – the role of rising temperatures and humans’ biological niche? According to a new study, our rising temperatures may bring us more intense weather and more intense pathogens.

Everybody wants to protect our planet, but environmentalism long ago morphed into a radical progressive movement. Where did it go wrong? As the COVID pandemic gradually recedes, what do we know about ivermectin?

Comedian Bill Maher is in trouble after attacking the fat-acceptance movement on his show last week. Not only was the segment hilarious, but it highlighted an important fact many people would rather not discuss: social-justice activists are rewriting science to protect their ideological commitments.

Lead in drinking water became a political and media cause celebre in 2014 when there were reports of child “lead poisoning” in Flint, Michigan, after the notorious and unfortunate water supply blunders. The Flint problem could easily have been avoided with some common sense and legally required water management procedures.

It seems that for some, Monkeypox is a derogatory term. I’m unsure whether this has to do with the use of the word "monkey," its association with Africa, or some other ill-defined reason. To be fair, naming diseases is important, especially in a time of social media; we all want to be worrying and arguing about the same problem. Not to worry, the World Health Organization has issued some best practices.

In our somewhat academic household, “solving differential equations” was a euphemism for tackling a challenging intellectual problem with an uncertain outcome.  Pinning down the health effects of air pollution exposure is one such problem.

The robots are coming, the robots are coming. Robotic automation of manufacturing lines has been with us for some time. A new study looks at the benefits to our physical health and, for an important group, detriments to mental health.

It has always been known that biological females and males have different body compositions.  For example, men typically are larger, have more muscle, and weigh more than women in humans, a trend seen across almost all mammals.  That difference can potentially influence body hydration, organ blood flow, and organ function, which can affect many drugs' metabolism.  

Recent demands by gender activists include insisting that American medicine conforms to an individual’s contrived identity, including during emergency room and hospital admissions.  People who identify as transgender (or gender nonconforming) may use a veritable cornucopia of different terms to describe themselves. [1] Forcing the public to use "preferred genders" is confusing and complicated enough socially, but more crucially:  it is a significant problem clinically. 

A critically important paper in the journal Frontiers in Pain Medicine concludes that while the rationale for reducing opioid prescriptions to minimize overdose deaths was sound between 2006-2010, during the ensuing decade the opposite was true. Reducing opioid prescriptions during this time dramatically increased deaths and hospitalizations. In other words, what worked 15 years ago is an unmitigated disaster at this time.

We are social creatures, taking our cues as we grow up from those surrounding us – it does take a village to raise a child. But our use of social cues, mimicking the behavior and thoughts of our “village,” does not end with adolescence; it follows us into adulthood. A new study looks at the influence of others on our behavior.

That phrase was a family motto of sorts. On the one hand, it expressed our drive to move forward; on the other, it spoke to our overconfidence in our opinions. Scientists have a term for those following the family motto, the Dunning-Kruger effect – when limited knowledge or competence is coupled with overestimating those qualities. A new study looks across a range of scientific ideas looking for those who are often wrong but never in doubt.

Reporters, fact-checkers, and academics routinely urge us to avoid "misinformation." The problem is, these trusted sources often spread the very nonsense they warn us about. I make the case over at BigThink.

If you're worried about Monkeypox, school shootings, car accidents, or any other possible threat to your health, stop this instant. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has identified a greater risk for you to fret about—frozen pizza.

"Climate-anxious" college students are pushing to have low-risk pesticides banned from their campuses. Meanwhile, states that have legalized recreational marijuana use are concerned that their new policy may cause more car accidents. We examine the science behind both stories on episode 14 of the Science Dispatch podcast.

What is being called "Paxlovid rebound" is not uncommon. In fact, President Biden experienced just this after a course of the drug. What should be done? Drs. Henry Miller and Josh Bloom discuss just this.

The real value of coffee
The public square must be not only civil but open to grace
The hidden life of avocados
The Sound of Movies