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What if your mobile phone's battery was made to be longer lasting, and instead of requiring a mined mineral its essential ingredient came from a renewable source? And it was available worldwide, making the battery production process more sustainable? A scientist thinks he's on to something just like that – using seaweed.

Should we all be taking the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins? Even if one has never had a heart attack or stroke, should they be on a statin for so-called primary prevention? The USPSTF has reviewed the data and answers with a qualified "yes."

One in 10 have a major depressive disorder during their lives, which makes depression the most common mental illness. Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from depression. Depression has both a genetic component and it's connected to environmental factors. But the genetic component has been difficult to determine.

To get at the science of personalized nutrition, we need to understand the emerging science of metabolomics, which is “the systematic study of the unique chemical fingerprints that specific cellular processes leave behind." Let's get an overview by considering our sweet friend, glucose.

Depression and anxiety, as well as severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia, have become more openly discussed. Yet, one aspect of mental health remains largely in the shadows: Nightmares. A new study builds on previous data and examines their relationship to suicide.
 

Taking advantage of today's toxic, confrontational mindset are outlets like SourceWatch. The website is like a politicized, unscientific version of Wikipedia. Volunteers – rather than qualified experts – write smear articles about people and groups they don't like (one of them being us).

ACSH's Dr. Jamie Wells attended the Congressional Luncheon hosted by the Center for Excellence in Education, in support of STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – education. Both Sen. Joe Lieberman and Sen. Ted Cruz had prominent roles in the Washington, DC gathering.

Metabolomics is an emerging field that studies the "unique chemical fingerprints that specific cellular processes leave behind." In this case, it's applied to what we eat. And coupled with machine learning, this may well give us very personalized diets to improve our health.

There are many reasons not to take dietary supplements, just take a look at some of the stuff we've written in the past.  But to jog your memory, here are five reasons not to start taking dietary supplements, or multivitamins. 

Bacteria are ubiquitous. While most are benign, they inhabit every surface we touch. They're on our companion animals, as well as all over our food and loved ones. Perhaps the scariest is Yersinia pestis — the cause of the black plague – which killed 60 percent of Europe during a 14th century outbreak. So, can it return?

Public health is a field that's widely misunderstood, even by science journalists. That's because epidemiology is an inexact science, complicated by a large variability in the quality of the data it produces. Also, by its reliance on advanced statistical methods. 

Listening to the tranquil sounds of nature makes you feel more relaxed. Most people would believe that statement to be true, since it's both plausible and intuitive. And factually, maybe it is true. But can it be scientifically proven? British researchers tried to, but following their reasoning was analogous to getting lost in the woods.

We know you're not going to attach an intravenous line to an orange to get a vitamin-C boost, but this picture is worth a 1,000 words. Hyper-healthnicks are visiting "infusion clinics" for IVs of all sorts of vitamins and minerals. These costly clinics may have a dubious connection to "good" health, but hey – they sue are chic and comfortable. 
 

Is science political? Around climate change, yes it is. But regarding oxidative phosphorylation, not so much. A new paper uses the market to describe the politics of science.

In infants, whooping cough is horrific. They are especially vulnerable during their first few months, before they can receive their first vaccinations. A new study strengthens the CDC's recommendation: expectant mothers should get the whooping cough vaccine in their third trimester, to transfer protective antibodies to their newborns.

From telecommunications and transportation to healthcare and entertainment, cutting-edge technology serves society well. But not when it comes to food. Oh no. We don't want technology anywhere near that. Neanderthal know-how is perfectly fine, thanks. What's behind that bizarre thinking?

New data from NASA just revealed that it'll be even harder for humans to ever set up shop on the Red Planet, because it's becoming ever-more dead. Roughly 65 percent of Mars' atmosphere has been eliminated, literally forced out to space by solar wind and radiation.

Ever wonder why orange juice tastes to bitter after brushing your teeth? It's science.  
Ever wonder why brushing your teeth may suppress or open up your appetite? That's science-y.

You're ready to go somewhere, but you can't because you've misplaced your keys, or purse, or something else. And this seems to happen more often as we age. So what can we do? According to Scottish researchers studying human searching behavior, one thing to do is to optimize your search strategy.

Most motorists, as they glide their cars carefully around the bloody remains, find highway carcasses repulsive. But a team of microbiologists and chemists from the University of Oklahoma hope that roadkill will prove to be a biomedical gold mine.

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that there was no significant reduction of the incidence of all-type cancer in older women receiving Vitamin D and calcium supplements.

If you live in California, you're probably sick and tired of see idiotic warning labels every time you turn around. It's almost entirely due to Proposition 65, which has produced unending headaches without helping anyone. A couple more — for food colorings and soda – could be your future. Label these legislators stupid. 
 

Not only are eggs not the villainous promoters of heart disease they've been cracked up to be, they may actually help promote heart health. An investigation into the subtypes of LDL and HDL cholesterol found that eating as many as 3 eggs per day can have a positive influence — at least in younger, healthy people.

As terrifying as some of the viruses sounded in Part 4 of this series, we are not all dead. This is because when it was necessary to roll up their sleeves, people did so willingly. Millions of lives have been saved, but there is still some scary stuff out there.

A growing number of parents choose to opt out of giving children their daily dose of milk, and switching to alternatives like almond milk or cashew milk. Perhaps they may think the alternatives offer a bit more calcium than real milk — but this is misleading: Real milk contains both calcium and vitamin D (added in the 1930s due to Rickets — a vitamin D deficiency among children), and the presence of vitamin D helps absorb the calcium.