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This was meant purely to be a pre-debate article. But intense interest in the topic propelled it to eclipse 100,000 readers in less than a day -- The Drudge Report made it a front-page post. That's why we're now circulating it to all of our readers. Before she took to the podium, ABC News' George Stephanopoulos said that Hillary Clinton could not afford to have a coughing fit -- and she didn't have one. Maybe her aides read this piece, about how to suppress coughs.

For most of us, our first thought when a new pathogen causes an outbreak is: Will I get it? Epidemiologists estimate how many people will get different infectious diseases, by giving each of them a rank on the scale of how contagious they are. It's called the Basic Reproduction Number.

We can’t talk about penises and urethras without mentioning vaginas. So, it seems like the perfect segue in our series on foreign bodies in the body, to move directly from one family jewel to another.  Let’s dive right in and open Pandora’s box, so to speak.

This Saturday marks the beginning of flu season -- which spans the months of October to May -- so that means it's time to get your flu shot. The ideal time is to get vaccinated before the end of October. The CDC has issued immunization guidance with a few changes worth noting, which we have for you here.  

"Spice" is linked to serious health issues ranging from difficulties breathing to psychotic episodes. Yet despite well-known issues, these drugs are still in demand and the homeless, particularly, are at risk of mental health issues from their use. So what exactly are these drugs made of and why do they cause such violent reactions?

Though reality TV would seem to challenge the notion, highly social creatures tend to be more intelligent than non-social creatures. The reason is because it takes brain power to communicate and thrive in a society.

Not only does cigarette smoking damage the lungs, it can cause often hidden damage to the heart that has nothing to do with cholesterol levels. A recent study found changes in the actual heart structure of current smokers. On the plus side, former smokers' hearts seemed to have more of the characteristics of never smokers than of current smokers. 

1. In US News and World Report, they cover a publicity briefing by Greg Glassman, CEO of the Crossfit extreme exercise empire. Glassman is trying to generate some traction for his recent publicity stunt claiming he knows that soda causes diabetes, despite the fact that the evidence is similar to claiming spoons do.

For the 12+ million Americans who suffer from ADHD, it is rather ironic that many of them had to remember to take their medication four times per day. With a little help from pharmaceutical chemistry, life is now a little easier.

We all have to die. Those of us who process that reality ahead of time might be lucky enough to have a small say over the time and location of our unavoidable demise. And in the process, we may help society as a whole come to terms with death. That is why we applaud the increase in deaths that are occurring at hospices.

Of all the cosmetic penile procedures that stick out, perhaps none can elicit as much of a response as the new kid on the block — Botox injections into the scrotum for the sole purpose of whipping gravity. Yep, if you want help with your dangling participles, fear not, you are no longer in a pickle.

A warning just published by the British Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency alerts women and their healthcare providers that some medications and herbal preparations can interfere with the efficacy of emergency contraceptive pills.

A team of international researchers, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, recently assessed the share of global disease burden that was directly attributable to environmental risks. Their findings were published in the Journal of Public Health.

Some people just come right out and ask if you will simply repeat, in public, what they say. In fact, it is such a given in the anti-science community, where the technique is so common. Amazingly, brazenly, those folks often just blatantly ask each other to parrot their work, no matter how flawed it is. Here's how Friends of the Earth does it.

With medical letters and the general health of the presidential candidates recently being the big topic of discussion, who's medically fit or unfit in 2016?  What condition would cause you, or a major party, to disqualify someone running for President of the United States? (The answer is different for a physician.)

Karl Meltzer's newest feat, setting the land speed record traversing the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia, was unquestionably remarkable -- and newsworthy. Yet among its media coverage, two of the most prominent reports played up the angle that one particular aspect of his achievement — the ultra runner's food consumption during his historic dash — was in some way bizarre. However, for the most part, that was just not the case.

In the science community, when dealing with people who are either evangelists in a war they know little about or are simply anti-science, this is known as "moving the goalposts." Basically, you just keep changing your argument every time the old one is shown to be invalid. That is what Greg Glassman, CEO of CrossFit, is doing.

Activity trackers of all sorts have become must-have piece of technology — the theory being that they can encourage people to move more. But can activity trackers added to standard behavioral interventions help people lose more weight and maintain the weight loss longer? A recent study says ... not so much.

AMR is inevitable. As people keep finding ways to kill the microbes that infect us, those microbes, through evolutionary processes, will mutate to counteract them.

The UK’s report, A review of Antimicrobial Resistance,  is a well-considered blueprint of a financially viable way forward. While it may not find its way to your nightstand, it should be required reading for our legislatures.

I must admit that I still love books, not e-books, but the physical object and that lets me wander through bookstores making serendipitous discoveries. To my great joy, I found this new release, The Kingdom of Speech, as I was about to leave my local bookstore. Here is my report.

Golden rice — bioengineered to contain beta-carotene — has the potential to decrease the toll of blindness and mortality due to vitamin A deficiency in the developing world. A new study modeled this potential when varying degrees of substitution and beta carotene content are involved. For the poorest, the benefit can be substantial.

In an excerpt from Morning Consult, Dr. Robert Popovian, Senior Director of Pfizer US Government Relations, offers five suggestions for policy makers about pricing, cost, and value of innovative therapies.

First came the mosquitoes.
Now, the houseflies.  They buzz around the TV screen, land on your head, and they won't leave you alone! What do these trespassers actually want anyway? And why do they like us humans so much?

For this issue, why should an economist lead? Why not a health economist? The answer: Many of the urgent problems are economic, so we need an economist, especially one versed in macro-economic issues and the world economy. To stop the global rise of drug-resistant infections, there's a supply-and-demand problem that needs to be fixed.

The international protest "March Against Monsanto" was never based on truth. The movement perpetuated myths about GMOs to demonize a company that has a really bad PR department. But now that Bayer is buying out Monsanto, what is MAM to do? It's now promoting everything from anti-vaxxer propaganda to historical conspiracy theories.