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Despite activist claims about trace amounts of glyphosate in foods like cereal, you'd need to eat absurd quantities- like 30+ bowls of Cheerios daily for over a year, before you approach the EPA's safe exposure limits. Sound realistic? Not in the least. Here are 5 quick facts about glyphosate scientists want you to know!

March Madness inspires millions of sports fans to fill out brackets and pretend they can predict the unpredictable. Inspired by this annual ritual, here’s a tournament of a different kind. Instead of basketball teams, the competitors are some of the most dubious dietary supplements on the market.

A class action lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare claims that an AI system was used to unfairly deny post-acute rehabilitation coverage for Medicare Advantage patients, sometimes overruling treating physicians' judgments. The case raises a bigger question: when algorithms make important decisions in healthcare, who is really responsible—the machine, or the humans who deploy it?

A short newsletter item summarized a new Canadian study into a simple takeaway: toddlers who eat more ultra-processed foods tend to develop more behavioral problems. The statement is technically accurate—but like many science headlines, it omits the context that explains what the findings truly mean. When the effect sizes and baseline scores are examined more closely, the story becomes far less alarming—and more interesting.

From miracle weight-loss fix to mass tort battleground: drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro promise better health — but also spark mass lawsuits. So, are they a pharma bonanza, a plaintiffs’ jackpot, or both?

A dish of living human neurons has been taught to play Doom. No, it isn’t conscious or watching the screen the way players do. But it is learning to respond to signals in a way that produces recognizable gameplay, something that is mind-blowing. The real story isn’t gaming; it’s what this kind of bio-electronic interface might eventually be good for.

Why do some people get goosebumps from a song while others hear the exact same notes…and feel nothing?
New research reveals “musical anhedonia” — a real brain disconnect where music hits your ears but never reaches the reward center. It’s not picky taste, but a fascinating finding from neurology. Let's take a closer look.

Today is an AI edition, a chance to consider its expanding reach — from the playroom to the ballpark to the battlefield. What was once confined to screens and research labs is now embedded in toys, adjudicating sports, and shaping the debate over how we defend the homeland, with Iran in the foreground and Ukraine in the background.

In 1921, Otto Loewi woke from a dream with the idea for an experiment that proved nerves communicate using chemicals, not just electricity. By showing that stimulating one frog’s heart released a substance that slowed another heart, he discovered the first neurotransmitter—acetylcholine—launching modern neuropharmacology. His breakthrough transformed medicine, even as his life was later upended by the Nazis despite his Nobel Prize–winning work.

Few topics provoke as much concern as the perception that puberty is beginning earlier than ever. While synthetic endocrine-disrupting chemicals are often cast as the primary culprits, puberty is complex, and evidence from a large population study suggests that energy balance and inheritance may exert stronger, more consistent influences on pubertal onset than trace chemical exposures alone.

One year ago, Los Angeles experienced one of the most destructive urban wildfire disasters in its history. The fires consumed more than 55,000 acres, destroyed nearly 16,000 homes, and claimed approximately 440 lives — leaving tens of thousands displaced and entire neighborhoods altered. While debris was cleared in record time, the health consequences of burning not just forests but entire urban environments are still unfolding.

Words matter in national dietary guidance—especially technical ones. In the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, readers are urged to prioritize oils “with essential fatty acids,” with olive oil, butter, and beef tallow offered as examples. But in nutrition science, “essential” has a precise biochemical meaning—and those examples don’t align with it.

Climate change plaintiffs now claim that greenhouse gases are causing property damage through fire, flood, and frost, ignoring the role of Mother Nature. Creative attorneys are repackaging these natural catastrophes as the consequence of the “nefarious” activities of alleged greenhouse gas polluters, such as oil and gas companies. Whether these cases will be allowed to be brought in state court before sympathetic juries is now a question posed to the Supreme Court.

There’s a difference between explaining science and dancing around it. When the question is basic immunology, the answer shouldn’t require decoding. A straight answer still counts. It was in short supply at the Casey Means hearing.

A study published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that your daily caffeine fix might be doing more than just perking you up—it could be protecting your brain from dementia.

Fruit flies’ exposure to radiation from the basis of modern federal radiation directives, the debate over how we calculate radiation risk has resurfaced with new Executive orders. The consequences reach far beyond academic quarrels.

Newly published data indicate a quiet shift in hospital nurseries that may signal a broader change in how Americans view routine medical prevention. Hepatitis B vaccination is no longer as widespread at birth as it was just a few years ago. Whether this marks a temporary fluctuation or the start of a sustained trend carries implications that will unfold slowly and measurably over time.

On this episode of Science Dispatch, we take a look at the radiation oncology experience from the perspective of a patient (and radiation expert) who endured 28 mornings of this common but misunderstood therapy. What does the science say about efficacy and side effects? Perhaps more importantly, what can other patients expect from this experience?

Nary a day goes by that the plaintiffs’ bar is not busily at work initiating a new mass tort action. Some cases expand on earlier initiatives, like the Valsartan cases. The theory against these was launched from the Zantac claims, which are still clogging court calendars.

More In Common, a non-profit that believes "that what we have in common is stronger than what divides us," ran this study in 2018. It remains a touchstone today.

Mark Hahn and I discuss the critical vulnerabilities in the U.S. drug supply from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Surrogates are effectively used in politics and pregnancy. In the former case, no one raises an eyebrow. When it comes to pregnancy, however, laws and societal views vary globally. These distinctions foster inequities in the treatment of gestational carriers and invite reproductive tourism. Italy is the latest country to staunch the surrogate supply.

A JAMA study suggests that when doctors team up with Artificial Intelligence, they do indeed reach conclusions faster and, in some cases, even more accurately. But there's a catch: AI isn't exactly acing the test when it comes to the critical art of clinical reasoning. So, does adding AI make doctors smarter – or just faster?

There is an inherent conflict of interest – and the potential for injury to public health – when a federal department both regulates and promotes an industry. Nowhere is this more evident than at USDA.

An inherent conflict of interest – USDA both regulating and promoting livestock industries – prevents appropriate responses to outbreaks of infectious disease.