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No, not by us, we are instead separating real health threats from manufactured health scares.

Perhaps the worst laboratory accident in recent memory occurred in 1996, when Karen Wetterhahn, a chemistry professor at Dartmouth, spilled a couple of drops of dimethylmercury on her glove. Thinking nothing of it, she simply changed gloves. Ten months later she died from mercury poisoning.

All cancer is heartbreaking, but pediatric cancers are my emotional soft spot. A friend's 10-month-old baby just got diagnosed with leukemia. As a result I decided to register myself as a potential bone marrow donor. It's quick and easy. Here's what's involved.

Strong, young, healthy, athletic -- all the attributes that seemingly would protect someone from the small risks inherent in any leisure activity. And yet, sad, terrible events still take place that claim lives of such people when simple precautions and common sense are overlooked or ignored. Take the drowning of 19-year-old college pitcher Donny Everett as a tragic example.

While we often pooh-pooh the claims of marketers for the efficacy of dietary supplements, we're not blind to the possibilities. One supplement that has been studied in transgenic growth hormone (or TGM) mice may hold promise for treating or staving off neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. More work is needed, of course.

Stemming from the American Society of Clinical Oncology gathering in Chicago, it will be difficult not to give into the optimism that is cancer research these days. In conjunction with significant investment from the White House and beyond, the frontier of cancer treatment has never looked so promising.

The scientific enterprise is something of a paradox. Science moves incrementally, and the status quo is preferred to radical new ideas. Yet, simultaneously, creativity is encouraged, but scientists who become too creative can become outcasts. Let’s consider a few of those here.

Julianna joined the ACSH team in April. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Microbiology from Tufts University, School of Medicine in 2008 followed by a post-doc at MIT, working with C. elegans. She is currently an Assistant Professor in NY.

It should come as no surprise that Prince, who was rumored to be addicted to oxycodone, died from an overdose. But it was not oxycodone that killed him. It was fentanyl, perhaps the deadliest drug ever to hit the streets.

In a state where there are more pain management clinics than McDonald’s restaurants, Florida seems to be the epicenter of the prescription painkiller addiction epidemic. In response, the Sunshine State has been enacting laws, which have helped to more closely monitor drug distribution and combat the problem.

Motivating people to increase their activity requires helping them overcome what they perceive as barriers to doing so. And, researchers from Dartmouth College found, those barriers will differ according to weight class.

California's Proposition 65 list is a quintessential example of government bureaucracy gone berserk. It contains 900+ chemicals that the state declares are carcinogens or reproductive toxins. Anything that is made with, or contains any of these, now carries a ridiculous warning sticker. Should penises also be labeled? That makes far more sense than much of the rest of the law.

Dioxin, once proclaimed by the environmental community as the “doomsday chemical” of the 20th century and the “deadliest substance ever created by chemists,” has faded from the media spotlight. As explained by guest writer Gordon Gribble, there is a reason why.

Most people have been conditioned to fear chemicals, but the typical fear is not consistent with the actual risk. The vast majority of chemicals that are encountered in everyday life are quite safe. But, when your profession is chemistry, that changes fast. Here is one example.

It's that time of year again - The World Science Festival is in town. Every year since 2008, the WSF has brought cutting edge science programs to the city. The events range from large ones, set in the grandeur of Lincoln Center to one-on-one marine biology lessons on a fishing pier while wearing a pair of waders. If you love science and are looking for something to do this weekend, then check out the website at www.worldsciencefestival.com to take a look at the 50 different events.

There is a tremendous amount of misinformation regarding sunscreens that induce undue fear in the public. Organizations that propagate these fears contribute to decreased sunscreen use -- one of the most important modalities in protecting one's skin from sun damage.

While the ongoing issue for many world-class athletes -- specifically, whether to participate in the upcoming Olympics -- comes into sharper focus, we keep hearing from those who are unsettled by the idea of heading into Brazil's Zika hot zone. And with the news that a major league pitcher has recently contracted the virus, the drumbeat for athletes to potentially skip the Summer Games is getting louder. But if they take precautions, should they?

AIDS has killed 34 million people around the world. Of the critical sequential steps that are necessary for HIV to replicate, one of them requires a single molecule of water. In the absence this one molecule, HIV would not exist.

Processed foods get a bad rap these days from many supposed nutrition experts. But not all processing is bad — canned fruits and vegetables, for example, can be part of a healthy diet for both children and adults.

Treating breast cancer with a very high dose of chemotherapy doesn’t improve survival any more than if a standard dose is used. And as guest writer Nicholas Wilcken writes, a recent paper has now capped decades of research debunking the idea that, if only we could give a high enough dose of chemotherapy, we could cure breast cancer.

Fireflies, or lightning bugs, are undoubtedly one of the many joys of summer. Assisting the bugs in this romantic calling are their luminous rear ends, which flash brilliant yellow.

California is ranked 47th in the U.S. in science education. So, it is not terribly surprising that the Golden State is making some rather poor choices in wine (whine) country, and looking mighty foolish in the process.

A recent study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, revealed that although expensive, the UNAIDS "90-90-90" program is well worth the price. The program's overall goal is to be able to achieve a 73 percent reduction in the viral load to undetectable levels worldwide by 2020.

Economics aside, if longer hours don't necessarily produce more work, and fewer hours (or one less workday) help boost employee health and morale and generate more engagement and productivity, we ought to at least consider the possibility.

The rate and number of higher order births (triplets and up) in the United States declined between 1998 and 2014. This is a positive trend that should result in better infant survival and health, as well as a reduction in health care costs.