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With low-fat milk, lactose-free substitutes and a firm place in culture and nutrition, it wouldn't seem like dairy products need a new science approach, but there are still things to optimize.

Mitochondrial disease is essentially a disease that impacts how our bodies produce energy. Mitochondria are quite literally the energy factories in most of our cells, they are an integral part in how we convert lots of different food sources into a common energy currency, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), that can be used in the brain or the liver or wherever it is needed.

Last November, Maui voters through a ballot initiative passed a ban on the cultivation of genetically engineered crops.

Researchers often delve into the obvious and sometimes find surprising results. That s not true in the case of a report in the bulletin from the World Health Organization.

If you are 40 or younger, it is virtually impossible to fully comprehend the absolute horror of what life was like when AIDS first made its appearance. The infection was so new, and the brutal way in which it killed HIV-infected people could have easily been a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel.

So-called environmentalists had their way with New York s Gov. Cuomo: they made him ban fracking, a safe, economical and carbon- and health-friendly technology to provide natural gas. An op-ed highlights the hypocrisy of the fractavists and the cowardice of the Governor.

Herb popular in China for knee arthritis failed to surpass placebo effect in randomized trial. Many OA patients will remain unconvinced, however, and stick with the soothing belief in its efficacy, as have generations gone by, science notwithstanding.

At last: we in public health have been awaiting an expert opinion on vaccine safety from media celebrity Jim Carrey for such a long time and now he has spoken! He has strong opinions, but each one is Dumb and Dumber than the last. And his words can do much harm.

Parkinson s Disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system, currently affects one million people in the United States, and an estimated 50,000 60,000 new cases of PD are diagnosed each year.

Jim Carrey's now famous twitter anti-vaxx rant got us thinking: what would his movie career look like if they were all about being anti-vaxx:

Back in May, the British government sponsored a review, headed up by former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill, regarding solutions to the antibiotic resistance crisis. O Neill s final report suggested that we de-link profits fr

The winner in this month s I need a chemistry lesson, and fast award goes to Anthony Dunton of Acworth, Georgia. Hands down. Dunton was arrested last week for trying to poison a co-worker by putting the weed killer Roundup (glyphosate) into his water.

Thanks to movies like Animal House, American Pie, and Old School, binge drinking in college has been tightly woven into the fabric of our society.
Unfortunately, binge drinking is not as glamorous as Van Wilder makes it seem. Instead it is a major problem for public health. Each year 2,000 college aged kids die from alcohol related deaths. Another 600,000 are seriously injured. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 4 out of 5 college students

Although it may seem that when California legislators and governors relate to public health they get it wrong (for example with Proposition 65), but sometimes they really do the right thing.

A study published online in Annals of Surgical Oncology reports that a week-long course of accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) after lumpectomy reduced rates of breast cancer recurrence and led to a 10-year survival rate of 96 percent. APBI is a localized form of radiation treatment meant to eliminate breast cancer cells that may remain after lumpectomy surgery.

While a field trial of genetically-modified wheat failed to reach its goal (of repelling destructive aphids), the progress made in incorporating relevant genetic traits into the wheat genome will yield more information for better outcomes later.

The investigators found significant associations between the occurrence of melanoma and consumption of citrus fruits and citrus juices particularly oranges and grapefruit.

The "portmanteau" - combining two words to make a new one - was not invented by Lewis Carroll in 1871, it had been used half a century earlier when Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry created a serpentine political district and gave rise to the term "gerrymandering", but it certainly took off after being used to such good effect in "Th

There are good drugs and not-so-good drugs. Much of this is determined by the underlying disease or infection. Even in 2015, there are many diseases for which there is no good treatment. Medicine is not fair, and all the research in the world will never change this.

A blog posting on the NYTimes site discusses the Green Revolution in Africa. While gratifying to read about progress being made, some major omissions need to be addressed in this piece, including the lack of Dr. Norman Borlaug s contributions.

Dr. Joe Schwarcz, chemistry professor at McGill University, is well known for his able dissections of quackery of all types. In a recent article in the Montreal Gazette, he takes on and (in our opinion) demolishes the attacks on aspartame.

Genius or Dangerous? We say the latter.
Mothers who are not able to breastfeed are now starting to accept breast milk donations from other mothers or paying for breast milk obtained from online services. These breast milk donations and purchases the method sounds eerily similar to E-bay are unregulated and may actually be very dangerous for the baby.

For decades the Federal government has insisted they want fewer Americans to smoke but recent regulatory missteps have instead led to worries by health professionals that policies designed to create winners and losers in the smoking cessation market instead keep people addicted to tobacco. There has always been a bit

A new study published in JAMA reports that the labels on most edible marijuana products either overstate or understate the amount of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC -- the active component in cannabis) that they contain.

The latest CDC report on waterborne illnesses reveals an unexpected villain: Cryptosporidium is a parasite that seems to have been responsible for about one-half of the 90 outbreaks over the two years 2011-12. Simple precautionary measures will help avert illness.