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How to know you are winning the war on American anti-science groups? When both French and Russian activists attack you.

Energy emissions are in the news, but some claims are just more politicization of science. To paraphrase Virgil, Americans should beware environmental Greeks bearing expensive gifts.

Death rates for Alzheimer's Disease have risen 55% between 1999 and 2014. That's according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Here are the reasons why this is occurring, and the trend's implications.

Orthorexia — "straight eating" — is the latest entry on the list of eating disorders that can afflict us. But so far it hasn't been acknowledged as a separate entity by the psychiatric professionals. Is it really something new, or an offshoot of an older type?

The common belief that hot water must be used to wash hands effectively just received a chilly reception from researchers from Rutgers University. Their study concluded that the temperature of the water doesn't matter, and that it's not linked to cleanliness. What does matter is using soap, and washing thoroughly for 10 seconds.

The CDC's war against Americans in pain has been terrifying ever since this foolish crackdown began. As states begin to limit daily opioid dose, this is about to get much worse. This "one size fits all" maximum dose really fits none. That's because of your genes, since people metabolize opioids differently. It's bad policy based on bad science.

There's no barrier to chess training, so anybody can pick up a book or watch YouTube videos to learn the game. A group of researchers examined people who do and do not play chess, to learn whether innate intelligence is linked to being an effective player. The results were interesting – and a bit controversial.

Announcing an unprecedented voyage, NASA said Wednesday that it will send a spacecraft to the Sun, where it will explore its fiery outer reaches as well as a phenomenon known as "solar wind." The unmanned U.S. craft will embark on "humanity’s first mission to a star."

Sunscreen is an essential component of a healthy summer. But, the Environmental Working Group is sending the loud message that chemicals found in sunscreen are toxic and that it should be used as a last resort. But, that message is muddying the waters around a proven method of cancer prevention and the recommendations of the American Academy of Dermatology. 

Many foods in the grocery store have gluten-free labels. But are they really lacking gluten, or not? The FDA sought to find out, testing a many various types of these foods. Providing good news to celiac disease patients, they found that most foods labeled gluten free are, in fact, true to their label. 

If you're interested in some nutty news, we've got you covered. It includes: a speeding DeLorean, the belief that trees interact with humans (and each other), and a fire-starting woodchuck.

Our Dr. Jamie Wells attended a forum yesterday at the Harvard Club of New York. Public Health leaders presented diverse perspectives on how the complex task of preventing healthcare-associated infections needs to be approached. 

You have to give the Environmental Working Group credit. Not for its science – which, of course, is atrocious – but for the fact it sure knows how to make money. Here's its latest scheme.

This allergy test, a sometimes unpleasant childhood right of passage, may be a thing of the past someday. New research shows that a urine test can determine if a person has an allergy to a specific substance.

With First Lady Melania Trump's hospitalization, public misperceptions about how long someone should be admitted have run amok.

"Methylene chloride is arguably the most dangerous of all the solvents sold at Home Depot," one of ASCH's experts says. Given the assessments, we believe this happens to be an instance where EPA concern is warranted.

Partisanship is a terrible development for our culture. But it's even worse for areas such as public health, because people die when we implement bad, partisan ideas.

To underscore how important the battle for its eradication still is, misperceptions are clarified and key aspects of the inherited illness are addressed here.

If the federal government stays out of picking winners and losers in energy, the trend toward lower emissions is likely to continue.

As this issue of Priorities goes to press, our New York office is closed due to a winter storm and that makes people worry about their heating bills. Meanwhile, both New York and California residents have recently been cheering because those states are determined to get rid of their nuclear power plants. That will be very bad because those states are also opposed to both natural gas and coal.

As Christopher Wild stepped down as director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer there was hope that the status quo, activism parading as epidemiology would end. The status quo won.

Ebola has returned to Africa, specifically the Democratic Republic of Congo. Unlike 2014, we now have a vaccine.

If you're in the New York City area next week and are interested in some cool science, check out some of the offerings at the World Science Festival. Now in its 11th year, the smart WSF folks really seem to have outdone themselves this time around. Some programs have a fee, others are free, but there's truly something for all ages.
 

In the grand tradition of misidentifying problems and offering proposals that won’t work, the city council of Washington, D.C. wants to force manufacturers of flushable toilet wipes to change the label to “non-flushable.” This is wrong.

A recent study, seeking to measure the impact of volunteerism on cognitive health, concluded that older adults score somewhat higher on cognitive testing when they help others. But while that might sound encouraging, given the study's limitations it's hard to take the findings as overly meaningful, or causal.