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In the escalating war of words and lawsuits over the herbicide Dicamba, the real battleground isn’t the fields but the fine print of federal regulation. What’s deemed an “unreasonable risk” seems to depend less on science than on political winds, leaving EPA regulations swinging like a pendulum between crop yields and environmental stewardship.

America's political debate over gun violence is a perennial food fight about the ethics of restricting access to firearms. While this makes for entertaining news clips on X, it doesn't get to the heart of the problem—namely that gun violence isn't monolithic. Some populations are more likely to commit homicide while others are more inclined to suicide. Stemming the country's violent streak requires a more nuanced approach. What could that look like?

Welcome to the intersection of Big Slushie’s marketing machine, collapsing fertility trends, and the ‘enshittification’ of everything from civic infrastructure to your local zoo. The illusion of quality—like the ice in your slushie—is melting fast.

If the MAHA crowd is serious about “food is medicine,” it’s time to get specific. A 15-year Swedish study tracking nearly 2,500 older adults found that certain dietary patterns meaningfully slowed the accumulation of chronic diseases, especially those involving the heart and brain. But here’s the catch: not every “healthy” diet worked. This isn't another moral lecture about carbs or clean eating—it's a data-backed reminder that evidence, not slogans, should guide both personal health choices and public policy.

The booming supplement industry promises better sleep, sharper focus, and even "liver detox"—all wrapped in the comforting label of "natural." But natural doesn’t mean safe, and in some cases, it doesn’t even mean harmless. An increasing number of well-documented cases show that certain herbal and dietary supplements can seriously damage the liver, sometimes with life-threatening consequences.

A new study reveals that simply seeing a visibly “infectious” figure can set off a chain reaction in the brain’s threat-detection circuits, triggering a measurable immune response, all without any actual exposure to a pathogen. As perception becomes preparation, the boundary between mind and body is far more porous than we imagined.

The EPA has proposed scrapping the Endangerment Finding — the legal foundation for regulating greenhouse gases. If finalized, this move would dismantle decades of climate protections, igniting a courtroom clash destined for the Supreme Court. The Administration calls it a course correction; critics call it sabotage.

Secretary Kennedy’s reductions in force, offered as reform, may cripple drug approvals, gut biomedical research, and gamble public safety on untested AI.

Did you know that dirty, stinky barbarians invented soap? Watch our video to see how it changed hygiene forever. Tag a soap maker you love and share this history with them!

One reader asked about the relationship of high fructose corn syrup with an abdominal malady experienced by her son. Her concern might not be entirely wrong. But like most things involving the gut, the answer is both tangled and controversial.

Vaping was sold as the antidote to smoking. However, for teens, it’s a deadly come-on. Fruity flavors mask toxins that scar lungs, hijack developing brains, and hook kids on nicotine at twice the levels of cigarettes. According to this guest writer, we’re now watching the next public health crisis unfold, one sweet puff at a time.

Since the beginning of time, humanity has searched for drugs that can relieve pain without sparking addiction or the other devastating problems tied to opioids. It’s still very early, but a UC Berkeley team led by Dr. Richmond Sarpong has discovered carbamorphine — a close analog of morphine that may deliver powerful pain relief without the usual downsides. If this holds up, it could be one of the most important medical discoveries ever. But it won't be easy.

Silicon Valley’s immortality chasers may defy biology and physics, but aging still teaches lessons they haven’t coded. From vaccine nationalism to digital gambling traps and the loaded language of cancer, my reading this week finds that wisdom comes not just with years, but with reckoning.

The White House recently disclosed that President Trump experiences chronic venous insufficiency, possibly intended to head off concerns that he suffers from a serious age-related health condition that could impair his ability to govern. This raises an important question: are high-level government officials entitled to medical privacy when their illnesses could affect their decision-making ability?

Julian Kirchherr had a hypothesis. The Assistant Professor in Geosciences at Utrecht University suspected that a significant proportion of published research articles in the field of sustainability and energy transitions were bullshit. Or, to be more decorous, “scholarly bullshit.”

What do you get when a tomato and a tuber-less plant meet in the Andes? A potato, nature’s starchy lovechild and one of humanity’s most vital crops. In a prehistoric twist of fate, a natural hybridization between two distant plant families gave rise to the tuber-bearing marvel we know today, armed with genes for cold resistance, asexual reproduction, and an appetite for global domination.

Once a humble root, beetroot has been elevated to “superfood” status, offering not only nutrition but a “food as medicine” boost. A new study lends credence to the health claim, at least for older adults, by showing how beet juice may regulate blood pressure through nitric oxide production, with a “little help from our friends.”

Mercury, the element, is no longer used in thermometers, but it remains at the center of a decades-long debate over vaccine safety, despite the science being crystal clear. At the heart of this confusion is thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative wrongly accused of causing autism. What follows isn’t a rehash of that conspiracy theory, but rather a crash course in chemistry. It's something RFK Jr. and his CDC picks need to know.

What if a new gatekeeper to your future doctor’s education appeared — but forgot to write a rulebook? Amid headlines about addressing healthcare shortages, a new accreditation body is making promises of transparency and rigor. But behind the scenes lies a blueprint with more politics than policy.

The loudest debates over healthcare today center on Medicaid expansion or cuts. A quieter crisis, however, afflicts individuals squeezed between poverty and subsistence, earning too much to qualify for aid and too little to afford commercial insurance. A recent New Jersey case highlights the financial and ethical strains on hospitals forced to provide medical care without adequate compensation, raising questions about fairness, funding, and who ultimately bears the cost of compassion.

From media coverage, you'd think that high fructose corn syrup is a liquid death sentence. Meanwhile, no matter what is wrong with you, just have some honey and everything will be just peachy. What you probably don't know is that these two products are virtually identical. Here's why.

What happens when the engine of policy isn’t Congress but a state with an economy larger than most countries? In the absence of sweeping federal reform, states like California have become de facto food czars, and a bad model for affordable housing and urban planning. Flashpoints in the growing tug-of-war between local experimentation and national inertia, the real action in shaping daily American life isn’t always happening in Washington.

A Delaware judge tried to rewrite the rules of scientific evidence. The state’s highest court just reversed her, reining in junk science, throwing a monkey wrench into 75,000 Zantac claims, and reaffirming a strict legal standard for proving scientific evidence.

Stressed out by hot-button issues? Politicized science? Chemistry Lessons From Hell? Relax. Here are some quirky chemistry tricks that require little brain power. I've even explained how they work. Perfect for a summer afternoon when your brain is fried.

Coca-Cola confirms the cane sugar version of its trademark product is coming to U.S. consumers. It's an announcement coming after President Trump pushed for the change, claiming the familiar Mexican-made Coke to be healthier and more tasty. (Well, that part is subjective.)
But is high fructose corn syrup really the villain in our story? Let's take a look.