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A few weeks ago the EPA approved specific anti-coronavirus labeling for two Lysol products. But the two are part of a larger list of 470 other disinfectant products that "meet EPA's criteria for use against SARS-CoV-2." In other words, you can use them to kill the virus. I promise that this isn't nearly as boring as it sounds. But, just in case, have the NoDoz handy.

We increasingly extend both the quality and quantity of life for what were fatal diseases; AIDS/HIV comes readily to mind. But treatment is also increasingly expensive, even with insurance coverage. In some instances, co-pays are equivalent to the annual median household income. A new paper looks at a readily available source of funding. (Spoiler alert: it doesn't involve new taxes.)

Can you personalize public health guidance? One-size-fits-all policy, in the era of COVID, is causing a great deal of controversy. Are the feds, the states, or local officials best equipped in deciding what measures to put in place? A new study provides a more local, county-wide view.

COVID COVID COVID COVID. Enough already. We need a break. Fortunately, We got a tip about a steaming, hot story (which will at least temporarily take your mind off COVID.) Certain Haribo Gummi Bears have been causing intense gastrointestinal distress in some people who have partaken, and they're not shy about revealing this. Or is this just urban legend? Let's get to the "bottom" of this. With a mini chemistry lesson.

A July 22 paper in the journal Nature further underscored earlier studies showing that neither the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, nor chloroquine, prevents SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – from replicating in lung cells. ACSH advisor Dr. Katherine Seley-Radtke has more.

The pandemic has accelerated on-line grocery sales as the fear of shortages has given way to the fear of being out and about.

23andMe brings its special skill set of analyzing genetic ancestry to the history of transatlantic slavery, the Middle Passage. While there are few surprises, it does make a convincing case that our genes and culture are deeply intertwined.

Bill Gates, perhaps the greatest philanthropist the world has ever known, has become the target of unhinged, self-contradictory conspiracy theories that are disturbingly popular.

We normally butt heads with the Center for Science in the Public Interest. But its recent attack on Joseph Mercola's magical COVID cures deserves praise. CSPI could be a great organization if it focused more on eliminating quack medicine and less on labeling bacon as causing cancer.

The World Health Organization, WHO, has had a great deal of ink in the last few months, especially since it has become a "blame-worthy" target of the President. The Financial Times asks and answers the question, Who funds the WHO?

What exactly do we mean, scientifically, when we talk about individuals? ... Can a model of surgical care costing a small fraction of care in the U.S. teach us anything? ... Nassim Taleb writes about the use of masks. Some habits are hard to break, especially when we see them as the norm and not a habit at all.

The study by Didier Raoult et. al., the one partly responsible for the massive, unwarranted use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID, has been picked to bits by a review panel hired by the journal that published it. It's now clear that the Raoult study was a methodological mess. How did it get published at all? Should it be retracted? Let's take a look.

Science communicators are routinely harassed and threatened, not just by the Twitter mob but sometimes by allegedly reputable professors, journalists, and even other science communicators.

Long ago, roughly 100 years past, in a place far away, there were few (if any) effective treatments for pneumonia. One treatment that seemed to help was targeting the lungs with low-dose radiation. Could COVID-19’s attack on the lungs be stopped in a similar way? Several small studies are now underway to find out.

Dutch journalist Jannes van Roermund sent an embarrassing, unprofessional, and accusatory email to epidemiologist and ACSH advisor Geoffrey Kabat. Dr. Kabat's response is pure gold.

“You can think of the human immune system as an orchestra playing together and needing a co-ordinated performance from all the musicians and their instruments. It doesn’t make scientific sense to talk about antibodies or T-cells on their own.”

As infuriating as the World Health Organization can be, the reality is that the U.S. cannot "go it alone" on issues like global disease surveillance. Staying in the WHO is aligned with America's long-term security, economic, and geopolitical interests.

The foundation of medical research, which is considered the gold standard, is the Randomized Controlled Trial when individuals are matched with others, and then randomized to one treatment or another. While the beauty of an RCT lies in its process of deliberate randomness, very little attention has been paid to the integrity of its building blocks: categories. It's time to take a more in-depth look.

A new study paints a counter-intuitive picture of COVID-19’s viral load. Or does it?

Did you honestly believe that the CDC announcement six months ago – of a 4.1% decline in drug overdoses in 2018 – was a sign of progress in the so-called war on drugs? Of course, it was nothing of the sort. Just an exercise in tweaking numbers. ACSH advisor Dr. Jeff Singer tells us the real story.

Incompetence, waffling, moving the goalposts, disregarding unintended consequences, and being political have hurt Americans' confidence in their public health institutions.

Dr. Katherine Seley-Radtke is featured in a Sun article that describes her efforts to combat the coronavirus. Our advisor is an expert in chemistry, biochemistry, and antiviral drug development. The article, which examines a promising COVID drug she discovered, is a follow-up to a recent Op-Ed that the professor co-authored with ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom.

"I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!"
That, of course, is President Trump's summary of the CDC guidelines for opening schools. It ignited a predictable political back and forth fueled more by politics than facts. Let's take a minute to see what they recommended. You decide how tough they are. 

The effect of "Factory" farms on farmers and animals, catching up with John Ioannidis and the controversy over evidence-based care, the intimate connections of mind and body, and a look at gene drives - CRISPR on steroids?

Bari Weiss, a New York Times opinion writer, quit her job following relentless defamatory, bigoted, anti-Semitic, workplace bullying from her super-woke colleagues. And workplace bullying is a lot more common than one might think.