1. A Herpes vaccine is a lot more tricky than it may seem, given the number of people who have it, and have had it for thousands of years. A film crew for a documentary tentatively titled "Patient Zero" visited the office to interview medicinal chemistry expert Dr. Josh Bloom, due to his series of articles on three competing vaccines jockeying to solve this problem.
Dr. Bloom has written a whole series of articles on the developments, and hundreds of thousands of Americans have been informed in pieces like A Vaccine For Herpes Erupts in the News and NanoBio's Herpes Vaccine Candidate Enters The Scene — Maybe Without a Needle. Soon the rest of the country will get to know him also.
2. In the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Alex Berezow, along with Dr. Ethan Siegel, argue the need for a marijuana DUI test. Marijuana has gotten a free pass from the federal government in the past few years, with officials refusing to enforce penalties in the states that flout national laws, but since the only way to know if someone is high is if they admit it (constituents of marijuana smoking remain up to two weeks) then someone who is driving impaired can avoid the stiffer penalties and cultural blowback that drunk drivers get. That's not good for anyone and we shouldn't wait until bodies pile up before making impairment penalties fair for everyone.
3. In National Review, they highlighted another way the federal government has been botching public health - in blaming doctors and drug companies for the opioid issue. Andrew Stuttaford discusses the work of Dr. Josh Bloom, who catapulted "fentanyl" into the American lexicon during his FDA testimony to try and get them to correct the exact problem we now face: Laying blame on groups who had nothing to do with it. Instead, they have proceeded to continue to undermine confidence in the American medical and scientific community, and to absolve criminals and recreational addicts of any responsibility.
4. In The Australian magazine, they highlighted our forensic chemistry to explain how unhinged North Korean despot Kim Jong Un could have had his brother-in-law whacked using science. Our explanation was that they used precursor chemicals on him so neither perpetrator would be harmed. That has become the default belief.
5. In USA Today, Council President Hank Campbell and Dr. Alex Berezow note that last week's solar eclipse was great outreach - without government wasting tens of millions of dollars on commercials and video games no one sees - but that wasn't always the case. Sometimes people were terrified of them, even though at least partial eclipses happen once per year.
6. In The Daily Caller, they discuss the work of Medical Director Dr. Jamie Wells who, like many physicians, worries about what the creep toward socialized medicine will do to patient care. It's great that people have more access, even if it's more expensive than ever, but in countries with so-called "single payer" they don't have better health outcomes. Oftentimes, they are worse, even for minor issues. There is a reason rich people in England fly to America for serious issues.
