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Germany serves as a wonderful example of how to do everything – everything wrong, that is – when it comes to energy policy.

Also known as dichloromethane, DCM is a colorless liquid with a mild, sweet odor which evaporates easily but does not readily burn. It has a variety of uses, and it is used in the manufacture of photographic film. DCM is made from methane gas or wood alcohol, and it does not occur naturally in the environment.

Forty solid years after the Consumer Product Safety Commission implemented regulations for getting rid of lead-based paint, the US is still on the lead-based paint merry-go-round. Last week, I attended a Congressional hearing entitled “Oversight of the Federal Government’s Approach to Lead-Based Paint and Mold Remediation in Public and Subsidized Housing”, which hoped to figure out how the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) can finally be rid of the pesky threat of lead-based paint in federal housing.

Who doesn't love the idea of quick and easy weight loss? Imagine being able to eat nothing but ice cream, and still losing 10 pounds. It sounds a little too good to be true, and that's because it is. Weight loss is a $66 billion dollar industry, and one of the most advertised, according to U.S. Weight Loss & Diet Control Market.

Monitors that continuously measure glucose levels have been recently approved for clinical use by the FDA. They are making patients' lives better, and they may provide us with a new way to better understand the dysregulation of glucose metabolism.

Europeans, who overwhelmingly claim to accept the science consensus on climate change, deny a far stronger consensus on biotechnology and believe GMOs are a crime against nature because a gene has been precisely modified by scientists.

Plastic pollution in the ocean is almost exclusively due to the actions of Asia and Africa, not the United States. Banning straws and plastic bags will do nothing to solve the problem.

What explains such rapid rises in prices? For one thing, the role played by patents and FDA approvals in drug discovery and sales. There's currently a backlog of roughly 4,000 generic drugs awaiting the agency's approval. Both are factors in how rare and common drugs, such as EpiPens, can shoot up in price so dramatically.

Can you catch herpes from double dippers? Unlikely, but it's hard to tell because what passes for science in reporting this story clearly flunks science. 

Diets – along with dietary advice – are everywhere. Medical nutrition therapy slows the progression of failing kidneys. So why is it prescribed so infrequently?

Phobias are associated with various mental health issues. The strongest associations were with anxiety disorders, panic disorders, and social phobia. This does not mean that phobias cause these other problems (or vice versa), but simply that if a person has a phobia, he or she is likelier to experience other mental health issues, as well.

After two decades of very tough research, Big Bad Pharma finally came up with a cure for hepatitis C – a viral liver infection that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer. So, are liver cancer rates dropping? No. That's because young Americans are drinking so much that they are destroying their livers. 

Ambien has become fodder for late-night TV comedians and attention-seeking magazines. Sure, some mighty strange sleep behaviors have been reported. But in watching the news you might get the impression that there's an army of Ambien Zombies on the march. Nope, no such army. And for most, there's nothing to lose sleep over.

In the same way one "seasons" a cast iron frying pan, scientists have found a way to create a slippery coating, which can improve food safety while reducing bacterial contamination. 

Organic food gets by on marketing and labels. The difficulty seems to be that labels like organic have no legal meaning, FDA Comissioner Gottlieb is setting his sights on the problem. 

What's the most cost-effective way to reduce drinking? As with other sins, taxes are best. And education? It doesn't even make the list.

The EPA must evaluate the risk of existing chemicals and has selected the first 10 for review. As part of our role, the American Council on Science and Health is producing risk-based evaluations of each. Up today - Cyclic aliphatic bromides used primarily as flame retardants. 

Glyphosate, presently the world's most hated chemical, has been blamed for just about every ailment in humans and animals. Now a group in Hawaii is claiming that the herbicide is harming bees by altering their gut biome. Is there anything to it?

Roundup can only affect the shikimate pathway in plants, so how can it be argued the weedkiller harms bees? By invoking the mystical, ill-defined "microbiome." What's next, their chakras?

Beginning with Prohibition, all U.S. efforts to control drugs of abuse have made matters worse. Here's another. Methamphetamine is back, and it's killing more and more people. This was entirely predictable.

Researchers have found that white, educated women are most likely to receive outpatient dermatologic services. To learn which demographic is on the flip side of this metaphorical magnifying glass ...

People want to do what makes them feel good and – perhaps more importantly – makes them look righteous in the eyes of others. Going organic and avoiding straws accomplishes that moral grandstanding, and companies are happy to oblige in order to make a buck. And, in the process, the companies also look good. It's a win-win for everyone, except Mother Earth.

It's a well-known fact that we spend a lot of money on the healthcare of those who are dying, especially during the last 12 months of life. But is that "wasted" money a bad thing?

Heroes aren't always cops, soldiers or scientists. Sometimes they are the wives of scientists. Here's one worth remembering.

If vaping is a gateway to smoking, where are all the new smokers?