The "activist-legal" complex is real. One of the lead plaintiffs' attorneys, Timothy Litzenburg, was arrested for the attempted extortion of $200 million from a company involved in the production of Monsanto's Roundup. This same attorney collaborates with Carey Gillam and her anti-GMO organization U.S. Right to Know.
Search
Air pollution remains a contentious issue. While everyone is in favor of cleaner air, there is less unanimity over which pollutants, in what concentrations, can harm our health. The linkage between air pollution and disease is beset with problems of accurately identifying a dose-response (a biologic gradient), a clear temporal connection, and, most importantly, biologic plausibility – how does a pollutant cause a disease.
Can artificial intelligence improve discharge planning? Has AI finally found a role in day-to-day healthcare? The answer is a tentative maybe.
Yes, life is unfair, and that partially explains why billionaires exist. But many billionaires have used their tremendous wealth to help the poor and boost public health. For these reasons, we should not be scornful, but grateful.
In case you've been waiting around for a really stupid article, your wait is over. And a gratuitous shot at Dr. Alex Berezow. Just for the hell of it. Happy holidays!
It's a New Year and we begin with watermelon-flavored Oreos (huh?) ... a look at now and then ... and the mainstream media finally realizes that the opioid epidemic was not about prescribing pain medications for pain.
If you were about to undergo a significant operation – OK, even if you were just going “under the knife” for a minor one – what would be your biggest concern? We're figuring simply surviving the operation is high on the list, if not #1. Taking this thought experiment a step further, would it matter that the time period to ensure your survival was one month, 90 days or a year?
Prince Andrew, who currently occupies the hot seat for at least two dubious associations, sheds some light on a relatively unknown disease: anhidrosis, the inability to sweat. Let's take a look at that physical condition. (Whether you believe him is another story.)
Aging, whether you consider it a “natural” biologic process or a disease, is increasingly the subject of scientific investigation that goes beyond epidemiologic studies. Or how diseases impact longevity. Some of the most exciting work comes from studying our metabolism and mapping those changes to specific diseases.
For many years, one's family motto has been “often wrong, never in doubt.” Overconfidence is a cognitive problem, present to lesser and greater degrees in us all. And it grows in the presence of two conditions.
Clickbait – provocative and intentionally misleading headlines online, designed to draw in newspaper or magazine readers – are nothing new to ACSH, or one of our trusted advisors. Have things gotten worse? That advisor, Dr. Jeffrey Singer (pictured), wonders whether scientific studies have stooped to an extremely low level.
For an operation -- specifically, total knee replacement -- how do we identify when the "Goldilocks moment" arrives? That is, not too early, when there's little benefit to the patient bearing unnecessary risk. Or not too late, when the delay has further limited physical activity, increasing long-term disability and recovery. A new study searches for some answers about how to find the "just right" time.
Poor sleep is almost certainly linked to migraines, despite the findings of a new study suggesting otherwise. Though I'm merely a sample size of n = 1, Continuous Positive Airway Pressure therapy has dramatically decreased the number of morning migraines I experience. As it turns out, the study design has some flaws.
Completely banning alcohol would only prevent about 3.5% of cancer deaths. That, of course, means the other 96.5% of fatal cancers are caused by things other than alcohol. Given that cancer is the #2 leading cause of death in America, there's a good chance that you're going to die of cancer no matter what you do. So chill out and have a drink.
Innovation is built upon an ecosystem that takes decades to mature. Yet, China has already made substantial advances in computer science, chemistry, engineering, and robotics -- all of which pose a direct challenge to U.S. technological supremacy. However, the U.S. will remain dominant and largely unchallenged in biotech and medicine for the foreseeable future.
Here's what's grabbing our attention this time: Making the perfect cup of coffee ... a scientific basis for the generational transmission of traumatic events ... a book describing the "Forrest Gump" of the early 1800s ... and considering atmospheric gas responsible for an enormous loss of species.
Dr. David Shlaes has written numerous times on "pull incentives" to encourage new antibiotic discovery, and why professional societies (like the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the AMA) aren't providing enough input to emphasize the importance of emerging bacterial resistance. Today our ACSH advisor expands on both topics.
The rate hit an all-time low of 1.73, which is well below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman. Despite this, the nation is projected to add roughly 65 million to the total population over the next 30 to 40 years, representing an increase of about 19 percent.
Pop Quiz: What's the average body temperature? Answer: 98.6° F (but you probably knew that). But a new study suggests that our new normal is a bit lower: 98.2° F. Why would that be? And does it matter?
Author Steven Pinker's observation, that the world is less violent now than ever in human history, is probably true.
Plenty of attention is focused on the growing number of cases in China of the Wuhan coronavirus -- also known as 2019-nCoV -- and those around the world. According to the New York Times, as of this writing, there are at least 132 reported deaths and nearly 6,000 confirmed cases of the disease. While the number of fatalities continues to grow, let's take a moment to understand what these numbers might mean.
Here's what's in store: The comeback of an environmentally friendly, sustainable building material ... Is perfection the enemy of the good? ... Can Big Data be too big? ... And long before Big Food, there was the "Agro-mafia."
Are those cheery ads, featuring celebrities with a milk mustache, actually beckoning you towards a shorter life and telomeres? Or is this just another "nutritional nowhere" situation? A recent study reports definitively, perhaps.
Here's what we have for you this time: Why Doctors Think They're the Best ... an introduction to the beautiful writing of Robert McFarlane ... a nod to Dr. Aaron Carroll and the fight to debunk bad healthcare claims ... and finally, considering two views of climate change: the "gradualist" and the "catastrophist."
Today's scientific discoveries take teams, and long times to come to fruition. And there seem to be fewer "aha" moments. Is it because we’ve found all the low-hanging fruit? Or were the words of Albert Michaelson, America's first Noble Prize winner in physics, correct? "The more important fundamental laws and facts of physical science,” he said, “have all been discovered." Or, even still, have we unintentionally distorted the marketplace of ideas?
Pagination
ACSH relies on donors like you. If you enjoy our work, please contribute.
Make your tax-deductible gift today!