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Dr. Joe Schwarcz, the director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society, (somehow) churns out one video per week in his "The Right Chemistry" series. "Dr. Joe" manages to make all of them fascinating. This one is about polyurethane, a substance that should NOT be used in place of hair spray.

The first customers have lined up for AquaBounty's genetically engineered (GE) salmon, committing to purchase five metric tons of the fish that will be harvested at the end of May. After 30 years of regulatory roadblocks, lawsuits, and activist opposition, AquAdvantage salmon may finally be heading to US restaurants and grocery stores.

Obesity is a health risk that can lead to changes in your metabolism. The condition can result in diabetes or elevated cholesterol, both of which, in turn, can cause cardiovascular disease. Excess weight can also put additional stress on joints, leading to trouble getting around. Of course, all of this is predicated on excess weight being “bad.” Instead, could it be that you’re really “big-boned”?

When it rains, when a low-pressure system passes by, and when water soaks the soil, it's not a great day to sample for radon. Those conditions force radon out of pore spaces and into basements.

There seems to be a reproducibility “crisis” in the sciences, where the results obtained by one group of researchers cannot be reproduced by another, putting the validity of the original work in doubt. What is the fate of those papers? Do they languish in some academic backwater hell lining birdcages?

Despite increasing evidence that vaping is safer than smoking, uncertainty surrounds the long-term effects of electronic cigarette use. Many in the tobacco control field have used the lack of data to speculate about these unknown risks. Here's a better way to deal with the uncertainty.

I've written numerous times that when it comes to supplements, you can throw both common sense and science out the window. Up is up and so is down. Somehow, I’ve been laboring under the notion that I don't really have much else to write about this topic. That was until a leisurely stroll up and down the aisles of a CVS store. And an existential thought experiment at no extra cost.

Some 50 years after Martin Caiden wrote "Cyborg" and Lee Majors played "The Six Million Dollar Man" on TV, real life is converging on the once-imagined. Several companies are producing workable, commercially viable prototypes that confer on the user powers and abilities “far beyond those of conventional mortal men.” The Bionic Human, or what is known as a cyborg, has now joined the human race.

Some of my best memories are of the times I spent hiking and camping with my family as a child, Boy Scout, and on leave from the Navy.  I have great memories of swimming in rivers, lakes, and ponds; running for the park rangers when bears invaded our campsite, of watching the sunset over the ocean (or rise over the rim of a canyon). 
 
What bothers me is that today, so many of these things can no longer be enjoyed.

As COVID-19 cases drop and immunization rates rise, Americans are proving the media's glass-half-empty predictions about vaccine hesitancy mostly false. It turns out that people don't like getting sick, and they'll take steps to protect themselves when given the tools to do so.

It takes all kinds. Although some of us like to hang around after we flush a public toilet it is not recommended. There's even an article with an explanation (as if we need one). Plus, some other questionable activities that probably should be avoided.

Another study highlights the overlap between genetic engineering in medicine and agriculture, offering another example of why the anti-GMO movement is losing its cultural relevance.

In addition to bottled hope, the $168 billion dietary supplement industry furnishes surplus amino acids, vitamins, minerals and enzymes to those who aren’t extracting the necessary requirements from regular food, drink, and life experiences. Now, we can add negative ions to the list, thanks to ionized, or alkalized, water.

Are there methods that can be employed to ensure the commercial success of antibiotic biotech? ACSH advisor Dr. David Shlaes has his doubts.

The tyranny of those who speak up, what contact lenses can tell us about monopolies, Snap! Crackle! Pop! - the science behind the sound, and what anthropology and DNA can tell us about COVID-19

What d’ya say – want to design a nuclear reactor? And why not? It’s a slow day, and what else are we going to do?

Is Biogen's Alzheimer's drug a historic achievement or red herring? There are plenty of opinions on both sides. Nonetheless, it received FDA approval despite an unanimous downvote from its own expert panel. What is going on here? No one knows, but to me, it just doesn't smell right.

Natural News founder Mike Adams claims the US government has launched a five-phase campaign to force vaccines on American citizens. This is false, of course, but the bigger problem is that Adams is drawing attention away from real problems we need to solve before we face another pandemic.

Not since the 1980s and the rise in the use of cocaine has the nose been such an important public health organ. It has been the way COVID-19 gets into our bodies and the site of much poking and prodding from PCR testing.

Drinking cholera, culture wars, let's put a hydra in a blender and see what we get [spoiler alert: no organisms are harmed], the science of gerrymandering.

Benzene, a known carcinogen, was detected by a new company called Valisure, in hand sanitizer this past winter. Now, the company has detected it at various concentrations in sunscreen. Are the risks the same? Probably not.

How does frequent social media use impact our mental health? A recent study attempted to pinpoint the effects of spending hours on Twitter and Facebook, but the inherent difficulty in analyzing human behavior limits our ability to find a precise answer.

Various degrees of hearing loss affect 70% of those adults over 70. It certainly contracts the “audio-world” we live in, but that is, unfortunately, just the tip of the disability iceberg.

Mike Adams' perennially ridiculous anti-vaccine website Natural News continues to publish bad takes on the COVID vaccines. Welcome to part three of the 'Health Ranger' Chronicles.

It's summertime, and for many of us, that means the beach. It is impossible to be a beach dweller and not notice the unique and wonderful smell of the ocean. By all means, take a deep breath. But what you're smelling is actually a fairly hideous chemical called dimethyl sulfide. Huh?