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Will we ever run out of "alternative therapies" to force on people who just need a little Valium or some extra morphine following surgery? Hard to say, but take a sniff of this one.

No, we are not talking about the dietary emissions that your intestines create; we are talking about those emissions that are associated with making the foods we eat. We are talking about Big Meat’s crushing footprint on our atmosphere.

Every action we take, every discovery or innovation we make, has consequences, many of them unintentional. Consider artificial sweeteners (AS), developed to fulfill many needs: to reduce calories in processed foods such as soft drinks, lower glycemic indices for patients with diabetes, and aid dieters in weight loss. Now, scientific literature reports that AS, like microplastics, are emerging as trace pollutants in our waters and soils.

A recent study suggested that pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables could counteract some of the nutritional benefits of consuming said produce. Are the results anything to worry about? No, not even a little bit.

With every horrific mass shooting, the media and the politicians bring out the same tired facts and solutions. While research into gun violence has been deliberately dampened [1], there are studies that help us to characterize gun violence. As mythical police officer Sgt. Joe Friday said, “Just the facts, ma’am.”

On Episode 4 of the ACSH Science Dispatch Podcast, we examine the need for COVID boosters and the increasingly irrelevant concept of herd immunity. We then dive into an incendiary discussion about the social-justice-inspired effort to deny the dangers of obesity. Finally, is there a "cancel culture" in science?

Robert Popovian, Pharm.D., MS, Founder of the strategic consulting firm Conquest Advisors (and also a member of the ACSH Scientific Advisory Board) and colleagues take on the important topic of generic drug prices, a sore spot for many Americans. Here is a summary of their latest article titled "U.S. Consumers Overpay for Generic Drugs." Dr. Popovian was formerly Vice President, U.S. Government Relations at Pfizer.

A few years ago, transgender athlete Lia Thompson was the 462nd-ranked men’s swimmer in the country. Today, Thompson is No. 1 nationally in the women’s division. Does Lia have an unfair advantage? What does the science say?

The effectiveness of vaccines against COVID infection has been well established. Vaccine coverage has been steadily increasing, concurrently with the spreading of the Omicron virus variant. Recent data on children in New York State provide an opportunity to examine these trends.

While the nation reels from the horror of Uvalde and the paralysis following Sandy Hook, we should note a statistical analysis of 133 school shootings published last year. The findings should transcend politics, wishful thinking, scapegoating, and conspiracy theories. We present highlights here and summarize the authors’ conclusions.

Put aside the concept of international governance, what does science say about the complex system we call Earth
A fish tale of adaptation, immigration, and relationship all in a steelhead trout
How to win an argument
Let’s talk about guns

Science Magazine editor-in-chief H. Holden Thorp recently declared that researchers need to get off the sidelines and into the gun-control debate. His call to action was wrong in every possible way.

Along with our usual dietary advice about eating moderate amounts of many different types of food, physicians often suggest we reduce our sodium intake because of the deleterious effects on our blood pressure and heart. A new study suggests that the recommendation about salt is about to come tumbling down.

A new study compares our spending on cancer and cancer mortality rates with other high-income countries. You know the findings before I begin; we spend more to “get less.” But is mortality the correct metric?

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) is an important non-profit organization founded in 1948 and headquartered in San Francisco. It published an online survey of not only the “whos,” like demographic statistics but also some of the “whys” on COVID vaccination acceptance or hesitancy.

From the academic center of the city by the bay comes a new study on e-cigarettes – in this instance, looking at the modeled health costs. Is their conclusion that “healthcare utilization and expenditures attributable to e-cigarette use are substantial and likely to increase over time” true? I will give them a B for the math but, at best, a D for the underlying assumptions and narrative.

A new study sheds light on a worrying trend at the Food and Drug Administration: the agency appears to be funding low-grade vaping research and using it to justify strict e-cigarette regulation.

Searching for a better way to explain health and science.
Parasites, friend or foe?
Does reading a newspaper make us better informed?

Britain may soon approve a gene-edited tomato that boosts vitamin D intake. Let's take a look at the science and politics surrounding this important development.

According to the Office of the Inspector General of Health and Human Services, 1 out of every 4 Medicare beneficiaries admitted to the hospital in 2018 experienced harm. Do I have your attention? Good, because the reality may be quite different when you know more about the study underpinning that headline.

On Episode 3 of the ACSH Science Dispatch Podcast, we examine how food shortages caused by the Ukraine war have pressured Europe to abandon its long-held GMO phobia. Is this the silver lining of a tragic situation? We then discuss the value of pesticides, using a recent NPR story about giant spiders as a springboard.

Every year there are approximately 400,000 medication errors involving hospitalized patients. Many are medications given at the wrong time or not at all. Of those 400,000 somewhere between seven and 9,000 [1] of those errors result in the death of a patient. RaDonda Vaught, a nurse employed at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, caused the death of a patient with a medication error. I have been thinking about Ms. Vaught a lot lately.

Uterine transplants are not new. The first successful uterine transplant was done in Sweden in 2013.  America boasted its first successful uterine transplant three years later at Baylor. But these were in cis-women born without a functioning uterus. Now, an Indian doctor is proposing uterine transplantation for trans-women. The reaction in the bioethics community is mixed.

COVID has made travel more difficult. Between a shortage of pilots and other staff, changeable weather, and varying mask rules, travel days between one place and another are often grueling. I know because I just finished a bit of an extended vacation. The CDC’s current guidance is not especially helpful.

Disparities in COVID-19 outcomes by race or ethnicity have often been reported, deplored, and attributed to socioeconomic factors. It’s clear that vaccination is the main tool for slowing the spreading of the virus; here we examine disparate vaccination rates by race and ethnicity. However, among such disparities, there is an important distinction between equality (sameness) and equity (fairness).