Should John Oliver decide that he's had enough, there is someone who can slip seamlessly into his seat. Jonathan Jarry - a member of the McGill Office on Science and Society. Jarry, who blames The Boogeyman in different forms, for all of mankind's ailments absolutely obliterates chemophobia and alternative medicine and those who practice it. Brilliant and hilarious. Don't miss.
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Plants can be turned into fuels and chemicals, but much of their stored value is lost in the woody component that's hard to break down. A sea creature, among others, has found a way to get at that additional value. It provides both something we can use – and a reminder about the power of nature and evolution.
Conventional wisdom tells us that 10,000 steps per day is the "magic number" required for health benefits. But is there sound evidence behind this number? Dr. Christopher Labos, from McGill University’s Office for Science and Society, investigates.
Melinta is only one of several companies experiencing the pain of antibiotic development. The company lost 85% of its market cap over the past year. Yet, the company just received European approval to market Vabomere, a combination of one antibiotic, meropenem, and one beta-lactamase inhibitor vaborbactam. This is becoming a repetitive pattern of success breeding failure in the antibiotic space. Dr. David Shlaes explains.
A key challenge in building electric aircraft involves how much energy can be stored in a given amount of weight of the onboard energy source. Although the best batteries store about 40 times less energy per unit of weight than jet fuel, a greater share of their energy is available to drive motion. Here's more on why batteries are, relatively speaking, heavy for aviation.
Our northern neighbor is considering public payment for nearly all pharmaceutical costs. The model makes its assumptions known, its cost and benefit analysis clear, and provides a blend of new taxes to support the plan. If it was not for some academic hand-waving over special needs and interests it might actually be feasible.
Kids are more resilient than you think, but are also magical thinkers. In the absence of direct communication from a parent, they will create their own narrative which can foster greater worry.
Diabetes + High Deductibles = Delays in Care A study tries to show that this is true, but the evidence is unconvincing
The flu season is upon us. But what is it that makes an infectious disease seasonal at all?
Polio peaks in the summer, measles during the school year, and chickenpox in the spring.
One of our core missions is to spread the good news about science as far and wide as possible. Obviously, we do plenty of that on the ACSH website, but we also regularly appear in various media outlets across the country. Here's where we appeared recently.
In an ill-advised Twitter ad, the candidate offers a teachable moment on the importance of not driving while distracted.
The DEA, an arm of the Department of Justice, released a 184-page report claiming that prescription opioid analgesics is the drug class that's killing the most Americans. Huh? This sure seems strange. But a closer look suggests that the only thing strange is the manner in which that data is used in the report. The DEA spins and wins. Pain patients lose.
The Environmental Protection Agency has extended registration for Dicamba – an herbicide commonly used to remove growing weeds, as well as Dicamba-tolerant crops – out to the end of 2020. Here's what that means.
Trump officials made a big splash with proposals to curb drug costs. But the benefits may not match the rhetoric from either the administration or Big Pharma. As is often the case, it's a bit more complicated than what we're getting as a first impression.
What if malaria, which affects hundreds of millions worldwide annually, could be sniffed out before it began delivering its debilitating, flu-like effects? Well, that is what's literally happening, with researchers utilizing dogs' keen sense of smell in a recent study to determine malaria's presence in humans.
Substitute the word "Halloween" for any celebratory event and pervasive worry-lists abound. Fun also matters.
Now, Disney Princesses and films are under attack. We are straying further and further from what most impacts child development, as a source of adult challenges.
Researchers in New Hampshire, citing a trend of warmer winters over the last decade, found that 70 percent of moose calves that were monitored between 2014-16 had died. For nearly all of them, the cause of death was attributed to the dramatic rise in winter ticks, which feast on the calves' blood.
As if hospitals aren't bad enough, a really dangerous bug called Clostridium difficile is all over the place. And this bug, more commonly known as (C. diff), is not so easy to kill. Researchers looked at what happens when you wash contaminated sheets. The expression "it call comes out in the wash" does not apply.
For those who have trouble seeing, are gradually losing their eyesight or are already blind, this technological innovation can help dramatically improve lives daily. It can tell you what's right in front of you – by whispering in your ear – even when you cannot read or see it. Amazing.
Your mouth is a repository of bacteria. And if you don't clean it out on a regular basis, that bacteria can enter the bloodstream. A host of health problems are associated with gum neglect, heart disease and high blood pressure among them.
The U.S. will soon have to change its clock again. It's a useless junk-science, government policy that has lasted 52 years too long. Here are the admittedly minor health effect risks. It's still annoying.
If you are concerned that we aren't wasting enough time in court with stupid lawsuits fear not. There's another one in the works about the label of what is little more than fizzy water with a little flavoring. The case was written up by Popular Science, but to a chemist, Unpopular Science would be more accurate.
Without question, it was a fluke. A single-cell organism, only found in warm freshwater, entered a young man's nose and eventually ate at his brain tissue, leading to his death. While this is rare, is it smart – or simply alarmist – for others in similar situations to take preventative measures?
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