The American Medical Association owns the intellectual property rights to the system for determining physician fees – a property that generates $72 million annually. Why?
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It has become an accepted paradigm that how babies come into this world (vaginal delivery versus Cesarean section) dictates which bacteria colonize their bodies - establishing their microbiota that will affect their health throughout their lives. But, a recent publication calls that well-established idea into question - raising a lot of questions along the way.
Did you ever stop to think "wouldn't it be nice to make puke smell like pineapple?" On the off chance that you haven't, and would like to know, here ya go.
It's a headline perfectly befitting The Onion. Unlike stories found in the satirical newspaper, however, this one is absolutely true.
The Dakota Access Pipeline, which has replaced Keystone XL as the cause célèbre of the environmental movement, has united Native Americans and political activists in opposition. The merits (or lack thereof) of this infrastructure project are not relevant for this discussion. Instead, let's focus on the activists' incredibly bizarre and destructive behavior.
Past studies have suggested a link between cat ownership and psychosis, specifically Schizophrenia. But researchers say the latest studies simply don't show any association. That's bad news for the crazy ole cat lady, who can't use her feline friends as an excuse.
When you are buying gasoline with a particular octane number, joke's on you. There is little or no octane in there, because octane will blow you engine up. A little primer on anti-knock additives. They're not so great either.
If the average person is asked to assess their own driving skills, most will give themselves an above average rating. By definition, half of all drivers are below average, but most people lack the self-awareness to realize this due to a cognitive bias known as illusory superiority.
United Healthcare, the largest provider of Medicare Advantage (MA plans) services, is being sued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for fraud. I think they may be right. They are gaming a system designed to protect Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers from excessive cost and they are very profitable. Did your revenue go up by 11.6% last year? Theirs did.
Are you your dog? Is your dog you? The science.
A doctor talking about gun safety is not advocating gun control. Let's get politics out of medicine.
Not only does bariatric surgery provide substantial weight loss to the obese, but it can also ameliorate the metabolic derangements of diabetes and decrease their need for medications. And, a new randomized study found, these beneficial results aren't transient — they were still apparent five years post-surgery and were superior to the results of strictly medical treatment.
A recent study on how olive oil affects HDL and LDL (good and bad cholesterol in your body) has us wondering.. Is all cholesterol created equal?
Instead of offering an organ to someone else, what if a person wants to sell one for their own benefit – to help pay off college debts, or for a down payment on a new home? If it's ethical to donate an organ to someone in need, why isn't it to sell an organ to somebody in need? Could the free market help fix the organ trafficking dilemma?
A Chinese group just pulled off something that has eluded chemists for decades. Chemists made and isolated a simple, but highly-unstable creation called pentazole for the purpose of studying it as an explosive. And they didn't even blow themselves up.
Want to decrease your risk of death? Try eating hot red chiles — or so you might think based on a recent research paper. In all, the data aren't terribly convincing. It seems that relaxing to some music would provide as much of a benefit as this study seems to show.
The perfect energy solution is really quite simple. Implementing it only requires political will and scientifically savvy voters. Unfortunately, both are in short supply.
Results of a recent "right track-wrong track" poll of Americans aren't just negative; they are overwhelmingly and embarrassingly negative. Moreover, the idea that the nation has been heading in the wrong direction has been holding sway for years. Pessimism is in high gear, and at the center of this perfect storm is social media.
Our findings indicate that the congestion tax in central Stockholm reduced ambient air pollution by 5 to 10 percent. This policy induced change in pollution has been associated with a significant reduction in the rate of urgent care visits for asthma among children 0 to 5 years
GNC is screaming mad over a late decision by the Fox network to reject its commercial from the Super Bowl broadcast. This shifty purveyor of supplements, vitamins and all sorts of unsavory stuff is saying it was blindsided by the move as is threatens to sue. Instead, here's a better idea: Stop selling dangerous products – and get off the NFL's banned list of companies.
A new, disturbing report, based on data collected from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, shows an increase in the death rates for young Americans over a 15-year period. This has been driven substantially by a shocking increase in the mortality of white women aged 25 to 35.
While a march to support science sounds like a good idea, given the agenda our Alex Berezow has decided to skip it. He had misgivings that the event, now scheduled for April 22 in Washington, DC, would be hijacked by the kind of political partisanship it should instead be concerned about – and that has indeed come true.
Does getting food assistance from the federal SNAP program mean that people improve their diets? Not so much — at least according to recent nutritional research. Is it even reasonable to expect it to do so?
The annual World Science Festival was held last weekend in NYC and we were lucky enough to attend some of the events. One of the highlights was a panel conversation moderated by Carl Zimmer, talking to scientists about science and discussing the most pressing issues for today's scientific community.
If we want the Environmental Protection Agency to protect Americans from true health hazards, it needs to be reformed so it stops inventing health scares.
The history of the field of microbiology may not be as long as other scientific areas, but it's just as interesting. After 100 years in print the Journal of Bacteriology is taking, what you might say, a walk down memory lane. It's highlighting the top 100 historical papers over the last century in its "Classic Spotlight" series.
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