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Lessons from the immune system
The silent Award Season is upon us
How music touches us
For Thom, saving coffee from warming, global warming

It was “Wall Street,” the movie released 36 years ago, that popularized thoughts about greed. But of course, greed has been a driver in politics and society for far longer. A new study looks at how U.S. senators speak of greed in their 280-character utterances that we call Tweets.

Recycle or reuse?
Body Rituals in Nacirema
The Real Tools of War
Killing Roald Dahl's "Little Darlings"

Sy Syms was right "An educated consumer is our best customer."
Growing Old
Tainted Money

On January 11, the CPSC issued a statement of concern about emissions from gas stoves while stating that it had no plans to ban them. Here are the comments I have submitted to the Commission during its public comment period. It’s time for the larger issue of indoor air pollution to get its due.

The shortage of Adderall, an important medication used to treat ADHD – attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder – is a story of supply, demand, the invisible hand of market forces. It’s also about a bureaucracy focused on regulation rather than outcome. It has all the hallmarks of the opioid crisis. We have learned nothing.

The Chicken Economy
Ode to an IBM Selectric
Can a patient advocate make a difference?
Do plants think?

Europe’s proposed pull incentive for antibiotic R&D is a mixed bag ...

A Fish Tale
The Ancients on Public Life
Hester Prynne, cancel culture’s first victim?
Should I get a COVID booster?

Wegovy and Ozempic, both GLP-1 agonists, have taken the world by storm, providing a simple way to lose weight without changing our lifestyle. A new report in Science helps us understand what we do not know: the known unknowns of obesity. Let me summarize.

Can being one with nature harm nature?
For Climate Change - Having your meat and eating it too.
“VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.
Advice from a bad mother

The COVID-19 pandemic has virtually – but not entirely – disappeared from public concerns. Nevertheless, new variants are being examined, as are new vaccines intended to counter them.

The U.S. Government doesn't want to hear the message: The Centers for Disease Control and the Veterans Administration published practice guidelines on the prescription of opioid pain relievers in 2022 that they knew were unsupported by science and harmful to public health. The Department of Health and Human Services is stone-walling repeated demands for a senior staff review of these issues.

Yours truly, Kris Kringle, has been informed that my fans are truly miffed because they haven’t seen me around lately. Truth be told, I am hiding out from the paparazzi, an occupational hazard of all the great and famous. But because you, my loyal ACSH fans, deserve to know. Truth be told, I am being sued.

In 2019, I joined ACSH's contributing writers group because I admire the mission, and sought an outlet for some long-held dilemmas concerning the health effects of air pollution. Since then, my interests, along with those of my long-time colleague Sheldon Lipsky, have morphed along three tracks: air pollution, climate change, and original research on COVID-19. Here are a few articles on those topics.

Let’s Eat Grandma – more than just an error in punctuation
Take-out pizza
Hospitals as Hotels
Candy Land’s origin story

Are you better off now than before? It depends
Illegal markets in sand
A Beginner’s Mind Looks at Immunology
The political philosophy of Silicon Valley

Lloyd Austin returned to the hospital for complications following his prostate surgery for cancer. African Americans have the highest incidence of prostate cancer in the world. For many, it doesn't have the relatively indolent course that's commonly described as the most common cancer in men (excluding skin cancers).

Ever wondered if your TV marathon could be linked to those annoying trips to the bathroom? A recent study dives into the association between TV watching and nocturia – the habit of waking up at night to urinate. Is it worth sacrificing an extra hour of TV for a good night's sleep?

Plant-based meat alternatives are those mysterious concoctions made from legumes, grains, and fungi, which promise to save the planet and your arteries. Let's cut through the kale and quinoa: Are these trendy meat impostors good for your heart, or is it just another bout of health food hysteria?

Thank God for the Supreme Court. If not for their reversal of the Chevron doctrine, we would continue to be subject to the regulatory whims of a faceless, often agenda-driven, unelected bureaucracy. With a sweep of its magisterial pen, the justices have turned over the fine details that Congress in its infinite wisdom avoids, to – wait for it – a largely faceless, often agenda-driven, unelected judiciary.

An excellent new tool that uses a technology called microindentation can measure the health of bone tissue directly and safely.

Obesity is known to be a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, as well as for the insulin resistance that's a hallmark of the disease. Mouse studies suggest that obesity results in the production of microRNAs by adipose tissue, which diminishes the ability of tissues to respond to insulin.

When it comes to medical developments, it was an exciting year in the pursuit of what was once impossible. Here are some top picks that genuinely are changing the medical and tech landscape.

Oral bacteria attack teeth in more ways than we knew. Bacteria that sequester phosphate in the ocean also do so in the mouth. Since phosphate is an integral component of enamel, its removal can weaken the teeth and make decay more likely. So keep flossing, folks!