Search results

P.T. Barnum was mostly correct, but he underestimated both the number of suckers, and how often they are born. Proof of this exists in the form of a company that is probably going to make a ton of money by marketing water that contains an imaginary molecule, which is supposed to turn you into Superman. It won't.

Chemistry — love it or hate it — usually has one thing going for it: It's never icky. But every rule has an exception. This is WAY beyond icky. Check this out.

Though malaria affects half the world’s population, Europe is giddy that at least it isn't touching them. No new cases were reported last year. It must feel good to be part of the epidemiological 1 percent.

The only legal difference between bourbon and rye products is their mashbill: Bourbon must be fermented from a mash that is majority corn, and rye from a majority of, yes, rye. Otherwise, the two products are identical. So it's possible for a 2 percent difference in mashbill to tip the whiskey from one category into the other.

It is hard to believe that some cancers miraculously go away for good, but it does happen. Over 1,000 case studies document cancer sufferers who experienced spontaneous regression of their tumor. So why does this happen, and is it possible to exploit it to benefit cancer patients?

Often, experienced chemists can look at the structure of a chemical and make good guess about whether it will be toxic. But "eyeball toxicology" is not foolproof. Many of us got it wrong with sucralose. We were suspicious that it might be toxic. But it isn't, and here's why.

Injuries are part and parcel of soccer. Sure enough, they do not seem to be decreasing, even though most top-level teams have embedded sports medicine into their operations. But if teams applied the same approach to the act of kicking a ball, as it does to overall skill development, rates of injury could decline significantly.

According to a new Danish study, obesity isn't as bad for health as it used to be. More exactly, the BMI associated with the lowest mortality risk seems to be higher than it was 40 years ago. But given some of the problems associated with using BMI to estimate obesity, we're not so sure that these results apply to everyone.

Every time I think that this nightmare might be over, he's back in the news. This time, the rights to the former doctor's 2010 book have recently been acquired, and I fear my nightmare is going to become a Hollywood film. Why are Wakefield's supporters so effective at getting their message out than those on the side of science? In response, what do we need to do?

If you want to find a hotbed of homeopathy, anti-vaccine, anti-GMO and other wacky anti-science rants, look no further. Pinterest is the 13th most popular website in America and the 32nd in the world. It's more popular than CNN. We here at ACSH fully intend to rectify this situation. We hope others join us in doing so.

Eugene Monroe does not come off as the stereotypical, egocentric, multi-millionaire ballplayer looking for league clearance to get high. Conversely, the veteran left tackle for the Baltimore Ravens, who claims not to smoke, has willingly become a marijuana missionary, to help his NFL brethren ravaged by injuries steer clear of addiction to -- and premature death from -- painkillers.

World population growth is a hot-button issue. A large segment of the public seems to believe that humans will continue to reproduce until we run out of food and water. Basically, we're just like cockroaches or bacteria. No serious demographer believes that -- as world fertility has been declining for years -- but facts haven't killed off this pernicious myth.

The organic craze that has overtaken the United States is so pervasive (and intentionally confusing) that it's become impossible for anyone to know what it really means. Here's how it appears to a chemist. Hold on tight.

With the nation's exploding opioid epidemic, Eugene Monroe's quest to steer NFL players away from widespread use of painkillers and possible opioid addiction continues to receive attention. And publicly confronting the most popular sports enterprise in America -- from within, as a current player with the Baltimore Ravens -- will surely get you noticed. As will calling the NFL's chief executive a liar. Part 2 of 2.

All cancer is heartbreaking, but pediatric cancers are my emotional soft spot. A friend's 10-month-old baby just got diagnosed with leukemia. As a result I decided to register myself as a potential bone marrow donor. It's quick and easy. Here's what's involved.

For political websites, no conspiracy theory is too outrageous - including claims that I might be a shill for a corporation.

When it comes to helping people quit smoking, there is no such thing as an aggressive method. It's time for the United States to use pictorial warning labels, even if they are disturbing, to aid smokers to kick an awful and deadly habit.

Dioxin, once proclaimed by the environmental community as the “doomsday chemical” of the 20th century and the “deadliest substance ever created by chemists,” has faded from the media spotlight. As explained by guest writer Gordon Gribble, there is a reason why.

Nearly half of all Americans will receive a diagnosis of a mental health disorder in their lifetime. Yet at the same time the media continues to disproportionally associate mental illness with violent crime, despite that less then five percent of violence in the United States is attributable to mental illness.

A published report in Occupational and Environmental Medicine deceptively concludes a positive association exists between exposure to ambient air pollution and increased risk of stillbirths.

Everyone gets hiccups. Fetuses as young as eight weeks experience them, and newborns often do, too. And while some drink water awkwardly to treat hiccups — which can last up to an hour — in rare occurrences, they can be chronic, lasting days, weeks or months. So what's with this involuntary muscle reaction? And how can you address it quickly and effectively?

Golden Rice, a vitamin-fortified product, is clearly needed by millions of poor children, which shows that environmental groups opposed to it such as Greenpeace are in a war on developing nations. They are involved in what Nobel Laureate Sir Richard Roberts calls a "crime against humanity."

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is when an infant under 1 year dies, for the most part, when sleeping. There are a handful of recommendations given to new parents to prevent it, mostly regarding the baby's sleeping environment. A new study shows that, although these recommendations are (mostly) adhered to at bedtime, it's a different story as the night wears on.

It's often the case that we don’t have time to carefully evaluate everything in life. We often take shortcuts. If a reputable authority takes a position, it is convenient and usually safe to just accept their reasoning. It's not so simple in the case of air pollution, more regulations, and saving lives.

An analysis of 70 papers shows that most scientific research does not advance by "falsification," as philosopher Karl Popper made famous. Ironically, falsification has itself been falsified.