Who hasn’t done it? Twisted an Oreo in two and then enjoyed the creamy filling before eating the wafer (with dunking in milk, optional). Why, for the most part, does the filling always remain on just one wafer? A new study in the Physics of Fluids addresses this hugely important issue.
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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?
On Episode 6 of the Science Dispatch Podcast, ACSH contributor Susan Goldhaber explains the genetic underpinnings of Alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease affecting some 2.5 million Americans—including Jada Pinkett Smith. Now that Will Smith's so-called "slap heard 'round the world" has faded from the headlines, let's discuss the science behind the infamous Oscar meltdown.
We then examine fiber's exaggerated health benefits and the anti-GMO movement's descent into obscurity.
A new mathematical exercise suggests that if we stop eating beef and simply substitute beans, we can reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 75%. The math is good. But the assumptions? Not so much.
The activist group Slow Food recently published a listicle warning consumers about the dangers of pesticides. Let's see if their top-10 list stands up to scrutiny.
Death seems like it would be a pretty discrete data point with little ambiguity. After all, you either are or are not dead. But as it does so often, the meaning of death in health research is more complex than that simple binary choice. A new study of death and dying in Denmark provides food for thought about how best to use that discrete endpoint to better understand the care we provide.
Americans expect that when the tap is turned on, fresh drinking water comes out. This expectation is increasingly questionable. There is a water crisis in the U.S. The increase of severe droughts in the southwestern U.S. has led to very low levels in lakes, rivers, and groundwater across the area. Water shortages are already common and expected to worsen in the coming years. What are we to do?
Last time, we discussed head transplants and how philosophers are gearing up to address the ethical implications. Many pages and scholarly brain waves were spent in the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine. What use were these ruminations? Are they valid considerations, even if the basic scientific premise is faulty? Or is this another example of asking how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? More importantly, what does this tell us about our capacity to resolve complex bioethical issues around new biotech?
Environmental Working Group has again claimed that chemicals in food and consumer products are contributing to obesity. They are mistaken, embarrassingly so.
E-cigarettes can help smokers abandon their deadly habit. Unfortunately, that message has been buried under a mountain of anti-vaping messaging promoted by tobacco researchers and reporters.
News organizations have recently been down on Paxlovid, while it has become the standard of care. Some claim Pfizer's Covid drug "has lost its luster" because of "failures" in two clinical trials. Now, a third trial looks like it could deliver another black mark: the drug doesn't improve symptoms in low-risk patients with Covid. Is this criticism valid? Let's look a little deeper.
Two thousand people a week are dying from (almost entirely) illegal street drugs. While at the same time prescriptions for legal pain medications have been cut by half in the past decade. The FDA’s solution? Postage-paid envelopes for people to return the extra pills they don't have. It's almost funny. Just don't laugh until it hurts.
The Non-GMO Project recently reassured its Twitter followers that seedless watermelon is not genetically modified. The only problem is that this delicious summer treat is a "GMO"—and it undermines the project's dubious business model.
Cato Institute's Dr. Jeffrey Singer (also an ACSH advisor) published an opinion piece in The Detroit News arguing that laws that restrict drug paraphernalia do more harm than good. "If states want to get serious about reducing the risk of harm from using illegal drugs, lawmakers should repeal their drug paraphernalia laws." We couldn't agree more. Harm reduction is one of the central tenets of ACSH.
Pain is one of our senses – like vision, hearing, or taste. It aids our survival by identifying noxious and harmful stimuli. But unlike the other sensations, it's ethically challenging for us to study pain. Instead, we rely on animal studies. Pain’s underlying physiology is understood, but not our experience of pain, unlike other sensations that we can readily share, like listening to music or watching a sunset. That difference makes it difficult to treat.
Is widespread use of artificial sweeteners polluting the environment? If so, what do we do about it? Join us on the latest episode of the Science Dispatch podcast as we take a critical look at the evidence.
This is some potentially exciting news coming from China: a Covid drug called Azvudine (originally an HIV drug) that appears to be quite effective in reducing symptoms from the infection. However, there are two problems: 1) The information comes from Chinese newspapers, not journals; 2) the science doesn't add up.
Cato Institute's Dr. Jeff Singer (also a member of the ACSH Scientific Advisory Board) is none too pleased with both the CDC and FDA and the way they've handled monkeypox. It seems lessons from COVID-19 have gone unlearned.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is once again warning consumers that their food may be tainted by "forever chemicals." Let's take a look at all the important details the activist group left out.
We hear a lot about the tons of plastic that pollute our oceans, but the solution to this troubling problem gets much less airtime. Let's take a closer look at the answer. Hint: it isn't paper straws.
Last week, many in the community of pain patients and their physicians did a victory lap over the decision by the Supreme Court in the case of two pain specialists, Xiulu Ruan, MD, and Shakeel Kahn, MD. Their separate cases were joined, and the opinion of the “Supremes” was misinterpreted in some quarters. They were not found innocent; the Court found that the instructions to the jury were in error and remanded the case back for adjudication. I have been following the case for a long time now, and it continues to gnaw at me in a contrarian way.
One of our readers asked why we only emphasize marijuana’s downside? In the continuing effort to rid the healthcare system of opioids, cannabinoids, the active components in marijuana, have been mentioned with increased frequency. A recent article in the Annals of Internal Medicine looked at the accumulated evidence as researchers performed a meta-analysis and systemic review of the literature. Here is what they found. Spoiler alert: patients with chronic pain will have to “toke on a lot more blunts” before we have less ambiguous data.
Lead in drinking water became a political and media cause celebre in 2014 when there were reports of child “lead poisoning” in Flint, Michigan, after the notorious and unfortunate water supply blunders. The Flint problem could easily have been avoided with some common sense and legally required water management procedures.
The robots are coming, the robots are coming. Robotic automation of manufacturing lines has been with us for some time. A new study looks at the benefits to our physical health and, for an important group, detriments to mental health.
The real value of coffee
The public square must be not only civil but open to grace
The hidden life of avocados
The Sound of Movies
Pagination
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