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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.

When science and money mix, science suffers. The pressure to publish and get grant money has corrupted researchers, who must "publish or perish" and get grants. This unholy alliance between the popular media and scholarly publications spawned the never-ending flow of sensationalistic results, especially those pertaining to human health effects.

Have you started your Christmas and/or holiday shopping? If you're like us, you're putting it off to the last minute – because you're too busy with other things. Here at ACSH, we've been busy telling the world about science. Here's where we've appeared recently.

Whether one is sick or well, the end of life tends to have its own unique story and reaction. There can be sudden deaths of less surprise to us than the final act of an unrelenting terminal disease. But why are we almost always a bit surprised to learn of someone's death?

Synthetic biology is like genetic engineering on steroids. Using cutting-edge computational design, synthetic biology aims to design novel biological molecules -- or even entire metabolic systems. Here's a plan to use this new technology to develop a world-changing treatment for Celiac disease. 

How often do you hear of someone using their spouse's antibiotic from a prior illness? Or, dispensing an Ambien to a colleague or friend? For those practicing medicine without a license in person, or through social media crowdsourcing, the harms can be considerable.

Bloomberg's recent hit piece on milk touches upon almost every sensitive issue that worries parents: food, school and their children. Toss in a conspiracy theory about "Big Dairy," and that's how Bloomberg came up with a fear-mongering headline, complete with a disgusting photo that is supposed to make readers feel queasy.

We count on innovation to improve our lives. In a quest to make innovations come faster we have considered how, and to whom, we entrust research and development. A new study suggests that the rate of innovation is driven mostly by how many simple and complex solutions might be available.

In the mid-19th century, traveling medicine shows became all the rage. They were basically like small circuses that also peddled phony medicine. Today, we may laugh at how gullible we once were. But charlatans like Dr. Oz are the modern-day equivalent of that traveling con job.

According to idiotic homeopathy, the more dilute a solution the more powerful it gets. So naturally, it follows that making solutions even *more* dilute -- let's call it "super-homeopathy" -- will make them even stronger. This provides a simple solution for the opioid crisis. But let's be careful. There could be unforeseen consequences (especially from guys with oversized prostate glands).

When pharmaceutical companies jack up prices, it irritates everybody. And when people are irritated, politicians take the opportunity to do some grandstanding to win votes. Just a few days into its term, the House Oversight Committee in the new Congress has already launched an investigation into drug pricing. Is that justified? Not really.

Ideology, not medical reality, has infected much of modern parenting. The most compelling pediatric articles -- centered around misguided activism that still persists -- focused on infant feeding, vaccines and mom-shaming.

Some species of bugs in our intestine may contribute to weight gain more than others. And these may become more prevalent when competitors are reduced by antibiotics.

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.

Screwy medicine is nothing new. Some of what went on 400 years ago makes Joe "Crazy Joe" Mercola seem like Albert Schweitzer. For example, infections were treated (unsuccessfully) with "ointment consisting essentially of the moss on the skull of a man who had died a violent death, combined with boar's and bear's fat, burnt worms, dried boar's brain, red sandal-wood, and mummy." A "real" Joe, Dr. Joe Schwarcz of McGill's OSS, looks at some ancient, and very odd, therapies.

Has the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl created mutant animals? Rich Kozlovich from the
Paradigms and Demographics blog site doesn't think so.

The Florida man who was arrested for synthesizing the "Mother of Satan" claims that he was just making fireworks. Uh-huh. Celebrating the Fourth of July early, we suppose? Here, we explain the chemistry behind the explosive.

The good news is that African swine fever has nothing to do with swine flu and does not infect humans; the bad news is mostly for pig farmers and ranchers who are facing, as Russian scientists claim, "arguably the most dangerous swine disease worldwide."

Dr. Edward Archer believes that nutrition science is not just misguided but actually harmful. That's an extraordinary statement that requires extraordinary evidence. Does he provide it in his latest paper?

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.

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.

There's a phenomenon known as superheating. And in your typical microwave oven, the container is not heated -- only the water is. So to answer this question, we first must understand what boiling is all about. Let's take a look.

The New York Times objectively reports on how the news media, politicians and science were wrong about "crack baby" epidemic. But they never apologize to their readers or accept responsibility.

With women opting for "free birth" or "unassisted birth" the stakes are only getting higher. Dismissing medical advice is also taking the form of a misguided practice of prolonging delivery well beyond due dates.

Using made up numbers, The Lancet reports that surgery is the third greatest burden of global disease, right after cardiovascular disease and stroke. In order to save lives should surgeons actually "put down the knife"?