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Gene drive technology is powerful and slightly frightening. But the coronavirus pandemic reminds us that we want to have multiple weapons in the public health arsenal, should we be confronted with another life-threatening microbe.

A group of researchers reports an association between low vitamin D levels and COVID-19 infection. Is this a true cause-and-effect relationship? Or are we seeing an excellent example of selection bias? Let's take a look.

As I watch the current debacle of our children preparing to return to school, I more and more feel it is time to take a moment to talk about the errors we have made. My original thoughts turned to responsibility and accountability, words that have occupied my professional life as a surgeon, words molding my thinking just as they molded my character.

A fact-checking site called PolitiFact weighs in on the validity of the claim that opioid deaths decreased in 2018, thus supposedly marking the first time we are getting control of the "opioid epidemic." Let's fact-check the fact-checkers. Plus, Andrew Kolodny dines on his own words.

Should you happen to be in the vicinity of Albuquerque don't miss the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. It is fascinating. It's also bewildering to see what people were putting in, and on, their bodies in the 1920s and 30s. The exhibits in this New Mexico museum make today's quackery look like peer-reviewed studies in JAMA. Here are some of them.

The RAND Corporation recently released a study of hospital pricing for commercial insurance vs. Medicare, the de facto standard. It's no surprise that commercial insurance pays more than double Medicare. And those payments are not evenly distributed nationally, within states, or even health systems. 

Social distancing reduces the possibility of becoming infected with COVID-19. A new study suggests that social distancing also applies to facilities -- in this case -- nursing homes. But how can these particular facilities do that? Read on.

Here's the lineup: Our immune system has lots of moving parts and they do not always make sense, at least on the first read. ... While the truth may set you free, learning the truth is often hampered by paywalls. ... And a beautiful interactive on a woodblock print that shows: (1) How a picture is worth a thousand words and (2) How culturally interconnected we have been for a lot longer than the past few years.

Statistics and science aren't the same thing. Moreover, statisticians aren't fortune tellers, yet we continue to treat them as if they are. It's time to stop.

What is perchlorate? And is it dangerous?

Reports of an H5N8 influenza virus spreading among birds across the globe understandably have generated concern. However, H5 viruses do not pose a direct threat to the health of the vast majority of humans on the planet, at least not yet.

From vaping to cutting-edge biotechnology, UK health regulators do a far better job than their American counterparts. This was proven yet again when the UK beat the U.S. FDA at approving a coronavirus vaccine produced by Pfizer, an American company.

There are three major reasons why SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, will never be eradicated.

There’s a new diet that’s the talk of the town. It advocates eating more calories, not less. So is it all fad, or is there a grain of truth to it?

There's nothing like fear to generate abnormal behavior. And in the age of COVID-19 there's plenty of fear going around (so expect a lot of it). In the past few months, we've seen that one of these odd behaviors is attributed to a significant number of health-news headlines recommending vitamin C to purportedly assist one's immune response to COVID-19. Let's take a closer look.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo would rather allow more Americans to become infected with and die from coronavirus than to allow an imperfect vaccine distribution plan to proceed.

Almost 100 years ago, Sinclair Lewis wrote a novel about a doctor trying to elevate scientific discovery over the pursuit of wealth that often accompanies the practice of medicine.
The story was about young Dr. Martin Arrowsmith, who discovers a new treatment for bubonic plague. It appears the drug works – but without rigorous controlled experiments, who can be sure?  Arrowsmith wants to play by the scientific rules and hold off universal dispensation until he can "prove" the efficacy of the treatment using controlled studies -- all the while people are dying around him.

For your consideration this time 'round: An American woodworker ... the neurology of being in "the flow" ... a guide to reading in the tsunami of information and misinformation ... and a consideration of whether cells "think."

An especially malignant fallacy is now circulating in the news, that the spike in COVID deaths can be explained by financial gain to physicians. That is totally untrue, and it's an unprecedented slap in the face to doctors and other healthcare workers. In a lesser-noticed moment, HHS moves towards more transparent healthcare costs.

It's looking like winter will arrive with rising numbers of cases in the U.S. and Europe. Hospitals are again beginning to fill up. But there's some evidence that the hard-won lessons in treating COVID-19 are beginning to improve outcomes.

Natural vs artificial, John Brown's smoldering memory, and school is not a super-spreader event.

Dr. Mark Hyman, who pushes alternative medicine and nutrition pseudoscience, compares processed food to the Holocaust, fabricates statistics, and takes a swipe at the American Council on Science and Health. That was inadvisable.

A new paper attempts to create the best estimate for the COVID infection-fatality rate (IFR), which answers the question, "If I get sick, what is the chance that I will die?" Beware: The virus discriminates.

Antioxidants are one of the holy grails for marketers of a wide variety of food and supplemental products. For many, the term "antioxidant" has become synonymous through repetition with better health and the prevention of a myriad of ailments. In essence, antioxidants have been misconceived to be a magic bullet for health and longevity.

Being discharged from the hospital after illness or surgery is only the beginning of recovery. As with many infrequently-spoken moments in healthcare, COVID-19 has revealed the long road to recovery for "long-haulers," those whose symptoms linger for months. As a new study reports, this isn’t a new finding specific to the virus. (Of course, any experienced physician might have told you that already.)