One recent article in the bioethical literature bemoaned the expense of pursuing this noble career. Worse still, is that no one really knows what qualifies one to practice bioethics. But at $80,000 for advanced certification, it’s still a lot cheaper than a law or medical degree (although perhaps not quite as expensive as a degree in theology – which some claim might be more helpful).
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The published literature on COVID now exceeds 211,000 papers, books, and documents, which include: 22,866 observational studies, 19,591 reviews, 1496 meta-analyses and 781 randomized control trials. These publications comprise the backdrop for our research and writing. The project began in the spring of 2020 based on a limited source of cumulative COVID-19 data and has broadened considerably. Here is what we have learned.
Science journalism is plagued by several critical problems that jeopardize its credibility. If we want the public to be more science-minded, we have to correct these issues sooner rather than later.
Alternative health guru Joe Mercola claims there's been a massive increase in autism cases since the 1960s and that the weedkiller glyphosate is a "key culprit." He's wrong on both points.
I was driving to my favorite bagel shop when I noticed a bright green plant nestled in the bare branches of a tall tree. It piqued my curiosity, so my husband asked one of his bagel buddies, knowledgeable about a myriad of topics, what the plant is. “Why, mistletoe, of course,” was his response. “Didn’t you know that mistletoe is a parasitic plant that is always attached to its host tree?”
The built environment can heat and cool us, human error, debunking the latke, and who is really anti-nuclear power?
Annapurna – goddess of food, Christmas trees, phrases I may or may not miss next year, and do our inner cycles embody our “self?”
Ah, the influencer. It’s a new job category for someone who can move markets – at least for goods – by sharing their love of them. This used to be solely the domain of celebrities, but social media has significantly changed that. So when it comes to subjects related to nutrition, the question is: are they using their influence to help or hurt?
The 2021 annual conference of U.S. Mayors adopted a resolution to create community “Blue Zones,” as part of the Well-Being Initiative to Combat Disease and Comorbidities. The Blue Zones program is derived from the work of Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Fellow, who identifies regions around the world where people purportedly live extraordinarily long and happy lives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a dose-response function for PM2.5 that lumps outdoor ambient air quality, second-hand (passive) smoking, and indoor household air pollution. It has been used in 80 published studies of the “Global Burden of Health” (GBD). Here I take a closer look and incorporate some additional risk estimates.
Four months after President Biden announced his innovative plan to compel vaccination, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on its validity. Biden’s plan had three parts; the Fifth Circuit Court struck them all down.
Could anything be more terrifying than your child being seriously ill? Children have been the last group to begin to receive vaccinations. We rightly suggest they congregate daily in schools. How at risk are they in the face of the rising cases of Omicron?
All over the U.S. the lines for COVID testing often stretch around the block. You can wait an hour or two just to be tested, before learning that the results are not available when you need them. President Biden is going to send us all two home tests. But what are the science-guided recommendations? The New England Journal of Medicine provides a very reasonable answer, beginning with a simple picture.
It's time for another installment of the "Health Ranger Chronicles," where we critically examine the strange ideas promoted by Mike Adams' wildly popular website Natural News. This time we investigate a story about Monster Energy's "Satanic" plot to poison our children with sugar and caffeine.
It's been said that women will do almost anything to look good. If that’s true, they can’t even compete with some male bodybuilders who take legal drugs, illegal drugs, and down another substance you might find distasteful. Perhaps disgusting. And it doesn't even work. Unreal.
Finally, there are antiviral drugs that will keep people with COVID out of the hospital (and the morgue). But, good luck getting a prescription if you should need it. The FDA has pretty much guaranteed that this will be almost impossible. Here's why.
In an essay in the London Review of Books, David Wallace-Wells contrasted the 5.5 million annual global deaths from COVID [1] with the 7 million deaths attributed to air pollution (AP) projected by the World Health Organization [2]; he bemoaned the lack of attention being given to the latter. [1] He noted that other AP mortality estimates run as high as 8.7 million and 10 million if indoor air pollution were included. This is getting downright scary.
The CDC has reported that COVID-19 vaccines are working well, but reduced protection against mild and moderate disease over time is apparent. It is appropriate to examine trends now that our primary vaccination program has been in place for a year. While recently vaccinated members of a population have much lower rates of infection, some suffered breakthrough infections that may be associated with reduced vaccine effectiveness.
The scarlet “A” was meant to shame Hester Prynne, stigmatizing her to the community as an unworthy individual. Today, the letter is often replaced by words. A new study suggests that physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants often use stigmatizing words in describing their patients. But as you will read, many of their “findings” depend upon whether you believe those words are, in fact, stigmatizing at all.
Should we end anonymity on the Internet to bring civility back? The Great Barrington Declaration, Making a Deal with the Devil, a contrarian opinion on the value of a vegan diet.
Patients and their doctors have voted with their scripts. Overwhelmingly, they are choosing Pfizer's Paxlovid and rejecting Merck's molnupiravir. So much so that when Paxlovid is unavailable (which is most of the time) many don't even bother to try the other option. Surprising?
This article, which complements the one by my colleague Chuck Dinerstein, discusses the broad findings of a provocative study that ties IQ loss directly with childhood lead exposure. The study estimates that 90% of the children born between 1950 and 1980 had clinical concerning blood lead levels, resulting in decreased IQ levels. Certainly, these results will cause great concern among us baby boomers, and some might even say that this finding helps explain many of the world’s problems.
A recent study found that moderate alcohol consumption — even one drink a day — could shrink your brain. The explosion of context-free headlines predictably followed. Let's dive a little deeper and examine what most reporters missed.
Upon first glance, the revision of the atrocious 2016 CDC opioid prescribing guidelines would seem to be an improvement – a low bar by any measure. But it doesn't take long to see that the 2022 version still leaves much to be desired.
In recent years, the “Death with Dignity” [1] movements have been racking up victories. Thirty years ago, only Switzerland allowed assisted deaths. Today, no less than 12 countries and 10 states plus the District of Columbia sanction (or decriminalize) euthanasia (where the doctor administers a lethal drug) and Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID), when the patient does the deed.
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