"Fool's gold" (pyrite) is nice to look at, but not especially useful. That could change if the findings of a small study hold up. Unexpectedly higher levels of lithium – an element that's in enormous demand – were found in pyrite. This could be both beneficial environmentally and economically. Plus, a gratuitous shot at crystal healers, just for yuks.
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Two extensive longitudinal studies are heralded as unveiling the common “truth” that ultra-processed foods hasten our mortality. However, before embracing that kale smoothie, ultra-processed foods may not be the villains portrayed in the media we've been led to believe. Here's why.
"Jumping genes" are not a new type of leisure wear. They are integral components of the genetic-epigenetic continuum and the “genetic” expression of traits, biological or temperamental. The critical discovery that these chromosomal parts can move – impacting their expression - owes to the mystically inspired work of Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock.
Although nutrition has made significant advances in recent years — such as recognizing the harm caused by trans fats — it’s surprising that, even within the academic field, there’s still ongoing debate about the most efficient diet. (Spoiler alert: any of them can work as long as a diet aligns with your preferences and allows for greater consistency.)
Mental health medications are a blessing to many people. But they sometimes come with undesirable side effects, including significant weight gain. A recent study suggests that a high-fat, low-carb ketogenic diet could help some patients manage their weight while taking psychiatric drugs. Let's take a closer look at the results.
"Forever chemicals" is a hot news item. The public is paying attention to them because they stick around for very long periods of time – including in your body – where they bioaccumulate. This has caused concern that they may cause cancer, although this has not been proven. Why does this group of chemicals stay around for so long? Chemistry explains.
In the battle against Alzheimer's Disease (AD), the FDA's latest therapies are desperately trying to separate the forgetful from the truly befuddled. While spinal taps and PET scans remain the diagnostic standard, blood biomarkers are increasingly stepping up as the “heroes” of early detection.
Most health scares in the headlines are generated by low-grade epidemiology research that correlates food or chemical exposures with negative health outcomes. A recent review employing a new analytical tool highlighted some of the critical problems in this research – by looking at studies reporting health risks linked to red meat consumption. Let's take a look at the findings.
World War II's Manhattan Project – which developed the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in August 1945 – was one of the greatest scientific, technological, and logistical achievements in history. The bombs ended the war and saved millions of lives of combatants and civilians.
Some people look at you as if you have a cancer death wish when they see a Diet Coke can in your hand. But their glass of wine is a far greater risk. Here's why.
Recent headlines claiming a “cure” for autism, and a complete reversal of symptoms, were inspired by a case report published in June 2024. However, with dubious methodology and potential serious conflicts of interest, there's good reason to doubt these conclusions.
Cilantro. Whether you love it or hate it can be partly determined by a difference in a single gene in your nasal passage. Roughly 10-20% of us think it tastes like soap. The chemistry of odor concentration can explain some of this. Or you can just hate it for no good reason.
Glyphosate is perpetually in the news. However, last month was especially busy because various agencies concluded that it either did – or did not – cause cancer or kill butterflies. The herbicide has even been implicated as a cause of autism, but the science is terrible. Perhaps the worst science came out of MIT in 2014 — confusing correlation with causation. A big no-no.
Anyone who poo-poed the risk to the Olympic open-water swimmers from the disgusting Seine River is s### out of luck. Plenty of swimmers got sick, just like I predicted last month, from swallowing river water during the 10 km event. And a little toilet humor thrown in. No extra charge.
A recent study claimed that excessive sitting – all too common in our modern, hyper-connected world – is more deadly than smoking and HIV. The solution, the researchers claimed, is a novel creation known as the treadmill desk, which allows people to exercise during their work days. How truthful is all this? Not very.
Reciprocity of approvals between FDA and its A-list foreign counterparts would ease the shortages.
An old wives tale makes a comeback: Cranberry juice
The spectrum of information that can be obtained by prenatal testing is wide and rapidly increasing. Many mutations, or "abnormalities," are inconsequential, while others are significant. Genetic counseling combined with noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS) can be helpful.
Vaccination remains one of the most effective tools in protecting public health, and maintaining high immunization rates is essential to preventing the resurgence of preventable diseases. However, rampant anti-vaccine disinformation largely driven by politicians, grifters, and “influencers” on television and social media undermines public confidence in vaccination.
In 2013, the American Heart Association (AHA) thought it had heart disease prevention all figured out with their trusty "risk calculator." Fast forward a decade to the new and improved PREVENT equations, promising to reflect a more diverse and current U.S. population. While the old calculator had us popping statins like candy, the new equations suggest many of us might not need them after all. Welcome to the latest chapter in the never-ending saga of heart health guidelines.
Historians may record that it was the confluence in time and space of two events the unprecedented success of the "Old Joe" Camel ads and the anticipated U.S. Supreme Court ruling against tobacco companies which triggered the beginning of the end for cigarette advertising in America.
That is the concensus of leading physicians, toxicologists and epidemiologists who met in New York on Wednesday to discuss the issue of food safety and pesticide use. In an unusual action, a panel of scientists, joined by 65 of their colleagues, signed a full-page advertisement that appeared Wednesday in major national newspapers, denouncing the recent pesticide scare.
This material has been published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 38, 71-84 (1997), the only definitive repository of the content that has been certified and accepted after peer review.
Proposals for drug legalization are rooted in the belief that drug prohibition does not work. Legalization advocates point out that the prohibition of alcohol failed in the United States two generations ago. They argue that the use of illicit drugs is widespread despite prohibition and that the high costs and negative consequences of that prohibition ranging from costs for police and prisons to the loss of privacy caused by drug testing in many settings, notably the workplace are unreasonably high prices to pay for an ineffective policy.
Scientists from the American Council on Science and Health today urged the nation's physicians and scientists to unite in rejecting any Congressionally sponsored "global deal" that would offer the cigarette industry immunity from current and future litigation. Such a deal which may be the product of negotiations now under way with the Philip Morris Cos. and RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. was described in detail in a front-page article in the April 16, 1997, Wall Street Journal.
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