Microplastics are everywhere, including in your arteries, and they heighten your heart attack risk! So declared a slew of recent headlines reporting on a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Let's examine all the science reporters ignored in their rush to get hyperbolic stories out the door.
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Roadside drug tests are unreliable, so why are they so widely used in the U.S.? Meanwhile, researchers who make "health disparities" the focus of their work sometimes misrepresent their results. Here's a textbook example from a study that used pulse oximetry to measure disparities in COVID-19 treatment.
Will Tylenol alleviate severe pain? It will not, yet patients are routinely given the drug after major surgery. Thank your congressman for such insanity. Meanwhile, the drug store conglomerate CVS displays real pain relievers right next to useless homeopathic "remedies." A lawsuit could put an end to that dubious marketing practice.
A teenager died recently after taking the "One Chip Challenge," eating Paqui's uber-spicy tortilla chip and going as long as possible without eating or drinking anything else. The cause of death remains unclear, but there's an interesting lesson here about the uselessness of "non-GMO" food labels. Meanwhile, actress Jessica Biel sells all-natural Tylenol — which is identical to plain ole' Tylenol. Another case of dubious health marketing? Yep.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly important role in health care. This could lower costs and streamline patient interactions—but the technology has a dark side, too. Critics of "ultra-processed" food often claim that certain snacks aren't even food. Let's debunk this myth, with a special focus on Pop-Tarts.
Loud noises and ... trace minerals? Let's break down a new study examining an important contributor to age-related hearing loss. Spoiler alert: stocking up on zinc supplements is not the solution.
Does masking reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2? The Cochrane Collaboration tried to analyze the messy evidence and re-ignited an incendiary political debate. What conclusion should we draw from their findings? There's lots of misinformation out there; there's also rampant misinformation about misinformation. Don't be fooled by either of them.
If you need further evidence that politicians don't understand the fentanyl crisis they helped to create, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has you covered. Meanwhile, we already sell some body fluids in select circumstances; will the day come when we sell body parts to the highest bidder?
Panicked headlines recently warned that the popular artificial sweetener erythritol could increase heart disease risk. The study that generated these claims in no way supports that association. Dietary supplements are a multi-billion-dollar industry; they've also killed people. Do they need more regulatory oversight?
A recent study found that controlled periods of fasting could hold the key to unlocking a longer, healthier life. Do we finally have evidence that skipping meals reverses aging, or is the situation more complicated than that?
It's America's most addictive and fastest-growing sport. Pickleball is all kinds of fun, especially for the 60+ crowd who may have given up on sports. Of course, while players have suffered injuries involving the Achilles, hamstring, and quads, eye injuries are the most serious. Yet, most people don't wear protective goggles. Here's why you should. Bonus: A photo of me looking like an Olympic-class imbecile. Enjoy.
A recent trip to Israel included a stop at the Dead Sea. Many people from around the world travel to the Dead Sea for treatment for psoriasis and other diseases. As I have often questioned flawed studies and research without a scientific basis, I wondered whether there are facts behind the claimed beneficial effects of the Dead Sea.
Europe’s proposed pull incentive for antibiotic R&D is a mixed bag ...
Microbiomes are the collective and highly personal assortment of microorganisms that live in, on, and around us. If genetically modified effectively, these "black boxes" may help us cure cancer, understand how we can adapt to rising temperatures, play a role in mental health, and improve nutrition in children.
Reducing air pollution is a universally acknowledged goal, heralded for its potential to improve public health and environmental quality. However, amidst the enthusiasm for cleaner air, a critical question emerges: How effective have our efforts truly been?
In Walpole, Massachusetts the circus is always in town. This is because Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. opened his national presidential campaign headquarters there in 2023. RFK, Jr. may blame some of his erratic behavior, mostly regarding science and medicine, on his brain-eating worm, but I don't buy it. He was saying crazy s### well before Wormgate. Here's some of it.
Sickle Cell Disease is an awful genetic disease that disproportionally affects black people. It's caused by a single-point mutation in DNA, which results in a modified hemoglobin protein, differing by only one amino acid. While this may sound insignificant, it's anything but. Simple organic chemistry explains why this change profoundly affects those unfortunate enough to inherit the disease, which is characterized by abnormal hemoglobin.
When we turn on the tap, we all expect clean and safe drinking water. Threats to the cybersecurity of public drinking water systems are critical, but often overlooked, issues facing our country. The EPA is faced with the challenge of how to regulate these emerging threats.
There's considerable ongoing research to develop analgesic medications that don't have the liabilities of NSAIDs and opioids. Many potential drugs are in various stages of development. Most will fail. This multi-part series will examine drugs in development and their potential utility. First up is VX-458, a Phase III candidate from Vertex.
Like many creatives, life experiences influence my work, in this case, my writing. This year, the dominant emotion was stress (and adventure), which leached into my articles and drove some of the focus.
Plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) running solely on electricity are the cornerstone of the effort to reduce vehicular emissions. Prediction of electrical use and environmental benefit base their calculations on vehicle miles traveled (VMT), assuming that the number of miles driven with electrics is the same as those by conventional fossil-fueled vehicles (CV). A new study questions that assumption.
For about a year, KinderFarms has been marketing a “non-toxic” pain and fever reliever for kids – except it’s really not non-toxic. What supposedly makes this medicine “safe” is the absence of “chemical preservatives.” Too bad. Had KinderFarms co-founder actress Jessica Biel put preservatives in her product, it might have been safer for us – and for her company’s bottom line.
This past month, Stanford Medicine posted the following press release headline: “A Stanford Medicine-led trial of identical twins comparing vegan and omnivore diets found that a vegan diet improves overall cardiovascular health.”
We’ve witnessed the opioid addiction crisis suffering through its mismanagement. Now, we face another scourge of addiction – again resulting in untimely deaths of young people while bankrupting and overtaking their emotional lives. This debacle is caused by social media, with recompense and responsibility avoided, and guardrails are yet to be widely implemented.
It's impossible not to notice the exponential rise in people, posting on social media, plunging into ice-filled bathtubs or extremely cold waters. It's not because they are masochistic, but rather because of the supposed “benefits” that the practice supposedly offers.
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