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AIDS has killed 34 million people around the world. Of the critical sequential steps that are necessary for HIV to replicate, one of them requires a single molecule of water. In the absence this one molecule, HIV would not exist.

Are you more clever than your fridge? Yes you are -- right now. But if you build a network of algorithms that can listen to feedback, it can update its network to get the right answers. This is deep learning -- and it’s learning from you.

Emissions from pizza ovens may be a big problem.

Is nothing sacred anymore? We are constantly bombarded by chemical scares, so much so that even labels of our childhood icons aren't able to avoid ridiculous scrutiny. Since Mr. Potato Head's arrived back in 1952, he clearly needs a new label to reflect the toxicological wisdom and sensitivity of modern times.

It’s that time again: the possibility of penalty shoot-outs looms large in Euro 2016 now that we are entering the knockout phases. We kick off on Saturday June 25 with Switzerland v Poland and Wales v Northern Ireland, though those with a taste for blood sports might prefer to look forward to the possibility of another England vs. Germany penalty showdown in the semi-finals.

Pennies are not only profoundly annoying and useless, but they aren't even made from copper anymore. They are zinc. And the amount of energy used, and pollution generated just to mint and transport them is rather horrifying. They need to go.

Researchers at Notre Dame University have been able to engineer a switch on immune T cell receptors, enhancing their capacity to recognize foreign proteins on cancer cells, which allows for precision targeting and killing.

Vitamin D is one of a list of nutrients thought to be valuable in preventing, or treating, a long list of conditions. But according to researchers from the University of Alberta, for most conditions linked to vitamin D the evidence is weak, if not completely non-existent.

Researchers from Boston report that eating white potatoes, even as potato chips, are linked to developing high blood pressure (the increased risk is small). But we question whether anyone should change their diets because of studies like this that show only associations, not causation.

While new-rule skeptics and baseball purists are already howling that creating a time limit for pitchers will not speed up a Major League Baseball game enough to justify its creation, there's another precinct checking in to voice concern about the controversial proposal: medical science. New research suggests more pitcher injuries could result.

The language of science has been hijacked. Those who are looking to make a quick buck (or in the case of the organic industry, 43 billion bucks) have no qualms about twisting the definition of highly precise scientific terminology to suit their own profit-driven agendas. Here's a brief glossary of the some of the most commonly misused scientific terms. (Note: the health food and fad diet industries are among the biggest abusers.)

The Food and Drug Administration has announced that it has approved Probuphine, an implant for treatment of opioid dependence. It's designed to provide a constant, low-level dose of buprenorphine to patients for six months.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio really hates salt. But, we suspect it goes deeper than this. He may be a "condiment bigot." Possibly even a mustard hater, or an anti-mustite.

With the recent discovery of polymyxin-resistant infection here in the U.S., there's a renewed pledge among drug developers and the government to incentivize research for developing new antibiotics, previously a seemingly abandoned effort.

Vermont's somewhat capricious GMO labeling law is set to go into effect next week and one company intends to comply with it by removing its products from store shelves. Coca-Cola is advising stores that individual cans and bottles will no longer be available to Vermont consumers, at least according to one tiny local outlet I had never heard of before today.

Although many in the scientific and medical community were nervous when Andrew Wakefield's movie was released, we can all relax now. His slogan -- “The film that they don’t want you to see” -- seems to have backfired because ... virtually no one went to see it. Only 19,570 tickets sold and flimsy flick grossed just over $150,000 -- chump change in Hollywood.

NRDC ceaselessly drones on about minute quantities of "endocrine disrupting chemicals" in our bodies. But THC from marijuana affects all sorts of hormonal systems, and you get plenty of it from smoking a joint. Not a word from the group on that. Are they stonewalling?

The scientific enterprise is something of a paradox. Science moves incrementally, and the status quo is preferred to radical new ideas. Yet, simultaneously, creativity is encouraged, but scientists who become too creative can become outcasts. Let’s consider a few of those here.

A growing number of parents are refusing to vaccinate their children, and one reason often given is that they don't trust that doctors and government agencies sufficiently research the potential harms of vaccines. Given that, we wanted to find out whether telling people about the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which is monitored by the CDC and the FDA, and the information it gathers could influence their belief about vaccine safety.

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In recent years pasta gained a bad reputation: it will make you fat. Obviously you could insert any food and get the same result, if you eat enough of it. So how does it happen that certain foods get called out and stick in the minds of the public?

The idea that babies in the womb can react to music has been around for some time, but it certainly shouldn't involve inserting a stereo into your, ahem, lady parts. That said, meet BabyPod: a small, vaginal device that lets your unborn baby rock out to Nirvana in the womb. Really? Please.

The Centers for Medicare Services released its ratings of our nation’s hospitals last week, which caused considerable consternation among hospitals and academic medical centers. But when you consider its only reporting the average star ratings for New York hospitals based on a star rating that itself is a weighted average of 64 measures, the report doesn't contain a great deal of useful information.

Beverages sweetened with fructose, and High Fructose Corn Syrup, have often been blamed for causing or exacerbating cardiometabolic ills. But a new randomized, controlled study presents data that doesn't support this hypothesis.

Parasitism evolved at least 223 times, far more than the previous estimate of 60. It arose more times in certain phyla (e.g., arthropods, nematodes, flatworms, and mollusks) than in others. Today, about half of all animal species are parasitic.

A drop in T-cell production may mean that astronauts are at least temporarily immunocompromised by space flight. To those of you who are eager for a trip to Mars, add "immunosuppression" to your list of concerns.