Contrary to the story pushed by activist groups and reporters, recent research has shown that genetically engineered crops and the pesticides often paired with them have yielded impressive environmental benefits.
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“Anthropomorphism—the tendency to attribute human characteristics to nonhuman objects (Epley et al., 2007)—is a universal phenomenon” It is often used in marketing to strengthen our ties with some products, from Microsoft’s ill-fated Clippy to the widely successful California Raisins. A new study suggests that when we anthropomorphize foods, we may buy more but eat less. Why would that be?
A new CDC survey shows that teen vaping is still declining. Oddly, the agency maintains that e-cigarette use among adolescents is an "epidemic."
The Big Oyster and the Black Oyster King
Can Prohibition teach us about lockdowns and the opioid crisis?
When narrative overwhelms facts
Lessons from a child and a thief
Is our ability to make judgments and focus a matter of willpower or is it like a muscle that can be exercised and strengthened? Could neither be the case? A new study suggests that our ability to make judgments is more chemistry than "strength."
Renewables
Let’s talk about Puerto Rico
Becoming a master
The greatest engine of social justice, human rights, and equality
Minnesota has become the leader in restoring the rights of patients to receive necessary pain medications as well as the doctors who prescribe them. It's a huge step. One down, 49 to go. Drs. Bloom and Singer in Newsweek.
If you haven't taken Paxlovid you cannot possibly fathom the vile sensory experience called "Paxlovid tongue." What to do? Write a song. The Blues, of course.
With respect to COVID, children experience less severe disease but remain transmitters of the infection, especially within their immediate and extended households. Should we vaccinate or not? A new study looks at the demographics of NY City school children receiving the complete (2 shot) initial vaccination.
Once in a while, a light bulb goes on, and a theory that turns medical knowledge on its head is born. Could this be one of those times? A group at Cambridge just published a study on the mechanism of cancer metastasis, which could fundamentally change how the spread of cancer is viewed. Here's what they discovered.
Will taking cocoa or multivitamins slow the onset of dementia? A new study suggests at least one of these interventions may make a difference. COVID lockdowns quickly became a topic for partisan bickering, but did they actually work?
“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.” - Psalm 37:4-5
Could that be true? A study of Ethiopian small-holding farmers suggests that the answer is yes.
It takes land to grow food. Going vertical allowed our cities to house more people. Could vertical farming reduce the food deserts of our urban centers? A new study considers production and crop yields.
Swing, “an intangible rhythmic momentum in jazz,” give the music movement, especially in the back and forth between the soloist and the group. For professional musicians, it is a bit like pornography, meaning they can’t define it but know it when they hear it. A group of physicists thinks they know the why of swing.
Every time you turn on the TV or read a news article touching on medicine, the environment, or health, chances are you'll run across a story that's impacted by toxicology. And more times than not, news consumers are left with the question: What information is essential to understanding the story's impact?
The Cleveland Clinic, one of the world's foremost academic medical centers, has jumped on the anti-vaping bandwagon, perpetuating unfiltered nonsense about the health effects of nicotine.
This philosophy has deep religious and cultural roots, from monsters and meditation to Marie Kondo’s tidying up. This article by Dr. Kevin Taylor, Director of Religious Studies and Instructor of Philosophy, University of Memphis is re-posted here courtesy of The Conversation.
“… the financial relationship between these newly independent physicians and industry begin to develop in the first year after graduation from their training programs and continued to expand in the early years of independent physician practice.” Financial relationship? A new study suggests that “gifting” physicians begins early. Still, I believe the study casts more shade than light.
Ozempic, a drug indicated for Type II diabetes, has become the latest weight-loss darling. Not since ivermectin has a drug gained so much interest from its off-label uses. Let’s take a deeper look at the science and a regulatory conundrum.
The CDC's dreadful 2016 opioid prescribing guideline caused untold damage, both to pain patients and opioid addicts. Six years later we have a revised document. Is it any better? Dr. Jeffrey Singer argues no.
I’ve been thinking about Elon Musk’s social platform, Twitter, a lot lately. I wondered how one might keep the public square and identify the village idiots more readily. A new study in Nature’s Human Behavior looks at how knowing the identity of a writer alters our perceptions.
On November 26, 1959, "Mamie Eisenhower served applesauce with dinner." … America had been waiting with more-than-usual interest to see what the Eisenhowers would eat as Thanksgiving relish. The news came Friday, courtesy of the Associated Press: “No Cranberries for President.” Here's ACSH's take from our archives, in what was perhaps the first episode of chemophobia in the United States.
Just as healthcare systems seek to maintain their tax-exempt status by providing “community services,” health insurers seek to dispense their largesse on the corporate term for those community services – the social determinants of health. A new study suggests that, like those not-for-profit, tax-exempt healthcare systems, the money flowing to social determinants is more for appearances. How surprising.
The first chronic low-level infection to be associated with a specific condition was Helicobacter pylori as the real cause underlying most stomach ulcers. This upended decades of medical belief and treatment. Could a newly discovered species of bacteria in the microbiome be a culprit behind rheumatoid arthritis? This reprint from The Conversation suggests it is quite possible.
Is marijuana really the low-risk drug that many Americans believe it is? Emergency room physician Dr. Roneet Lev says the popular conception of cannabis—as an all-natural treatment for pain, anxiety, seizures, and so many other ailments—is far too simplistic. She joins us on episode 25 of the Science Dispatch podcast.
Pagination
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