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They're cute, they're squishy, they're meant to be stress-relieving. But the "squishy" toy is causing a lot of stress. This is why.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about new approaches to antibacterial therapy. But I keep going back to some old family history ...

A global pandemic remains an existential threat, and experts believe it is a case of when, and not, if. The BBC, in conjunction with the University of Cambridge, created a smartphone app that very well may save lives by improving our model of how infectious diseases spread.

Crickets have just one short season to reproduce. Can they shed light on a theory of aging, which holds: We use so much energy to reproduce, that we have little left over to stop our decline?

Tannins are responsible for the dark color you sometimes get in tea, and they also account for tea's possible health benefits. They are actually light-colored, but when tannins react with iron they form inky complexes. But don’t worry, it is perfectly safe.

A recent study, purporting to show that “toxic” chemicals from some types of dental floss are ending up in the flossers' bloodstream, does not actually provide evidence for the claim. So don’t give up flossing!

There's a reason that it's a running joke. You know, the one that medical students go through a phase when they think they actually have every disease they study. But for those not in the profession, preoccupation with illness is reaching unhealthy levels.

The effects of a changing landscape on our friend, the bee, once again points at the subtle and not-so-subtle changes that can ripple through the ecosystem.

Policymakers, providers, insurers and employers continue to complain that the U.S. must curtail spending on drugs to slow down the ever-growing cost of health care. Yet they’re not taking advantage of an innovation that's available to them -- and one that's saving the European Union massive sums.

Dismissing this encounter as that of another entitled teen ignores a major societal problem that needs fixing.

We've been recently reminded of one of the most significant false-positives in U.S. history, the erroneous notification to Hawaii's citizens about the "imminent attack" of ballistic missiles. When it comes to medical care, while false positives also have harmful effects on patients and practitioners, the advances in artificial intelligence may be worsening the practice of patient care.

Given Seattle's solid reputation for rain, it must be one of the wettest cities in America, right? Actually, it's not even close. As it turns out, among the nation's 50 largest cities in terms of precipitation Seattle doesn't even rank in the top half. However, it is tied with Buffalo for the nation's dreariest.

Coffee is touted as a prevention remedy or for countless (and unrelated) diseases and conditions. One that isn't on that list is asthma. So, is coffee useful for asthmatics? Scientifically it should be. But you would need to drink a ghastly amount of it. (And at no extra charge we include the always-popular "Chemistry Lesson From Hell.")

Telling your doctor you were fully compliant, when you weren’t, is pretty standard fare. From tiny fibs to outright self-sabotage, how we cope with a bump in the health road determines how difficult we make the ride.

It's now possible for your doctor to make house calls, with little more than you using a smartphone and some inexpensive devices. Telemedicine is not just for rural America.

When pharmaceutical companies jack up prices, it irritates everybody. And when people are irritated, politicians take the opportunity to do some grandstanding to win votes. Just a few days into its term, the House Oversight Committee in the new Congress has already launched an investigation into drug pricing. Is that justified? Not really.

For the second week in a row, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg telecommuted. Her recovery teaches us about resilience and its partner, frailty.

According to idiotic homeopathy, the more dilute a solution the more powerful it gets. So naturally, it follows that making solutions even *more* dilute -- let's call it "super-homeopathy" -- will make them even stronger. This provides a simple solution for the opioid crisis. But let's be careful. There could be unforeseen consequences (especially from guys with oversized prostate glands).

One of ACSH's missions is to change the media narrative about science and health. Too often, the media publishes "click bait" with the intention of scaring people or promoting a new food fad. That does a disservice to the public. We aim to rectify this by getting quoted in as many media outlets as possible, and here's where we appeared recently.

If you're seeking sloppy reporting and sensationalist headlines, recently CNN did not disappoint. "Odds of dying from accidental opioid overdose in the US surpass those of dying in car accident," it stated. Well, maybe so, that is -- unless you take a deeper look and then a very different story emerges. No need. We at ACSH do it for you. Free of charge!

Fiber is an oft-ignored member of the carbohydrate family. But it provides significant health benefits and with careful selections it tastes good, too.

Insomnia affects roughly 10% of the population. Those who suffer from this sleep disorder constitute a wide variety of personalities and family histories. The inconsistent pattern among these patients makes the condition difficult to classify, which in turn makes it difficult to understand. Now, new research has identified five insomnia subtypes based on non-sleep characteristics.

Epic patent gaming, and pay-for-delay agreements to slow-walk introduction of cheaper generics to market, helped bring us to this point. But will a growing behemoth of 750 hospitals actually lower drug prices?

In the mid-19th century, traveling medicine shows became all the rage. They were basically like small circuses that also peddled phony medicine. Today, we may laugh at how gullible we once were. But charlatans like Dr. Oz are the modern-day equivalent of that traveling con job.

Our ability to forget provides a survival advantage – while assuaging suffering in the process.