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Could it be that where we go to medical school makes us better, or worse, physicians? Or rather, is the old joke true? "Q: What do you call the student graduating at the bottom of their medical school class? A: Doctor."

Clinical guidelines are increasingly influential but they're written by experts in the field. Are guidelines a faithful compilation of evidence, or instead, just biased, perhaps self-serving, self-regulation? Dr. John Ioannidis, one of medicine's important voices, weighs in.

The Trump Administration believes that TV ads for pharmaceutical drugs should display the list price. This helps toward lowering the cost of healthcare. However, officials might want to consider banning direct-to-consumer advertising altogether.

With continued refrains of "too many" or "too few" being applied to manners of birth, which often serve to shame or assign blame, the focus is on the wrong issue. A new study on delivery mode helps inform us on this topic.

Researchers in New Hampshire, citing a trend of warmer winters over the last decade, found that 70 percent of moose calves that were monitored between 2014-16 had died. For nearly all of them, the cause of death was attributed to the dramatic rise in winter ticks, which feast on the calves' blood.

Among the latest fads are specialty salts, which are sold as if they are magic potions – by those who are always selling magic potions. Sea salt is one of them. In reality, this product should be called "Throw Sea Salt and Money Over Your Shoulder."

Genetic manipulation can be a force for good, but some voices raise concerns. Not about the unintended consequences, but about their possible, darker uses, as weapons.

Regardless of what postmodernists say, there are real, objective, measurable biological differences between men and women. That's why sports are segregated by sex.

The results of a new study are encouraging for those who wish to continue driving, but have been ambivalent about having the procedure. Older drivers who underwent cataract surgery lowered their crash risk by 61 percent.

As if hospitals aren't bad enough, a really dangerous bug called Clostridium difficile is all over the place. And this bug, more commonly known as (C. diff), is not so easy to kill. Researchers looked at what happens when you wash contaminated sheets. The expression "it call comes out in the wash" does not apply.

When what's absent in a story carries equal or more weight than what is actually reported, the damage goes beyond ratings. It undermines public health.

Sen. Warren, who has taken flak for claiming Native American ancestry, just released the results of a genetic test that definitively proves ... well, nothing. The U.S. Senator from Massachusetts might be 1/32nd Native American. Or 1/1024th. Nobody really knows.

A recent analysis of health-related topics searched on Google Trends over the past year revealed that stress was the most-queried condition, topping the charts in 10 of the 50 states. 

On Tuesday in the European Union, the world's best-selling drug came off patent protection. Will it mean big savings for us? Probably not, especially in the U.S. where Humira is protected for another five years. What it will mean is money for lawyers, as AbbVie files patent infringement suits and reaches out-of-court settlements to protect a $20 billion market.

Sometimes taking a second drug can have a profound effect on one that's already being taken. That's because it can cause abnormally high or low blood levels of the first drug. This is known as a drug-drug interaction. Opioids are used as an example of how this works.

We already offer pre-natal maternal vitamins. Should we offer pre-natal paternal ones? A study looks at the transmission of "health" from father to sons, making use of data from the U.S. Civil War and providing interesting support for sperm's acquisition of epigenetic information. Who knew they were so busy?

The organic industry is built upon a gigantic lie. It's the notion that "natural" farming methods are safer and healthier while "unnatural" methods are dangerous. It should surprise no one, therefore, that such a deceptive industry would attract its fair share of hucksters.

For those who have trouble seeing, are gradually losing their eyesight or are already blind, this technological innovation can help dramatically improve lives daily. It can tell you what's right in front of you – by whispering in your ear – even when you cannot read or see it. Amazing.

The dietary supplement industry is still going strong. Between 2007 and 2016 there were 776 FDA recalls because whatever was supposed to be in the bottle was spiked with real drugs, legal and not. Almost all of the recalls were supplements for erectile dysfunction, weight loss and muscle building. People are being tricked into taking prescription drugs without their knowledge.

Does our technology improve in an evolutionary way? Is it a random walk of trial and error, with false starts and breakthroughs? Or can a theory accelerate improvement and eliminate the needless dead ends?

Academia is in meltdown. A new Gallup survey shows that only 48% of U.S. adults have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in academia. That's down from 57% in 2015. And it's not just due to partisanship. Maybe this wouldn't happen if academics were held accountable for their behavior.

The media reports of a polio-like condition mostly impacting children sound pretty scary. But let's give acute flaccid myelitis, also known as AFM, some well-needed context.

Ethanol is bad science and bad economics, and combined that makes it bad energy policy.

Information is like any other medical therapy. When it's within a therapeutic range, it can be curative. But at toxic levels, it can be destructive. Its quantity will never trump its quality.

A paper in the journal Science examines the implications of the genetic search that found a serial killer last April. A bit of genetics, a few basic demographics and you can identify that needle in the haystack. What can we do?