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With Wednesday marking this annual occasion, the new film is an important reminder of the profound suffering of those challenged by mental illness and the struggles shared by their loved ones. Optimizing mental health in life is worthwhile for everyone.

The famous vodka company cashes in on the anti-science movement, announcing that it was renouncing GMO corn in its famous "No. 21 vodka." What's wrong with GMO corn? Nothing. In fact, it's a net positive for the environment.

Your mouth is a repository of bacteria. And if you don't clean it out on a regular basis, that bacteria can enter the bloodstream. A host of health problems are associated with gum neglect, heart disease and high blood pressure among them.

Kentucky just reported its first flu-related death of the season. With last year’s overall hospitalization rates (among all ages) the highest recorded by the CDC surveillance system, it's time to make things less confusing.

The U.S. will soon have to change its clock again. It's a useless junk-science, government policy that has lasted 52 years too long. Here are the admittedly minor health effect risks. It's still annoying.

Scientists don't like to be definitive the way activists are, which is why science loses many culture wars. But we will state it plainly: Roundup cannot cause cancer. It only acts in plants.

While press attention gravitates towards sensationalist applications, the data science boom reflects a broad increase in demand for data literacy, as a baseline requirement for modern jobs.

The FDA just announced that it is no longer allowing seven chemicals to be used as artificial flavors in foods because of cancer concerns. Sounds reasonable, no? NO- it's not. The agency is allowing the same seven chemicals to be used as long as they are derived from natural sources, not synthetic - something that an Organic 101 student knows is a meaningless distinction because there is no difference. Let's give them an F in chemistry.

Just like the hapless victim in Three Card Monte, physicians will bear the brunt of financial risk in Medicare Advantage and other "risk sharing" plans. It is not that they shouldn't have skin in the game, it's just that all the skin should not be theirs.

Despite the chant that correlation is not causation, some researchers believe the design of scatter plots nudges us to the wrong conclusions. Can a change in their design lessen that risk?

A new device can use a non-invasive fingerprint to tell if someone is on drugs.

A new report on the plight of practicing physicians reflects a broken system. Nearly half of physicians plan to change careers, so maybe it's finally time to include them in the discussion on healthcare fixes.

What's it going to take for America to wake up? How many more people have to die before we realize that there's a humanitarian crisis happening on the sidewalks of our major cities? You can thank your local politicians for doing nothing to solve the problem, and in some cases, actively enabling it.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 48 million Americans get sick with a foodborne illness every year. How can this massive number be greatly reduced? By irradiating our food.

The chemophobia-for-profit crowd has a very good trick up their sleeve and they play it constantly because it works. Let's use this trick against them and show why a very scary chemical may not be scary at all.

If you are concerned that we aren't wasting enough time in court with stupid lawsuits fear not. There's another one in the works about the label of what is little more than fizzy water with a little flavoring. The case was written up by Popular Science, but to a chemist, Unpopular Science would be more accurate.

Tea tree oil is one of the most popular (and profitable) fads around right now. The Internet is bursting with health claims for just about every malady known to mankind. Could it be useful for treating herpes? Maybe. Here's a lesson in how antiviral drugs are discovered.

Without question, it was a fluke. A single-cell organism, only found in warm freshwater, entered a young man's nose and eventually ate at his brain tissue, leading to his death. While this is rare, is it smart – or simply alarmist – for others in similar situations to take preventative measures?

How lucky we are to be alive when, while enduring catastrophic events, the possibility of real-time help is literally at our fingertips.

The EPA is proposing increasing transparency in the science that informs our standards and regulations. Who would think anyone would object? The Huffington Post published an article that enhances fear through ad hominem attacks and veiled references to politically inspired anti-science. Shame on them.

There are naysayers who want to eliminate or otherwise "dethrone" the Nobel Prizes. Why? Sexism and racism, of course.

In the first federal study focusing on fast-food consumption, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 37 percent of American adults reported eating fast food within 24 hours of being asked. Nationwide, that translates to roughly 85 million adults visiting these establishments daily.

Sometimes we write in other places, sometimes our work is featured in other places, and sometimes other places use us for their conspiracy stories about science. Last week, we completed the trifecta!

The CDC has gathered six years of data on which bugs cause food poisoning. Norovirus infections lead the pack by a wide margin, but not for deaths and hospitalizations. Read about some other bad boys out there that you do not want to get. And if you act now, you'll enjoy a guest appearance by Game of Thrones characters!

When we talk about cost and price transparency, medical devices are rarely mentioned. It represents about 5% of our healthcare spending, or roughly $120 billion in 2017. That's less than the $500 billion we spend on pharmaceuticals. But then as the old saying goes, "a billion here, a billion there, after a while you are talking about real money."