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While there is much back and forth around how aerosols may impact the "correct" social distance, this has been a great concern to anesthesiologists, nurses, and technicians who have to place breathing tubes into patients (intubation) requiring mechanical ventilators. After all, they are only a few inches away from those respiratory aerosols, and they have no other way to be more socially or professionally distant. A new study should bring them, and us, some ease of mind. 

It’s flu season in the US, but seasonal flu’s cousin, COVID-19, and its variants are getting all the press. It might be worth considering whether all those precautions we are taking concerning COVID-19 are spilling over into other health issues.

An Australian group has examined how long coronavirus can exist on different surfaces and at different temperatures. What does this really mean?

Even innovative-sounding equipment cannot stop concussions in contact sports. Unfortunately, we may not know if long-term brain damage can actually be limited by new technologies until it is too late.

There was never much evidence in favor of using hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a treatment for COVID. Now, a trial involving over 4,700 patients definitively proves that HCQ does not work.

Is this the worst product ever, or what? A male "chastity belt" made of hardened steel. It's controlled by Bluetooth (only). No latch. No lock. There is no other way to get it off, except one, which is beyond ghoulish. Worse still, it can be hacked. All you never wanted to know about "The Cellmate."

For your review: COVID-19's second wave ... a history lesson about Presidential illness (spoiler alert: it's not Garfield, Wilson, or FDR) ... the unintended consequences of defending Darwin ... and different thinking about parenting.

The proposal in the Declaration is certainly worth considering. If I was a policymaker, I would investigate how to implement it. As COVID cases spike in Europe, which once had the coronavirus under control, it's becoming clear that our current on-again, off-again approach to containment isn't working as intended. It may be time to try something new. 

The anti-chemical Environmental Defense Fund claims that there are 10,000 chemicals in food that should be tested and regulated. It's a silly idea. Here's why.

Social science describes several views of the hierarchy of our societies. There's the near-Darwinian dog-eat-dog concept of dominance. Then there are the more leadership-driven ones, where individuals respect and defer to those in charge. Leadership hierarchies can evolve from election, regulation or prestige – where influence flows from the leader's eminence. The truth is that social hierarchies are a bit of all these abstractions. 

There have been several significant developments in recent days regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the hunt for a successful vaccine. We discuss some of them below.

I know nothing about the President's condition or treatment besides what we all read or hear in the media. But I do have 30 years of experience prescribing care for patients, and maybe some of that experience will be usefully shared.

Here’s a song about living in the time of COVID. Sing along. Laugh, Throw things. Whatever.

Face masks and social distancing are the primary tools currently available for limiting the spread of COVID-19. The mask serves two functions: protecting the wearer by limiting the inhalation of airborne particles [1] and protecting others by reducing transmission of virus particles exhaled by an infected individual. This second role has not always been recognized nor well quantified. [2] 

President Trump was administered an investigative drug as part of his treatment for COVID-19. It's Regeneron's Regn-COV2, a combination of monoclonal antibodies. Here's what we know about it.

Science in the U.S. is under assault by postmodernism, political partisanship, and trial lawyers. Without a change in the direction of our culture, American technological supremacy is facing an existential threat.

An article in the latest edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that when it comes to risk from the coronavirus, air travel is much safer than you might believe. It is safer than shopping in a supermarket, riding on a train, or going to work in an office. Why? It's all about the air quality in the cabin.

A group of researchers reports an association between low vitamin D levels and COVID-19 infection. Is this a true cause-and-effect relationship? Or are we seeing an excellent example of selection bias? Let's take a look.

Gene drive technology is powerful and slightly frightening. But the coronavirus pandemic reminds us that we want to have multiple weapons in the public health arsenal, should we be confronted with another life-threatening microbe.

The anti-chemical Silent Spring Institute has commissioned a ridiculous study, one that reaches a conclusion akin to pointing out that a circle is round. It's a bunch of nonsense. Here's why.

The globalization of regulation, our friend the fungus, communicating science, and the search for a less sugary sugar.

Operation Warp Speed is the name of the federal effort to quickly bring a COVID-19 vaccine to the public. Like all federal efforts, it carries both a price tag and an organizational chart.

Months ago, the government began Operation Warp Speed to quickly find and distribute a vaccine for COVID-19. As that day approaches, our concern has turned to which groups will be first to be protected. And more recently, a Pew study found that instead of a fight to reach the front of the line, only half of us would get the vaccine at all. Why would that be? Let's take a look.

Europe is "catching up" to the U.S. in terms of new COVID cases. Besides the "farewell party" that Czechia threw for the pandemic, what else went wrong?

Plastic bottles litter most of the world. There have been ongoing efforts to find methods to biodegrade PET, a very common plastic used for bottled water. British scientists have discovered an efficient way to get bacteria to "eat" PET plastic. Here's how it works.