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Fred Singer was an impressive scientist with a great list of achievements. He will be missed.

How profound. This concept, from the preeminent Harvard scientist and noted optimist, is worth examining in the context of biotechnology.

The group Americans for Responsible Technology declares 5G to be unsafe. This fringe anti-technology movement is gaining momentum, thanks to activists, their accomplices in the media, and Russian propaganda outlets like RT.

A recent report stated that placebo treatments for pain can be effective even when patients know that it’s a placebo. On closer examination, however, this became somewhat less newsworthy. It has all the classic hallmarks of a fluke result that's partly the result of the statistics used, and partly over-interpretation of fairly modest results.

We've previously questioned some of the studies that have been accepted for publication in the journal Pediatrics, and now Dr. Sara B. DeMauro of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has done the same in her study which appears in that very journal.

How can we move scientific research in directions that are felt to be "socially optimal"? While there is no stick to get science redirected, government funding can supply the carrot. How big a carrot is needed? That depends. Let's take a look.

Government conspiracies and industry cover-ups make gripping plots for books and movies, never mind arresting media headlines. That may be what motivated journalist David Kirby to write Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy (St. Martin's Press, 2005). Undoubtedly, the story will sell many copies. I heard there is even a movie deal in the works. But I fear it will cause parents to balk at vaccinating their children against a host of preventable diseases for fear of autism.

The desire for eternal youth, and relief from the aches and pains of age, remains far more potent than the efficacy of stem cells in regenerating our youth and vigor. Into that breach, we find the modern-day purveyors of hope in a syringe. A new study looks at their suspect marketing. We should, too.

A legal document in California suggests the American Council is why $1 billion in environmental fundraising is failing to convince Americans their food is unsafe. Our president is too modest to agree – but it's a terrific compliment.

1. Dr. Gary Null, one of the Four Horsemen of the Alternative (along with Oz, Chopra and Weil), is now most famous for hosting a conspiracy theory radio program and producing straight-to-video movies funded by organic food groups.
Environmental Working Group has never produced a science study but they have overturned 500,000 biologists, according to Null, while the US EPA, which just cleared glyphosate of weird claims made by an IARC Working Group that was hijacked by an Environmental Defense Fund consultant, is secretly suppressing damaging data about Monsanto. 

Lost in the noise of all the medical stories is the issue of bacterial resistance. Although it's not a sexy topic, it's almost certainly more important than anything in the news, as PBS showed by broadcasting its sobering series "Stopping Superbugs."

New York Times journalist Eric Lipton, who defended the indefensible by offering support to a group of virulent anti-vaxxers and scam artists known as Moms Across America, is a scourge on public health. The national newspaper recently demoted Jonathan Weisman, a deputy editor based in Washington, DC, for displaying poor judgment. Lipton should face the same fate.

Surely, somebody can stop the most egregious offenders from spreading health misinformation that hurts or kills people, right? Actually, no, not in a free society. The only solution to fake news is better news.

Íris Erlingsdóttir, a journalist and chronic pain patient, has experienced first-hand the war against pain patients, which has been dressed up as a war against opioid addiction. She points out some of the problems with flawed opioid strategies.

Sodas have been taking a big hit in the war on obesity lately. Perhaps, then, it s not too surprising that average soda consumption by Americans is on a slow downward trend: As of last year, the average American drank slightly less than two sodas per day a 16 percent decrease from the peak of soda consumption in 1998.

The authors had a clear strategy in mind: (1) Do a study on a common household object; (2) Produce boring data that doesn't surprise any microbiologist; (3) Write a provocative, fear-mongering headline; (4) Market it to a gullible, clickbait-hungry press, exhibiting no critical thinking; and (5) Watch the grant dollars roll in.

There's been a lot of controversy over Janet Jackson revealing her breast at the Superbowl, which must make Madonna and Britney envious (though Madonna is cleaning up her act in some ways: she has reportedly quit smoking and is trying to get Britney to do likewise). The real booby prize for Celebrity with a Bad Idea should go not to poor Miss Jackson, though, but to...actress Pamela Anderson.

Scientific American's descent from respected publication to ideological tabloid is nearly complete. The magazine is now promoting anti-GMO activism under the guise of "social justice."

I take you behind-the-scenes as a judge for the Miss America's Outstanding Teen scholarship competition. 

A recent study suggests that vaping is much less harmful than smoking. The authors and the journal that published the paper tried to minimize this result. Do they have an anti-vaping bias?

Heroes aren't always cops, soldiers or scientists. Sometimes they are the wives of scientists. Here's one worth remembering.

While Gary Hirshberg is a marketing genius, in a #MeToo world even those on his side of the political spectrum have been calling Stonyfield out for sexism. The vitriol stems from its newest anti-science commercial, one that features little girls – and the message that girls can't understand science.

Dengue and chikungunya are both viruses spread by a species of mosquito known as Aedes aegypti. Dengue sickens 50 million people worldwide and chikungunya infected

One religious group forecast an apocalypse a few weeks ago. They used the Bible as its source. More recently, a newer religion warned of their apocalypse. But those followers cited Science magazine.