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One of the issues in medical data, brought into sharp relief by the pandemic, is what is written on death certificates. For a while, the presumption of a COVID-19 infection without a positive culture was enough to get it listed as a cause of death –- possibly creating a bit of an over-count. But it is not just COVID-19 that is problematic.

Loneliness, if you follow the media, is a problem of old age. It worsens one by one, as you lose your companions. Yet at the same time, it seems to be a problem of adolescence, too, as youngsters tries to find their peeps. So loneliness can affect any age, and a new paper suggests the sources of loneliness change over time.

For everything, there is a time and place. Emergency Use Authorizations by the FDA were necessary for COVID-19's recent past; they are not necessary and will be harmful when applied to a COVID-19 vaccine.

There is no safe way to inject heroin. Narcan (naloxone) may not save your life. Your friends may not be able to, either.

A study early in the COVID-19 pandemic linked air pollution, especially smaller particles, to COVID-19's mortality. As it turns out, and as ACSH scientific advisor Dr. Fred Lipfert points out, the linkage is weak -- at best.

A fact-checking site called PolitiFact weighs in on the validity of the claim that opioid deaths decreased in 2018, thus supposedly marking the first time we are getting control of the "opioid epidemic." Let's fact-check the fact-checkers. Plus, Andrew Kolodny dines on his own words.

A European study found that 44% of "antibiotic-free" animal feed samples tested contained antibiotics.

On tap this time around: Is natural always best, or even better? ... Channeling Rod Serling on digital clutter ... "Slow down, you move too fast" ... How do penguins survive the winter? ... And, can food coloring help against COVID-19?

There are some striking differences between how Europeans and Americans are navigating the pandemic. The latter have a lot to learn from the former.

September marks the 175th anniversary of Scientific American, one of the magazines from a memorable era in journalism that included Life as well as Time – periodicals longer than 20 pages. In honor of SA's anniversary, the editors devoted an article to the words used in articles since the founding of the magazine back in 1845.

As I watch the current debacle of our children preparing to return to school, I more and more feel it is time to take a moment to talk about the errors we have made. My original thoughts turned to responsibility and accountability, words that have occupied my professional life as a surgeon, words molding my thinking just as they molded my character.

If you're someone who believes that the Food and Drug Administration is purely guided by science and that politics has never influenced its decisions, we likely live on different planets. As for some background, here's some recommended reading to go with our overall perspective on this issue.

My PSA was 22 – but my biopsy only showed inflammation. I was needlessly upset, and it seems like I underwent an unnecessary procedure. There has to be a better way!

For every additional microgram per liter of lithium in the water supply, the suicide rate dropped by 0.27 per 100,000 people per year.

Navalny, a Russian anti-corruption activist and well-known critic of President Vladimir Putin, is being treated in Germany for an apparent case of poisoning by an "organophosphorus neurotoxin." But which one: the insecticide or the chemical weapon? Here are some clues.

Another clinical trial of remdesivir – this time with hospitalized patients having moderate COVID-19 – yielded disappointing and strange results. The first randomized trial showed a modest benefit in patients with severe COVID, so theoretically the drug should have worked better in patients who weren't as sick. But, it didn't.

There are any number of papers supporting the idea that higher levels of air pollution are inversely correlated with poorer health outcomes. These studies all suffer from the fellow travelers of air pollution, traffic density, poverty, and lesser education which confound a clear linkage between air pollution and health. A new study offers a possibility.

The most recent workshop of the Beyond Science and Decisions series was conducted at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Cincinnati, Ohio, in February of this year.

If artificial intelligence can replace some highly specialized medical doctors, is any job safe? It appears the biomedical profession is ripe for an overhaul.

Obesity remains a significant health problem, especially when it increases one's susceptibility to COVID-19. While better eating habits and exercise have long been the mainstays of weight reduction, in the last 10-to-15 years surgical rearrangements of the gastrointestinal tract have come to the fore. Not only do they reduce weight, but they've improved hypertension and diabetes mellitus. A new study compares surgical and medical management for diabetes.

Here's this week's menu of ideas: We are all stressed at times, especially now. Can mitochondria hold a key? ... How exactly did police wind up issuing traffic citations in the first place? ... What could bring foodies and "factory farmers of meat" together in alliance? ... And, lastly, a consideration of the "hard problem."

GHB, one of the "date-rape drugs," is being increasingly abused after two decades of low usage. Here's a lesson on the chemistry, biochemistry, and nomenclature of the drug. Admittedly, this sounds deadly boring. But there's more. Juvenile puke humor! Enjoy.

There are crazier ideas than harsh, indefinite lockdowns to fight the coronavirus. One was proposed by a bioethics professor: Put mind-controlling hormones in the water supply to make people more cooperative.

Health literacy, or understanding the medical narrative, is a problem for a majority of Americans. When compounded with numeric literacy, understanding numbers, ratios and rates -- the daily litany that has accompanied COVID-19 news conferences -- it's estimated that 8 out of 10 Americans just don’t get it. 

In addition to the multiple rhythms that underlie our individual lives, when we come together we tend to "synch" with one another. Whether it be as simple as adjusting the pace of our walking; the give-and-take of our conversation; or as seemingly sophisticated as the murmuration of starlings, it is a biologic phenomenon. How do we entrain, tie together, our independent rhythms?