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Of all the nasty things floating around out there just waiting around to kill us, viruses are the nastiest. You've all heard of smallpox, rabies, Spanish flu, polio, AIDS and Ebola. But emerging viral infections are seriously scary. 

Pain patients are experiencing a world of trouble. If their pain itself wasn’t enough, the CDC added to their agony by issuing a restriction on primary care physicians. As guest writer Richard Lawsen explains, the "guideline" focuses on prescription of opioid medications to adults with long-lasting non-cancer pain – using methodology that's deeply flawed. 

Kratom is an untested mixture of drugs that come from the Mitragyna tree in Southeast Asia. Dr. Josh Bloom has written some uncomplimentary things about it – but things have changed, which in a sense makes him wrong. But not for the reason you'd think, as he will explain here.

When it comes to cooking, olive oil takes the cake for nutrition, flavor, and healthy fats. So it makes sense that someone would find a reason to hate it; it's the anti-science way, after all! Internet rumors swirl about the low smoke point of olive oil and claims that reaching it is potentially toxic to your health. It isn't true, and here's why.
 
 

New titles like “clinician,” “advanced practitioner” or “provider” are masking a stark reality. People will be able to practice medicine without ever attending medical school, performing rigorous residencies or be comprehensively and extensively trained as physicians. It's a frightening – and very real – trend.

Ischemic strokes (those resulting from a block in an artery feeding the brain) are responsible for much morbidity and misery. Difficulty in speaking or walking are but two of the possible results in those who survive the occurrence. New research from Australia presents a possible means of reducing such effects based on peptides found in the venom of a deadly spider.

Imagine if your sex was determined not at birth, but by the amount of food available in the early stages of your life. And that if you consumed more you'd increase the chance of becoming female. While that's not possible for humans, this is the surprise finding about the early growth of a particular species of invasive fish.

Who knew that the sharks on TV's Shark Tank were scientifically critical thinkers? On a recent episode, a woman from the company ENERGYbits gets ripped to shreds after the faux-science behind her algae supplements is exposed. 

A growing number of parents choose to opt out of giving children their daily dose of milk, and switching to alternatives like almond milk or cashew milk. Perhaps they may think the alternatives offer a bit more calcium than real milk — but this is misleading: Real milk contains both calcium and vitamin D (added in the 1930s due to Rickets — a vitamin D deficiency among children), and the presence of vitamin D helps absorb the calcium. 

Public health is a field that's widely misunderstood, even by science journalists. That's because epidemiology is an inexact science, complicated by a large variability in the quality of the data it produces. Also, by its reliance on advanced statistical methods. 

ACSH's Dr. Jamie Wells attended the Congressional Luncheon hosted by the Center for Excellence in Education, in support of STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – education. Both Sen. Joe Lieberman and Sen. Ted Cruz had prominent roles in the Washington, DC gathering.

Most motorists, as they glide their cars carefully around the bloody remains, find highway carcasses repulsive. But a team of microbiologists and chemists from the University of Oklahoma hope that roadkill will prove to be a biomedical gold mine.

From telecommunications and transportation to healthcare and entertainment, cutting-edge technology serves society well. But not when it comes to food. Oh no. We don't want technology anywhere near that. Neanderthal know-how is perfectly fine, thanks. What's behind that bizarre thinking?

It may seem strange that many important, scientific questions are being answered using the roundworm, which is roughly the size of the next comma in this sentence. But it is, indeed, an incredibly powerful experimental system. 

Many groups blame sugar and sugar-sweetened beverages for the epidemic of obesity. Some have argued that a tax on them would lower consumption, and thus decrease the prevalence of obesity. But a recent Australian study showed that decreasing intake of these drinks was actually accompanied by an increase in obesity prevalence.

The U.S. Prevention Services Task Force released its 2017 draft recommendations for prostate cancer screening. Here we extensively address the new guidelines, clarify the role of the PSA test, and delve deeper into the topic with Dr. David Samadi, Chairman of Urology and Chief of Robotic Surgery at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital.

Another agenda-driven group is at it again, this time using our kids' school lunches for its own purposes. The vegetarian-centric Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is suing California schools. The group wants to have processed meats removed from students' lunches – a move that's less about health and more about pushing its agenda. 

Spring is here. And with it comes pollen and mold spores, and close on their heels, hay fever. There are several means to treat this immune system dysfunction that can provide relief from the oft life-disrupting symptoms.

A San Diego pharmacist, concerned for those shouldering the high cost of the drug injectors, is helping them by identifying the product's effective shelf life. And at at cost of roughly $600 per pair, knowing how long EpiPens will actually work can translate into real savings for families on a tight budget.

If you remember 1982, at that time AIDS was a death sentence – and a gruesome one at that. But a recent Lancet paper shows how far we've come. And the difference between what Randy Shilts describes in his book and today is nothing short of miraculous. 

Astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson recently appeared on Conan O'Brien's TV show. As usual, he was engaging, charismatic and amusing. But when Dr. Tyson discussed microbiology and philosophy that's when his stars fell out of alignment.

Visual impairment among preschool children is a problem that's had profound academic and social consequences. It could be easily corrected with screening that's both accurate and – for a change – not expensive. 

We all understand the impact of a gaping wound, or the wasted appearance of a body overrun by cancer. But often there are more silent and invisible conditions that not only invoke a physical furor, but emotional and psychological pain as well. Type 1 Diabetes is such a malady. Thankfully, major advances are ongoing.
 

A study suggests that supplemental choline in your diet is "clot enhancing," and therefore bad. Yet studies say we need choline because it prevents chronic diseases. So what's the best approach?

Today most babies are born healthy as a direct result of medical advances and infection control measures. Maternal and infant mortality rates have dramatically declined because of them, which is wonderful news. So given the unpredictable scope of childbirth for mother and baby, why add a risk factor?