The fight for polio eradication has been making a lot of progress recently but there is unfortunate news this week from the Ukraine: 2 new cases have popped up in the country.
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Hospital-acquired infections in the U.S. have been known to affect more than 700,000 patients in a single year. A new report says some hospitals are combatting this problem by lining surfaces with copper, a practice that has ancient roots. Bacteria resistance, yet, is suspected to be an undermining factor.
There's a widespread misconception that sex is a risk factor for heart attack. However, a new study finds that this is just another one of those pesky health myths that needs another round of debunking.
Peter Shumlin, the Governor of Vermont, has a lot to say about narcotic abuse and addiction in his state. So much, in fact, that he is apparently willing to use half the story to make his point. Throw in a bit of irrelevant and incorrect information, and he makes his point rather convincingly. Or does he?
Are women driven by anti-science beliefs for how they choose their breast cancer treatment? No. But the Memorial Sloan Kettering and the Wall Street Journal seem to think so. They are basing this on a deeply flawed study by the hospital's media staff.
Coke does not think that doling out 1/1,000,000th of their annual revenue is causing any group to go from hating soda to promoting it. Yet simplistic conspiracy theorists often insist it must be so.
There has long been concern that dietary guidelines are increasingly political. A new analysis contends that the U.S. Congress was right to schedule a hearing with Obama administration officials to ask why only some scientific literature was included in the recent guidance.
The Salk Institute released a study in the journal Cell Metabolism which highlights the erratic behavior of human eating patterns. Researchers did this using a photo app that could have wider implications for diet, weight loss and public health.
There's new research supporting the notion that breaking up periods of inactivity with any kind of movement can lead to a longer life. We already know that it's best to avoid sitting for long periods of time, but now it appears that even fidgeting can produce positive health results.
It's a little too soon to celebrate, but scientists in the U.K. may have come up with a new method -- a simple blood test -- that could radically revolutionize the early detection of cancer.
A new study suggests that many people who drink diet soda to lose weight might sabotage these efforts by consuming more calories from other sources.
It's rare to see an alternative medicine proponent leave and join the science community but it happens. Britt Hermes, a homeopath and alternative medicine proponent, did just that. She even has a blog where she discuss the horrors of her former industry.
In the past five years, alcohol poisoning of children has skyrocketed by 400 percent. Most of this is from kids, believe it or not, drinking hand sanitizer. Fortunately, this is a solvable problem -- and it's not even that hard. Send in the chemists.
It's known that certain viruses cause cancer. Time to add another to the list? A preliminary study implicates a viral infection in the formation of breast cancer. Yes, it's very early in the process, but the results are intriguing and worthy of our attention.
During Wednesday night's GOP debate, one issue that particularly caught the Council's attention involved vaccinations and autism. What a great topic for us to evaluate -- just on the science itself -- while remaining apolitical. We gave out grades to the candidates who weighed in. It wasn't pretty.
One company CEO's decision to exploit his monopoly of an important drug to increase its price by a factor of 55-fold is despicable indeed. However, it should not be used as a rationale by politicians to mandate government price controls on all Rxs.
A new study finds that our microbiome may extend beyond our gut and skin -- to the air immediately around us. The researchers, working at the University of Oregon, say that the constituents of these microbiome clouds may even be unique to the individual.
"Harm reduction" is a health-promoting policy, in which self-destructive behaviors are abetted but through measures to reduce abusers harms to their health. Yet our public health establishment stands fiercely opposed to reduced harm products for smokers. Why is that?
It's too rare that we find a government official actually standing up for science, so we felt that we must point to a recent example. Kudos to Senator Durbin of Illinois for his science-friendly stance on GMO labeling.
Testicular cancer has always been a bit of an outlier. A new study reinforces this concept, as it finds that almost half of all cases are caused by inheriting faulty genes. In comparison to other cancer types, this figure is very high.
Surely one of the most hotly contested foods in the world is golden rice. Unfortunately, a study that supports its use, to prevent blindness and death from vitamin-A deficiency, has been retracted due to an ethical breach by its researchers. It should be noted the science itself was not questioned.
A round-up of important stories from the American Council on Science and Health.
An organic farmer in Australia actually sued a neighbor last year -- and won -- claiming some of the neighbor's GM canola blew onto his field and caused some of his crop to lose its organic certification. But the Australian Court of Appeals has now reversed that ruling, which makes complete sense.
Last year's flu vaccine provided a mere 23 percent coverage which is about as bad as it gets. But now the CDC predicts that number will be significantly higher for the 2015-16 flu season. This development is similar to when the Mets trudged out for just their second season in existence in 1963; things can only get better.
A new study suggests that incorporating additional extra virgin olive oil into the Mediterranean diet seems to reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.
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