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Are those of us who want, expect, or even request opioid medications doing something wrong? Should we see each medical encounter for pain as an opportunity to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis? An academic who wrestles with the ethics of pain management explores this important issue.

Ensa Cosby died from renal disease, a condition that afflicts a disproportionate number of African Americans.

Just when you think you've heard it all, a new one comes down the road. Here's an in-depth analysis of an unprecedented Twitter discussion. 

Uber's payment system is gender-blind, what accounts for a 7% difference in pay to men over women? It is not social injustice. 

Anti-sugar activists have gone so far as to require warning labels about the health risks conferred by sugar-sweetened beverages — in San Francisco. Fortunately, the District Court of Appeals has struck down that ruling because the label wasn't based on validated scientific findings. Whew!

He oversleeps, can't find his jacket and still wins gold at the Olympics. The tale of 17-year-old Red Gerard's victory has lessons for us all.

You best get your drink on this week, while beer and wine consumption is good for you!
Over the years, there have mixed results on alcohol consumption and benefits to the body. This week, having two glasses of beer or wine could cut one's risk of premature mortality by 18 percent. At least that's the conclusion from one study which studied the habits of people who live past their 90s, since 2003. 

Although we're used to hearing about studies in which people are given candidate drugs – which may or may not be safe or effective – this purposeful infection of healthy people with parasites seems to be a different type of experimental paradigm. Is this really ethical, or does it contradict the principle of "do no harm"?

In service of their ideological agenda, the "abstinence-only" nicotine religion is perfectly happy to withhold potentially life-saving e-cigarettes from smokers. If a few million smokers have to die along the way, those are casualties they're willing to accept in pursuit of their nicotine-free utopia.

Hollywood tends to depict all seizures with great drama as generalized convulsions. In the real world of an intensive care unit, they can go unnoticed without overt signs. And if the seizures are protracted, they can cause damage. New technology marries music and the mind, to prompt early detection by the untrained.

Essential oils have been in the news because they allegedly "disrupt" your hormones. They may or may not, but it's a pretty good bet that you don't know what an essential oil is. Here's a mini-lesson.

Just how easy is it to get sick on a plane? Researchers from Emory University decided to find out, and to identify the factors that determined whether passengers exited the plane with or without an infection. Their findings are surprising, with one big influencer being the seat you were assigned.

The coverage of the Uber-caused fatality in Arizona continues to mislead us about our autonomous future. And since aircraft's history of automation can tell us about the likely path forward, why aren't we listening?

Here is – formatted as scientism, rather than science – what the popular press says about Easter Candy. 

A new study in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology suggests increased use and overdosing of the pain reliever and fever-reducing medication during this period. But what explains it?

Screening tests for colorectal cancer are generally underutilized, and thus chances to decrease deaths from the disease are missed. New research demonstrates that an app, which patients can use on an iPad, increases the use of these screening tests.

Yes, it's in its fourth year. But this journal is transforming peer-review of scientific literature. With a double-blind review process, transparency and editorial consensus, eNeuro is an up-and-coming, open-access publication.

Since snakes can't chew, in order to eat they swallow their food whole. This means finding prey small enough that they can stretch their open mouths around. But one evolved snake, to the surprise of a veteran biologist and reptile expert, rips its prey apart to consume it in bites. 

It's no secret that carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), a nightmare infection, is spreading. There are now about 200 cases identified in the United States. But most people don't know how scientists determine whether a bug is resistant to a given antibiotic or not. It's really pretty simple, so here's a quick primer. 

Oklahoma, which badly botched a number a number of executions by using experimental methods that were scientifically flawed, has decided to use nitrogen asphyxiation instead. A look at the chemistry and physiology of a more-humane method of capital punishment. 

In a recent episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, sisters Kim and Kourtney take some tests to figure out which one of them is healthier: Kourtney, who is strictly gluten-free, or Kim, who eats everything in moderation. 

The triclosan commonly found in toothpaste may be able to do a whole lot more than we knew. New research shows that it targets a key enzyme in malaria. And that find could lead to new drugs to combat a disease that kills 500,000 people each year. 

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The discovery that wounds in the fetus can heal without scarring has prompted scientists to work on designing new biomaterials. A multi-institutional research group of engineers, chemists and biologists have now found a way to create a material similar to fibrillar fibronectin. And when tested, it's highly effective in wound healing. 

The use of sophisticated econometric techniques does not demonstrate that the introduction of formula to low- and middle-income countries resulted in a higher infant mortality. At best, it demonstrates that how the formula was reconstituted had an effect. And at worst, it is advocacy disguised by mathematical technique.