Viewpoint: Embryos are becoming the newest battleground of love, loss, and legal uncertainty

Viewpoint: Embryos are becoming the newest battleground of love, loss, and legal uncertainty

Who owns a future-person? As IVF outpaces the law, embryos are becoming the newest battleground of love, loss, and legal ...
AAP v. Kennedy: While a court challenge grinds on, RFK Jr. quietly advances his anti-vaccine conspiracy agenda

AAP v. Kennedy: While a court challenge grinds on, RFK Jr. quietly advances his anti-vaccine conspiracy agenda

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) v Kennedy litigation is now running on two parallel tracks. Legal actions are under way both ...
Viewpoint: ‘Industrial food’ primer—Challenging the dangerous delusions of the alternative food movement

Viewpoint: ‘Industrial food’ primer—Challenging the dangerous delusions of the alternative food movement

Eat real food. It’s the closest thing American alternative food politics has to a creed, and for the better part ...
Viewpoint: While unvaccinated children are dying overseas, Congress challenges Trump and Kennedy’s block on aid

Viewpoint: While unvaccinated children are dying overseas, Congress challenges Trump and Kennedy’s block on aid

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is calling on the Trump administration to restore US funding for Gavi, the Vaccine ...
Turmeric supplements: More risks than benefits

Turmeric supplements: More risks than benefits

Turmeric supplements have become a booming “natural” health product, promoted for everything from inflammation and joint pain to general disease ...
Viewpoint—‘The gleeful efficiency of an arsonist’: Administration’s health and science research cuts are ‘sabotaging’ America’s future

Viewpoint—‘The gleeful efficiency of an arsonist’: Administration’s health and science research cuts are ‘sabotaging’ America’s future

There is a word for what the federal government has done to American science during the past year and a ...
Is the World Cup a perfect storm for the spread of infectious diseases?

Is the World Cup a perfect storm for the spread of infectious diseases?

When the 2026 FIFA World Cup begins on June 11, 2026, matches will be played across 16 cities in the United States, ...
Viewpoint: “Turn on, tune in, drop out”—Kennedy embraces the Timothy Leary psychedelic revolution

Viewpoint: “Turn on, tune in, drop out”—Kennedy embraces the Timothy Leary psychedelic revolution

U.S. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. is sticking his fingers into many pies. One of these contains psychedelics that are ...
Viewpoint: Vaccine deniers are attacking a life-saving Vitamin K shot for newborns that isn’t even a vaccine

Viewpoint: Vaccine deniers are attacking a life-saving Vitamin K shot for newborns that isn’t even a vaccine

Newborns routinely receive the Vitamin K shot immediately after birth to prevent vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB), a rare but ...
Viewpoint: Scientists have scrapped the worst-case climate scenario. Is that proof that climate change is a hoax, as Trump claims?

Viewpoint: Scientists have scrapped the worst-case climate scenario. Is that proof that climate change is a hoax, as Trump claims?

When major new climate change scenarios are released, there’s always strong interest. These scenarios lay out what our future climate ...
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Facts & Fallacies Podcast: Right-wing politics bad for your health? Separating speculation from science

Politics has infiltrated every facet of modern life, including medicine. And some Americans seem increasingly inclined to make important health ...
Viewpoint: How Earthjustice became the poster child for the abuse of special interest activist funding

Viewpoint: How Earthjustice became the poster child for the abuse of special interest activist funding

A recent US Department of the Treasury announcement that organizations claiming tax exempt status (NGOs, foundations, universities and some media groups) will ...
Viewpoint: Vaccines' non-specific effects? The ‘shoddy’ Danish couple whose 'research’ inspires RFK, Jr.’s health delusion

Viewpoint: Vaccines’ non-specific effects? The ‘shoddy’ Danish couple whose ‘research’ inspires RFK, Jr.’s health delusion

In 1996, Guinea-Bissau seemed like an ideal research post for budding pediatrician Lone Graff Stensballe. Her supervisor, a fellow Dane ...
Some plants can poison you. So how did humans figure out what is safe to eat?

Some plants can poison you. So how did humans figure out what is safe to eat?

Have you ever eaten a green potato, or a bunch of rhubarb leaves? Hopefully not, because these two plant parts ...
Viewpoint: Who and what’s to blame for the surge in vaccine-preventable diseases?

Viewpoint: Who and what’s to blame for the surge in vaccine-preventable diseases?

What causes an epidemic to spread? Don’t underestimate the power of rhetoric and oratory by politicians. About 1,500 measles cases ...
Viewpoint: Double standard—Why does the wellness industry get a free pass while Big Healthcare is treated as morally suspect?

Viewpoint: Double standard—Why does the wellness industry get a free pass while Big Healthcare is treated as morally suspect?

Despite public opinion, the wellness industry is profoundly and almost absurdly commercial. It sells, among its products and services, supplements, ...
Limiting gender affirming interventions: Trump administration targets Texas even though it already bans youth access

Limiting gender affirming interventions: Trump administration targets Texas even though it already bans youth access

Since early 2025, the Trump Administration has sought to limit youth access to gender-affirming care, taking a comprehensive approach to ...
Viewpoint: Greenpeace and poison: How environmental advocacy groups rely on compliant (and often ignorant) journalists to spread disinformation and spark litigation

Viewpoint: Greenpeace and poison: How environmental advocacy groups rely on compliant (and often ignorant) journalists to spread disinformation and spark litigation

Here we go again. Greenpeace released a report recently entitled Our Poisoned Land claiming 102 individual pesticides have been used across seven ...
Viewpoint: Can mRNA research survive the Trump administration?

Viewpoint: Can mRNA research survive the Trump administration?

In December 2020, mRNA vaccines leapt into the limelight as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, millions of ...
Sounds we can’t hear — the hidden planetary signals behind science, fear, and misinformation

Sounds we can’t hear — the hidden planetary signals behind science, fear, and misinformation

Most of us think of sound as something we can hear: music, speech, barking dogs, thunder, or the roar of ...
Viewpoint: There are more than 1,000 chemicals in a cup of coffee—including many substances that can cause cancer. Why isn’t it banned?

Viewpoint: There are more than 1,000 chemicals in a cup of coffee—including many substances that can cause cancer. Why isn’t it banned?

We live in a complex chemical landscape in which risks are notoriously difficult to evaluate. It can be pretty hairy ...
Can ‘Social Stress Indicators’ help contain social media misfluencers?

Can ‘Social Stress Indicators’ help contain social media misfluencers?

Misleading information online is often treated as a technical glitch, something that better algorithms or stricter moderation can fix. But research points ...
‘It’s not super useful’: As wariness about AI grows, Trump proposes rollback of healthcare safeguards

‘It’s not super useful’: As wariness about AI grows, Trump proposes rollback of healthcare safeguards

Paul Boyer, a psychotherapist for Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, is experiencing the AI revolution firsthand. He’s a little underwhelmed ...
Viewpoint: Why the EPA mismeasures cancer risk of chemicals and what should be done to fix it

Viewpoint: Why the EPA mismeasures cancer risk of chemicals and what should be done to fix it

Every administration says it prioritizes getting the science right, and our current Administration has emphasized using “gold-standard science” as the ...
Facts & Fallacies Podcast: Nicotine vaping—public health miracle, or risk to children? Professor Cliff Douglas

Facts & Fallacies Podcast: Nicotine vaping—public health miracle, or risk to children? Professor Cliff Douglas

E-cigarettes burst onto the scene nearly 20 years, disrupting the cigarette industry and leaving anti-smoking advocates uncertain about how to ...
Gutting the National Science Board: How the Trump-RFK, Jr. crusade is erasing the separation of science and state

Gutting the National Science Board: How the Trump-RFK, Jr. crusade is erasing the separation of science and state

“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump,” read 22 emails sent from the White House Presidential Personnel Office on Friday afternoon, April ...
‘Turbo cancer’ or mRNA cancer cure? Strategies to counter misinformation

‘Turbo cancer’ or mRNA cancer cure? Strategies to counter misinformation

Scientists are making rapid progress toward a long-awaited goal that could help to reshape cancer care: mRNA cancer vaccines with the potential ...
The Orange Bowl without oranges: Can CRISPR save Florida citrus?

The Orange Bowl without oranges: Can CRISPR save Florida citrus?

The famous Orange Bowl may still host an annual New Year’s Day football game after 91 years in celebration of ...