Health & Medicine
Reality check: Why we can’t trust anything online — and no one knows how to fix it
A zero digital footprint used to signal authenticity. Now, it can signal the opposite. The absence of a trail no ...
Viewpoint: How do you sell evidence-based health and science in a world where facts don’t matter?
[B]efore whatever this period is, the idea that public resistance to science was essentially a knowledge problem — that more information “fixed” ...
Gurus of woo: 9 health influencer superstars
Some work full time as scientists and physicians .... Others have no relevant credentials to speak of, and frequently disseminate ...
Despite disease surges, poll shows Kennedy-driven disinformation has left most Americans skeptical of vaccines
Results from the March poll of 3,851 U.S. adults conducted by Public First show that a plurality of Americans question ...
Viewpoint: ‘Make America Healthy Again” appeals to fake nostalgia about non-existent golden age
“Make America healthy again” sounds like a great slogan. It is loaded with nostalgia and … haziness. What is that ...
Woo truce? The science and health establishment divided on how to deal with MAHA and RFK, Jr.
The Trump administration’s celebration of its new meat- and milk-centric dietary guidelines was held in an auditorium decorated with colorful ...
Ban the ads? Should government restrict prescription drug commercials?
Tamar Abrams had a lousy couple of years in 2022 and ’23. Both her parents died; a relationship ended; she ...
Fluoride lowers intelligence? First-ever widescale water supply study debunks Kennedy’s scare claim
Tests of intelligence and brain function showed the same results whether or not people drank fluoridated water growing up, a ...
Public health advocates turn to influencers to fight online misinformation
Scroll. “Five essential questions that you must ask your surgeon prior to any operation.” Click. “Yesterday, I posted a picture ...
With X and other platforms retreating from fact-checking, can AI fill the void?
Misinformation is increasingly spread with single clicks, bots, and artificial intelligence (AI) deepfakes. AI-generated images and videos share fake treatments, ...
RFK, Jr. was approved as HHS secretary only because doctor-senator Bill Cassidy cast the deciding vote. Anti-vaxxers are now gunning for him
The ambitious liver doctor would go just about anywhere in his home state to give people the hepatitis B vaccine ...
Viewpoint: CRISPR and mRNA — under attack by technology skeptics — poised to save millions of children with rare diseases
We call them rare diseases, but there is nothing rare about the suffering they cause. Some 25 million Americans, nearly ...
Swim club: Expensive male fertility supplements are all the rage
SwimClub, a new male fertility-supplement company, markets to both men and women. “You can’t out-ovulate bad sperm,” reads one ad ...
GLP podcast: Miracle drug? Tech bros inflate depression-fighting effects of psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT
The greater the media hype around psychedelics, the more skeptical you should be. A perfect example of why this skepticism ...
Viewpoint: Why over-eating processed foods is not the main driver of obesity
Typical binge foods share a common feature: They are composed mainly of fast-digesting carbohydrates that rapidly raise blood sugar ...
Viewpoint: Is Trump turning against RFK, Jr.’s vaccine rejectionism?
Every fall, I scramble to get my garden hoses into storage before the first deep freeze. Like clockwork, every spring, ...
Health misinformation is exploding online — and government and health groups shoulder some of the blame
In the new study, published in JAMA Network Open, researchers scrutinized advertising revenue from 11 news sites flagged for spreading health misinformation, including ...
Release of CDC study concluding Covid vaccines dramatically cut hospitalizations blocked by RFK. Jr.
The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has delayed publication of a CDC report [scheduled for ...
Bixonimania: The fake disease scam that AI swallowed whole
Bixonimania didn’t exist before 15 March 2024, when two blog posts about it appeared on the website Medium. Then, on ...
RFK, Jr. rewrites rules for CDC vaccine advisory panel to reinstate anti-vaccine activists, circumventing court ruling
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has approved changes to rules that govern an expert group ...
Here’s why some foods need to be ultra-processed—and how to make better food choices
If you’ve read nutrition headlines lately, you’ve probably seen “ultra-processed foods” thrown around with increasing urgency, most likely framed as ...
Shilajit Ayurvedic sex drive-boosting myth: Tar-like ooze extracted from Himalayan rocks doesn’t work
Shilajit is the latest supplement marketed online as a “natural testosterone booster”. Promoted by influencers, wellness brands and biohacking communities, ...
Viewpoint: ‘Exposing lies’’ or manufacturing them? RFK Jr.’s new podcast alarms health experts
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is launching a new podcast that he says will begin “a new era of radical ...
Will the MAHA movement save the GOP this fall — or help bury it? This man may be key
Tony Lyons knows how Republicans can win the midterm elections later this year. All they need to do, as he ...
Viewpoint — Influential sports scientists: ‘No evidence that organic food is healthier’
Dr. Mike Israetel, a sports scientist and professor with a PhD in kinesiology, recently appeared on The Rubin Report to ...
Red-light therapy: Breakthrough or junk science?
Experts warn that there is considerable hype about red-light therapy. But a growing body of legitimate science has been exploring ...
STOMP—Scientists skeptical of RFK, Jr.’s dubious crusade on microplastics
The Trump administration is going after microplastics in drinking water. A new plan to study and regulate plastic pollution was announced ...