Science Controversies
‘They’ve already decided what they want studies to say’: Questioning Trump’s plan to study whether people distressed about their sex are prone to violence
The Department of Justice’s research arm wants to know whether people with gender dysphoria are prone to violence — and ...
What is a “normal” climate? Strategy for adapting to the unknown
Climate change is worsening. There’s now no chance of holding temperature rise to 1.5°C. The future will bring worsening floods, ...
Healthier, stronger, better sniffers? Warhound’s genetically-engineered solution to the war dog shortage
The company trying to bring back the woolly mammoth has turned its attention to a more practical animal: the military ...
Many hospitals embrace longevity medicine. Are they separating science from hype?
Longevity medicine, long the turf of boutique clinics selling pricey and often unproven screenings, is getting an academic makeover. As ...
Viewpoint: Drones, dollars and baby food: Critical innovations that anti-plastic ideologues willfully ignore
If people isolated themselves in an imaginary world dominated by Big Change …- where foundations fund scientists to publish dubious ...
Viewpoint: That’ll be $300: The wellness industry’s junk science scam to ‘fix’ your immune system that isn’t broken
One of the most frustrating features of the wellness industry, at least for me as an immunologist, is how readily ...
Viewpoint: Activists hype ‘dangerous level’ of pesticide residues in Driscoll berries: Separating health concerns from fear-mongering
I had several people ask me if I have second thoughts about my berry consumption in light of a swarm ...
Drugs and supplements can extend life and five other longevity myths
Six popular claims about living longer don’t hold up, according to the scientists who study aging, as The New York ...
World Health Organization calls Kennedy- and CDC-backed Guinea-Bissau hepatitis B vaccine study designed to ‘prove’ the danger of vaccines “unethical”
A controversial hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau that would withhold the birth dose from 7,000 newborns got back on ...
Chaos or at peace with the world: The complex ways psychedelics transform the brain
Psychedelics don’t simply scramble the brain. Beneath the apparent chaos, psilocybin seems to organize brain activity around a person’s surroundings, ...
100% raw milk, 100% misguided: As MAHA-fueled demand for unpasteurized milk soars, American Academy of Pediatrics renews call for a ban on its sale and distribution
This story was originally published by ProPublica. The nation’s largest professional group of pediatricians has renewed its call for a ...
Challenging creation of a ‘vaccine injury clinic,’ NIH research scientists rebuke Kennedy for politicizing and undermining science
The board that oversees the National Institutes of Health’s research hospital has publicly rebuked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ...
Testosterone’s growing appeal to women: It anecdotally mildly improves sex life, but are there any other potential benefits—or red flags?
A recent BBC report described women posing as men to get hold of testosterone gel, hoping to improve their menopause ...
Viewpoint: Selective pronatalism: The radical “ethical” case challenging parents’ right to end a pregnancy when a fetus has a severe genetic disorder
Even if polygenic embryo screening worked exactly as advertised, it could still do real social damage. That’s the argument from ...
PFAS in Agriculture: Science, Uncertainty, and Risk Communication
Summary PFAS contamination raises legitimate health and environmental concerns, but this diverse family of thousands of chemicals should not be ...
Viewpoint: RFK Jr.’s stacked FDA advisory council endorses multicancer screening test from ethically- questionable company that would increase false positives and waste billions of dollars
Grail’s Galleri multicancer blood test flunked its own big trial, and an FDA advisory panel recommended approving it anyway. That’s ...
Viewpoint: Are these Trump-conservative GOP doctor-politicians violating their medical oath?
Physicians pledge to “do no harm,” but a cluster of Republican doctors in Washington are championing policies that strip health ...
Viewpoint: The shocking consequences after a year of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s distortions, deceptions, and flat-out falsehoods
If you think having accurate information about your health matters, then the U.S. has a problem. I know, because I've ...
Retreat from identity labels: Does the sharply declining number of young teens identifying as gay and bisexual reflect an ideological shift?
The share of young teenagers identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual has dropped sharply in just four years — and ...
Viewpoint: Wellness patches: Most vitamin supplements are useless and sometimes even dangerous, but this craze is even worse
Promoted as high-tech nutrient delivery, over-the-counter vitamin patches are rapidly gaining popularity among consumers looking to bypass daily capsules. However, ...
Facts & Fallacies podcast: America’s health care system is broken. A doctor explains how to fix it, Part 2
America’s health care apparatus is caught in a downward spiral of bureaucratic bloat, runaway expenses and eroding patient care. On ...
Viewpoint: Hijacking Jesus: How anti-vaccine fanatics are exploiting religious exemptions and killing children
Between 1990 and 1991, Philadelphia suffered a large measles epidemic. About 1,400 children were infected, hundreds were hospitalized, and 9 ...
Viewpoint: RFK Jr.’s new CDC head Erica Schwartz greenlights hepatitis B vaccine study critics call “unethical and designed to cast doubts on its safety”
The CDC is reopening its wallet for a hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau shelved earlier this year amid an ...
Countries around the world are rushing to pass teenage social media bans. Could they backfire?
Governments are racing to keep kids off social media, but whether those bans will actually improve teen mental health is ...
Scaremongering or legitimate safety concerns? The political dogfight over America’s food safety system
The run-up to the midterm elections is turning into a food fight — literally. The summer was marred by a ...
Trump wants an AI Force like Space Force, but that could make AI’s risks harder to manage
Artificial intelligence dominated the opening of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22, 2026. Ahead of the ...
Hooked on kratom: The unregulated, natural, alcohol-free “social tonic” that is destroying lives
Feel Free, a tiny blue bottle of kratom-laced “social tonic” sold at more than 30,000 U.S. stores, is leaving a ...
