Science Controversies
Trump’s America First health aid cuts: Retrenchment has already hit global malaria, HIV, TB, and polio programs
A reduction in U.S. foreign aid under the "America First" policy of President Donald Trump, who took office in 2025, ...
‘Science moves forward when people are willing to think differently’: Memories of DNA maverick Craig Venter
I was saddened to hear of Craig Venter’s passing at the age of 79 on April 30, 2026. Often portrayed ...
Paraben panic: How a flawed study, media hype, and chemophobia convinced the public of the danger of one of the safest classes of preservatives
Public opinion driven by fear has immense influence in our society, especially when it comes to science and health topics ...
‘Alarming’: Nicotine’s wellness rebranding
Nicotine - the highly addictive substance found in tobacco and vaping products - is being promoted online as a way ...
Anti-seed-oil to anti-vax pipeline: MAHA movement spreads to teen influencers
For years, the “Make America Healthy Again” movement was driven by moms. Concerned about the safety of childhood vaccines and ...
The tech billionaires behind the immortality movement
Among the most potent archetypes of our time is the elite who seeks eternal youth, whose power is drawn from ...
Viewpoint—“Miracle molecule” debunked: Why acemannan supplements don’t work
We’ve done a lot of debunks. After a while, they start to blur together because the formula is almost always ...
Dad brains: Only women undergo bodily changes during and after childbirth? Think again.
... By the time [anthropologist Lee] Gettler looked into this field, it was already an established fact that fathers had ...
How America’s medical system encourages psychiatric overdiagnosis
Psychiatric diagnoses in the United States are rising across virtually every category, in every age group. According to the National ...
The myths of “process”: What science says about the “dangers’ of synthetic products and ultra-processed foods
Two words used to scare people are impossible to avoid: synthetic and its younger cousin, ultra-processed. They’re everywhere—on supermarket shelves, ...
MAHA wellness influencers deride proven anxiety medications, tout lifestyle fixes
After a grueling year of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation to treat breast cancer, Sadia Zapp was anxious — not the ...
IV vitamin therapy could change your life — by killing you
An IV therapy clinic offers a vitamin cocktail administered via injection, promising hydration, energy, a strengthened immune system, and a ...
Viewpoint: Health experts engage MAHA: Shared concerns, differing views on what constitutes evidence
At a national public health meeting in March, I attended a session that brought together public health professionals, physicians, and ...
GLP podcast: What’s wrong with ‘doomsday’ environmentalism? It’s false.
Ever notice how the environmental movement’s doomsday predictions arrive like clockwork, each one as urgent as the last? Mass starvation, ...
Viewpoint — ‘We want to put them in trauma’: The inside story of the crusade targeting public health
In a video obtained by ProPublica in fall 2024, Russell Vought—the architect of Project 2025, and later the director of ...
Kennedy has quietly stopped touting problematic raw milk. Health concerns aren’t why
[Robert F.] Kennedy, who once took shots of raw milk at the White House alongside a wellness influencer, stopped publicly ...
Blocked arteries, kidney stones, nausea, constipation, fatigue: Long list of health problems caused by too much vitamin D
The "sunshine vitamin" may come with a dark side. Just as a lack of vitamin D can lead to health ...
With federal funding for scientific research already reeling, Trump fires the entire apolitical National Science Board
Multiple sources are reporting that the Trump administration has dismissed the entire National Science Board (NSB). The NSB advises the ...
How pediatricians are navigating America’s surge of health misinformation
Across the country, clinicians ... are contending with a sharp rise in vaccine hesitancy. They are trying to do what ...
Digital junk food: Social media algorithms designed to highlight controversy not science
Imagine that you have a very social friend — Rickie — who throws a potluck dinner every year. He asks ...
Boy Kibble: Muscle-building protein maxxing is the latest male health delusion
Protein popcorn. Protein water. Even protein coffee. Across grocery stores and social media feeds, marketers are pushing protein — especially ...
Wellness influencer nonsense: No, nicotine does not boost cognition and productivity, but it can damage your health
If you spend any time on social media, you may have noticed a curious trend: wellness influencers singing the praises ...
Viewpoint: ‘Science-as-Satan’ unites the MAHA—MAGA movements. Is a breakup in the works?
The MAHA agenda had a bit of a wake-up call following the EPA’s approval of the herbicide dicamba. I think ...
MAHA’s special protein-focused formula for skin care: Beef tallow and salmon sperm. How could they be wrong?
From moisturizers made with beef tallow to salmon sperm facials, consumers have become more interested in animal-based skin care products ...
Viewpoint — ‘Completely unethical’: RFK, Jr.’s medical ignorance deprives melanoma cancer-sufferers of a life-saving therapy
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn’t like our criticism of the Food and Drug Administration’s rejection of Replimune’s life-saving drug for metastatic melanoma ...
Viewpoint: Truce between MAHA and mainstream science? Its embrace of ‘quackery’ and pseudoscience makes that impossible
One of the truly remarkable—and depressing—things that I’ve observed since the longtime antivax activist who is now our Secretary of ...
Why ‘support supplements’ for GLP-1 users are mostly a waste of money
Weight-loss injections have rapidly moved from specialist clinics to social media feeds and high-street pharmacies. Known as GLP-1 medications, they ...
