Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
‘Toxin’ detox: A gastroenterologist weighs in on $71 billion health trend
In 2025, the detoxification industry worldwide was valued at over $71 billion, and some estimates have that number approaching $120 ...
Gen Z burned by sunscreen misinformation and tanning myths
The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) released results from its annual Practice Safe Sun Survey, revealing many Americans still engage ...
Viewpoint: Why gene-editing babies is moral and certain to happen
It may be possible to make a convincing argument that serious heritable diseases linked to a single gene should be ...
Viewpoint: Social media and fake natural health propaganda fuel surge in use of mostly useless supplements
Supplements have become a central part of wellness culture, touted by everyone from influencers who “stack” them to celebrities whose ...
Why ‘null-findings’ on Tylenol’s safety for pregnant women barely move the needle on countering misinformation
When U.S. President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promoted unsupported warnings last fall about acetaminophen use ...
Debunking vs. Restoring Trust: New and better strategies to fight deliberate disinformation
US and global health authorities have recommended seed oils for decades for their heart-healthy essential fats. But in 2024, the ...
Misinformed parents overdosing children with Vitamin A to fight measles
A recent study in JAMA Network Open has found that between January and March 2025, America's Poison Centers reported a ...
Why weight-loss drugs might be reducing cancer rates and making treatment more effective
At this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago, more than 40 studies, abstracts, oral presentations and ...
The ‘low-quality’, retracted studies RFK, Jr. and MAHA rely on for anti-vaccine claims
Three scientific papers that raised questions about vaccine safety and were used by the Trump administration to justify controversial changes to ...
50% of AI advice on health and medical issues return inaccurate or fabricated advice
An audit of chatbot responses in health and medical fields prone to misinformation found that 49.6% of responses were problematic ...
Viewpoint: How Dr.TikTok (falsely) convinced me that cortisol was running my health
Cortisol is the internet's favorite wellness boogeyman. Per social media, too much of it is why you're experiencing 3 a.m. wake-ups, have ...
‘Natural’ wellness supplements linked to liver injury
Supplement-induced liver injury is emerging as a growing global health concern as the wellness industry expands and regulation struggles to keep up, ...
Republican lawmakers spread misinformation claiming solar farms permanently destroy potato farms
In January, Michigan Republican state Rep. Cam Cavitt posted a 51-second clip to Facebook labeled “Solar Farm SECRET.” In the ...
Can vaping lead to cancer? New ‘association study’ raises questions of “links”
Nicotine-based vapes, or e-cigarettes, are likely to cause cancers of the lung and oral cavity, according to a new study ...
Viewpoint: Why you should ignore organic food advocates’ advice to avoid ‘pesticide soaked’ conventional fruits and vegetables
The most commonly stated reason people buy organic food is avoidance of pesticide residues. Indeed, organic producers cannot use conventional ...
GLP-1 weight-loss drugs may reshape our desires and emotions
Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs were initially understood as a metabolism breakthrough: medicines that act like hormones to control hunger, ...
‘Nicotine-free generation’: Should the U.S. emulate Britain and ban all nicotine products, from cigarettes to vapes?
The United Kingdom just adopted a tobacco-free generation law. Retailers can still sell tobacco to existing customers, but they will never ...
‘Protecting religious liberty and parental authority’: Challenging expert guidance, Trump signs off on Kennedy’s gutting of childhood vaccine schedule
President Trump is signing off on a decision from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this year ...
Cases of brain inflammation surge as U.S. measles pandemic approaches 2000
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed 31 new measles cases in a nationwide outbreak that has ...
‘You don’t understand Tolkien’: Skeptic Pope trolls tech giants about the exaggerated, risk-less benefits of AI
[T]he Tolkien nod is particularly salient given some backward interpretations of Middle-earth mythology by right-wing billionaires like Peter Thiel and ...
Viewpoint: Doctors who are battling Ebola are incredulous that U.S. government is not utilizing specially designed emergency health units meant to fight virulent disease
Doctors around the country are baffled, disturbed, and in some cases aghast at the Trump administration’s plan for Americans who ...
Viewpoint—N.A.D.+: Why Gwenyth Paltrow’s heralded anti-aging supplement doesn’t work
Gwyneth Paltrow has tried it. So have Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber. ... Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or N.A.D.+, has been ...
Viewpoint: Why the hyper-promoted doping ‘enhanced games’ pseudo Olympics flopped
Testosterone, anabolic steroids, stimulants, metabolic modulators and a grabbag of peptides were just some elements of the “stacks” that these ...
Challenging anti-GMO disinformation: Why genetically-tweaked crops offer bushels of benefits
GMOs are one of the most controversial topics within our global food system. There are many misconceptions regarding what a GMO ...
Viewpoint—The end of ‘ivory tower science’: What does that even mean, and what comes next
We built American science like a skyscraper — centralized, concentrated, dependent on a single foundation. More than half of university research budgets ...
In first of more than 1300 cases, Google, Meta, and TikTok to pay $27 million to settle school district lawsuit claiming their products are dangerously addictive
A Kentucky school district reached a $27 million settlement with the owners of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube. Breathitt ...
Viewpoint: Who is RFK, Jr.’s newly-appointed CDC senior counselor, Sara Brenner — Vaccine skeptic and self-proclaimed “MAHA mom”
When President Trump named a new leadership team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention two weeks ago, public ...
