ACSH Science Dispatch

Will chronic cardio or regular weight-lifting sessions add years to your life? Conventional wisdom says "yes," though emerging research suggests that your exercise habits and your lifespan are more heavily influenced by your genetics than previously thought. Let's untangle the latest knot in the nature vs. nurture debate.

Have we discovered the ideal source of energy? A recent study in Nature describes a newly synthesized chemical called hexanitrogen. Containing no carbon, it produces zero greenhouse emissions and decomposes into pure nitrogen. But...there's a catch. Is this a groundbreaking rocket fuel, or just cool chemistry that will be confined to the laboratory? Let's discuss.

Contrary to popular belief, osteoarthritis may not just be the result of wear and tear accrued over the course of a long life. New evidence points to a deeper evolutionary explanation for why our joints ache in old age. Let's take a look.

A team of unsuspecting lawyers asked us to help promote their litigation targeting baby food makers, falsely alleging their products contain harmful levels of heavy metals. The poor souls running this firm didn't realize what ACSH does. Let's take a close look at their claims about food safety and reassure parents that their kids aren't in harm's way.

Kidney stones are excruciatingly miserable, causing intense, unrelenting pain—often described as worse than childbirth. These hard mineral deposits form in the kidneys and can lodge in the urinary tract, causing sharp, stabbing sensations in the back or abdomen. Here's perhaps the worse chemistry lesson you'll ever learn.

Despite dramatically increasing the national debt, the Trump Administration has made controversial cuts to federal funding for research, including critical areas like vaccine development and disease prevention. Many scientists warn that these reductions threaten public health advancements and technological innovation. Have these cuts crossed a line? Let’s take a look.

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic are transforming weight loss and diabetes management. But no good deed goes unpunished, and the manufacturers of these medicines now face a wave of lawsuits, with plaintiffs claiming they weren't warned about rare but sometimes serious side effects. Is this litigation driven by solid evidence, or are the tort lawyers out for yet another unearned payday? Let's take a look.

Science thrives on challenge, not conformity. Many scientists would agree with that statement, yet they often equate truth with expert consensus, at least when talking to the public. Since scientific disputes are really settled by evidence and not a show of hands, perhaps it's time for experts to abandon consensus and focus on a more accurate concept—convergence.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed systemic weaknesses in our disaster preparedness infrastructure. Despite prior warnings, politics and apathy nurtured a response system that prioritized appearances—e.g., a national stockpile of rotting N-95 masks—over effective interventions.

Perverse incentives encouraged officials to drag their feet when time was short, a failure leading to poor coordination and resource allocation that couldn't counter a global viral threat. We desperately need reforms that will work with human nature during a disaster instead of against it. What do those look like? Let's dive in.

The perennial vegan worrywarts at Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) have once again warned that grilled hot dogs increase colorectal cancer risk. But this potential harm is wildly overstated—as it has been since it first emerged from the dark recesses of nutritional epidemiology many years ago.

Your absolute risk of colorectal cancer remains quite low, and the occasional ballpark hot dog probably doesn't move the needle in either direction. Let's take a closer look.