U.S. Fertility Reaches All-Time Low as People Choose Things Other Than Children
The global total fertility rate fell by more than half, from 5 births per woman in 1960 to 2.4 today. But don't panic!
Health
Psychiatric Hospitals Can Still Force Patients to Accept Shock Treatment. One Connecticut Patient Has Been Shocked 500 Times in Five Years.
Despite concerns about efficacy and side effects, courts are slow to act on behalf of patients who don’t want the treatment.
The Coronavirus and the Constitution
From Louisiana State University law professor Ed Richards.
8 Months Later, This Journal Still Hasn't Corrected Its Study Implying That E-Cigarettes Magically Cause Heart Attacks Before People Use Them
The Journal of the American Heart Association has responded to critics with nothing but boilerplate promises of scientific integrity.
Trump Bashes Socialism While Endorsing a Status Quo Socialism of His Own
The president promised to protect Medicare and Social Security, America's biggest entitlement programs.
China's Coronavirus Censorship Hurts Public Health
Efforts to control the flow of information fail, but they muddle the quality of what people share in defiance of the censors.
Fifth Circuit Declines to Rehear Obamacare Severability Case en banc
The ruling by a closely divided court leaves in place a December panel decision in this important case - at least for now.
Does the Drop in Opioid-Related Deaths Mean the Crackdown on Pain Pills Is Finally Working?
Since prescription restrictions pushed drug users toward deadlier substitutes, the decrease in fatalities is more plausibly attributed to harm reduction measures.
U.S. Life Expectancy Increases for the First Time in 4 Years
Thanks to the first fall in drug overdose deaths since 1990, plus a continuing decline in cancer deaths
How Worried Should You Be About the Wuhan Coronavirus?
We will soon learn if humanity's increasing biotechnical prowess can prevent a modern pandemic.
Mosquitoes Genetically Engineered To Resist Dengue Fever
Gene drives could spread this beneficial trait through wild mosquito populations.
What a Headache: California Regulators Want To Label Acetaminophen a Carcinogen
The science is unsettled, and a new warning label would probably just confuse people.
Supreme Court Leaves Obamacare Trapped in Legal Limbo
The justices declined a Democratic request to fast track a decision on the law.
The Failure of LBJ's Great Society and What It Means for the 21st Century
Historian Amity Shlaes talks about the last time a president massively expanded the federal government to help people.
Elizabeth Warren Has a Fake Plan To Pay for Medicare for All
Warren claims total costs for middle-class families would go down under her plan, but there are reasons to doubt this.
Why LBJ's Great Society Flopped—and What It Means for the 2020 Election
Amity Shlaes's new history of the late 1960s explains the failure of the last time the federal government tried to fix all that was wrong with America.
New CDC Report Highlights the Risks of Black-Market THC Vapes
The vast majority of patients with vaping-related lung injuries who used cannabis products said they got them from "informal sources."
California Killed 1.2 Million Birds To Stop a Virus. Pet Owners Say They Were Terrorized.
The euthanasia campaign may be necessary to prevent the spread of the Newcastle disease, but bird owners say that it's being carried out in a cruel manner.
Sorry, Bernie Sanders: Taiwan's Single Payer System Isn't an Argument for Medicare for All
Taiwan’s system is less generous than the Sanders plan—yet it still struggles with cost control and access to care.
Fed Scientists Filmed Themselves Giving Monkeys Brain Damage. A Watchdog Group Wants the Footage.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health reportedly damaged monkeys' brains with acid before showing them pictures of fruit.
President Trump Rejects Premise of Justice Department Briefs in ACA Case
Once again, the President's Twitter feed contradicts the claims of his lawyers.
How Truth Became a Casualty of the War on Smoking
Different types of nicotine consumption pose different amounts of risk.
New Mexico Medical Marijuana Supplier Wins First Amendment Challenge to the State Fair's Absurdly Broad Censorship
The overturned rules banned microscopes and shovels as drug paraphernalia and prohibited pictures of cannabis or the equipment used to grow it.
The Largest Single-Year Drop in U.S. Cancer Death Rate Ever Recorded
No rising cancer epidemic, reports the American Cancer Society.
New Evidence From Canada and the U.S. Suggests That Legalizing Marijuana Leads to Less Drinking
While the issue is far from settled, a decline in Canadian beer sales and a drop in binge drinking among college students reinforce the case for a substitution effect.
Congress Repealed Major Elements of Obamacare and Almost No One Noticed
The elimination of three health care taxes will increase the deficit by $373 billion.
FDA Announces Ban on Flavored E-Cigarette Cartridges, Exempting E-Liquids Used in Refillable Vapes
For now, the FDA is targeting the vaping products that are most popular with teenagers. But the industry still faces a potentially devastating regulatory deadline.
FDA Ban on Flavored E-Cigarettes Is Expected to Exempt Open-System E-Liquids
In response to intense opposition from vapers and the industry, the Trump administration has recalibrated its plan.
Rogue Chinese Genome Editor Sentenced to Three Years in Prison
He Jiankui's moral failings should not be used as an excuse to delay a technology that could prevent inheritable diseases.
What Did Reason Get Wrong in 2019?
And what predictions will we shank in 2020 and beyond?
The Wall Street Journal Blames Marijuana Legalization for Vaping-Related Lung Injuries, a Black-Market Hazard
The main danger to vapers is illicit cannabis extracts of unknown provenance and composition.
The Vaping Panic Is a Major Setback for Public Health
"There's no question public health would benefit dramatically if everybody switched completely to e-cigarettes."
Now That It's Toothless, Obamacare's Individual Mandate Is Unconstitutional
The shifting understanding of the requirement to buy health insurance elevates form above substance.
As More Evidence Implicates Vitamin E Acetate in Lung Injuries, the Press Continues to Blame E-Cigarettes That Don't Contain It
The black-market additive showed up in lung fluid from 48 of 51 patients with "probable or confirmed" diagnoses.
Minneapolis' 'Green To Go' Ordinance Inadvertently Bans Starbucks Holiday Cups
The polyethylene lining on the cheery seasonal drink containers does not meet the city's exacting composting requirements.
Impeachment Overshadows Obamacare Ruling
Plus: States sue to stop Equal Rights Amendment, French sex workers take prostitution laws to E.U. court of human rights, and more...
Since Adolescent Drug Use Trends Are Otherwise Unalarming, Let's Freak Out About Vaping
The government and the press focus on newfangled contraptions instead of drug-related harm.
Fifth Circuit Sends Obamacare Severability Issue Back to Square One—But Not Quite
The appellate court remanded the most important issue in the case back to the district court. But its instructions will make it difficult for the trial judge to again rule that the entire Affordable Care Act must fall with the individual mandate.
BREAKING: Fifth Circuit Declares Individual Mandate Unconstitutional, Punts on Whether Rest of ACA Must Fall (Updated)
As if there wasn't enough going on this week, a federal appellate court issues a significant (and significantly flawed) ruling in the latest Obamacare challenge
Choose Your Own Impeachment Adventure: Rand Paul, Justin Amash, or Philip K. Dick?
A range of libertarian-world approaches to the impending trial of Donald Trump
Tulsi Gabbard: The Anti-War Candidate
She's not a libertarian, but Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is shaking up the race for the Democratic nomination.
Public Health Scholars Warn: 'Prohibitionist' E-Cigarette Policies Undermine a 'Tremendous' Harm Reduction Opportunity
The Science article is a wake-up call for people who claim to be concerned about smoking-related disease and death.
