September 28, 2020 — Preliminary results from a fascinating study has us wondering. How often is it that Twitter makes research noteworthy? Ricardo Ladeiras-Lopes and colleagues randomized 534 research papers in journals of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) to receive promotion on Twitter or not. In this analysis, Twitter produced a 43 percent bump in citations for articles […]
August 12, 2020 — Remember when haircuts were routine? Today, it seems, they’re a bit more special. The close contact they require makes it so. But new research also tells us that hair clippings from these close encounters can be valuable for dietary research. A team of researchers gathered up hair from barbershops and salons in diverse U.S. locations […]
August 8, 2020 — Correcting errors is such a nuisance. People feel bad about it. Some people simply can’t admit errors, so it can get messy. But errors are inevitable. Thus it’s really important to correct errors when they are discovered. Especially in scientific research. Nonetheless, one journal seems to have a different solution. Nutrients – an open-access nutrition […]
July 23, 2020 — Do you know what you’re having for lunch? You might think so. But in fact, the food that we are consuming is so complex, that we only have a vague idea of what’s in it. Through a project called FooDB, scientists have cataloged more than 70,000 biologically active chemicals that may be present in our […]
July 7, 2020 — Welcome to the world of peer review. This is the vital tool for bringing you science that you can trust. Legions of earnest experts look over research papers for strengths and weaknesses and overall merit before they appears in press. But urban legend holds that there’s a villain lurking in the process – Reviewer 2. […]
July 6, 2020 — For decades now, we’ve been debating the role of macronutrients in weight gain. But that fierce debate has yielded precious little consensus. Low-fat dietary guidance ruled the land for decades. Right now, low-carb diets seem to have the upper hand. However, in a new webinar, Kevin Hall suggests that neither calories, carbs, nor fat tell […]
June 24, 2020 — “In your heart, you know he’s right.” That political tagline was a loser in 1964 and it ranks as one of ten worst of all time. But it’s even worse if such thinking is applied to science. A study seems to prove an important point at a critical moment. So it’s rushed into publication. Then […]
June 19, 2020 — In pharmaceuticals, a one-trick pony is doomed to oblivion. Some companies have a big hit with a successful drug and then struggle to follow up with more innovation. So patents expire and sales dwindle. The company with one-trick innovation fades away. But with solid clinical trial results announced yesterday for two new drugs in obesity, […]
March 31, 2020 — While the world has been busy with COVID-19, quite a lot has been happening in obesity. Last week, JAMA Pediatrics published an important review of all the evidence-based options for treating obesity in adolescents. The bottom line? Those options are too few, but more are coming. Today, we got a good look at one of […]
March 25, 2020 — We’re witnessing some intense interchanges on health policy right now. Reason and emotion are in vivid conflict. Jolting comments collide with disturbing facts. The new coronavirus “will disappear like a miracle,” says one policymaker. In addition, we hear promises of “packed churches all over our country” in just a couple of weeks. But then, a […]
