Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
Kennedy’s CDC blocks publication of study that shows vaccines reduce hospitalizations by 50%, then misrepresents why
A report showing the efficacy of the covid-19 vaccine that was previously delayed by the head of the Centers for ...
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: ‘Make America Pregnant Again’ — Trump guts support for birth control to placate the right’s birth obsession
Decreasing the unintended pregnancy rate was a bipartisan wish. In 1969, President Richard Nixon recognized that “unwanted or untimely childbearing ...
In Zimbabwe, an almost-deadly collision between fake news and a real virus
Misinformation can affect and even derail polio vaccination campaigns, threatening the lives of children in underprotected communities. 23 March 2026 ...
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 ...
Latest fevered, right-wing conspiracy: Fox, New York Post, and kooky GOP legislators push ‘Dead Scientists’ scare
Are America’s top scientists being kidnapped or disappeared by a foreign adversary? Right-wing media are abuzz with speculation that 11 ...
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 ...
‘Irresponsible decision’? On mandatory military flu shots, Hegseth chooses ‘freedom’ over health
Health experts are hoping the effects of new Pentagon policy are minimal following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s directive to make ...
Viewpoint — Politicization of public health: What’s the impact of the White House strategy on children
Vaccine mandates are being lifted across the United States and American children are suffering the consequences. In , U.S. healthcare ...
Stupid study of the month: Eating fresh fruits and vegetables can lead to cancer
... With the rise of anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, federal food guidelines have centered on slabs of meat, ...
Vaccine skepticism is a growing global problem
Vaccination is one of the most successful global health interventions in history, eradicating or eliminating some of the deadliest diseases ...
Viewpoint — Digital freedom: How AI could undermine Chinese communism
... Even China’s heavily censored chatbots have proved difficult to contain within the party’s ideological boundaries. American frontier models, running ...
10,000 scientists gone: Trump’s cuts create an unprecedented brain drain
Some 10,109 doctoral-trained experts in science and related fields left their jobs last year as President Donald Trump dramatically shrank ...
Fish oil supplements for brain injuries probably don’t work
A first-of-its-kind study led by the Medical University of South Carolina raises questions about the value of fish oil supplements ...
Congressional Republicans pushing false claims that over-the-counter birth control pills are unsafe
Imagine that you're pregnant, a few weeks in, and you decide you want an abortion. You walk into a retail ...
Reality check: Why we can’t trust anything online — and no one knows how to fix it
A zero digital footprint used to signal authenticity. Now, it can signal the opposite. The absence of a trail no ...
Gurus of woo: 9 health influencer superstars
Some work full time as scientists and physicians .... Others have no relevant credentials to speak of, and frequently disseminate ...
Viewpoint — AI doomsday projections: Will social media save us or make the panic worse?
The effort to seed content about the dangers of AI across the internet comes as the technology’s growing influence has ...
Despite disease surges, poll shows Kennedy-driven disinformation has left most Americans skeptical of vaccines
Results from the March poll of 3,851 U.S. adults conducted by Public First show that a plurality of Americans question ...
Does free will exist? Why you may have no choice but to read this article
The concept of free will seems straightforward, but it doesn’t have a universally accepted definition. One intuitive notion is that ...
Name Tag: Meta’s spooky AI facial recognition smart glasses sets off privacy alarm bells
More than 70 civil liberties, domestic violence, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+, labor, and immigrant advocacy organizations are demanding that Meta abandon plans ...
Woo truce? The science and health establishment divided on how to deal with MAHA and RFK, Jr.
The Trump administration’s celebration of its new meat- and milk-centric dietary guidelines was held in an auditorium decorated with colorful ...
6 ways to address digital misinformation
Effectively addressing misinformation requires a coherent, evidence‑based decision‑making framework that is broadly based on reliance on credible data and independent ...
Europe is on the cusp of approving gene editing of crops. Many other countries may follow soon.
After three decades of waging war on crop biotechnology, European politicians are about to change course. In late April or ...
Fluoride lowers intelligence? First-ever widescale water supply study debunks Kennedy’s scare claim
Tests of intelligence and brain function showed the same results whether or not people drank fluoridated water growing up, a ...
Public health advocates turn to influencers to fight online misinformation
Scroll. “Five essential questions that you must ask your surgeon prior to any operation.” Click. “Yesterday, I posted a picture ...
With X and other platforms retreating from fact-checking, can AI fill the void?
Misinformation is increasingly spread with single clicks, bots, and artificial intelligence (AI) deepfakes. AI-generated images and videos share fake treatments, ...
