Free Republic

Open Your Mind, and Your Mouth You might think of eating insects as something kids do on a dare. But some of these little animals are popular around the world for their nutritional value -- and they’re starting to catch on in the U.S. Not long ago, sushi and lobster didn’t seem all that appetizing to Americans, so it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.

As COVID-19 cases from Omicron in the United States have skyrocketed to what seems like new records every other day, speculation is rising among some experts and scientific novices alike that infection for many seems unavoidable. In a Senate hearing Tuesday, acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, MD, even told the panel, "most people are going to get COVID."In mid-December, World Health Organization Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said vaccines alone won't protect us against Omicron. In late December, an epidemiologist told BBC News: "We have to be realistic; we are not going to stop Omicron."Now, posts are popping up on...

Scientific research is becoming one of the casualties as the Taliban again take control of Afghanistan, say experts who have lived and worked in the region. Kenneth Holland, PhD, dean of academics, research and international affairs at O.P. Jindal Global University in India, was president of the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul from 2017 to 2019. "The people of Afghanistan are losing one of their most valuable national assets -- the scientific mind," he told WebMD. Holland says that researchers, funded by the United States government and grants from other Western organizations, "are now in danger, since the Taliban...

WebMD Gets Millions to Whitewash Obamacare The Justification document for the Obama administration's contract with WebMD states that WebMD is a "trusted source of information" and that a "consistent source of information is critical to the success of the ACA and Marketplace Exchanges." The $13.9 million is being spent to "encourage providers and consumers to turn to official information sources regarding the ACA and to create an accurate perception of the ACA among health care providers and consumers." But official or not, Chuck Todd at NBC News recently said the Obama administration has a "trust deficit." -

A performer who pays for good reviews from critics usually isn't any good, and that would seem to be the case for Obamacare, too. Except that it is the taxpayers, not the performer laying out the bribe money, and the magnitude of the bribe dwarfs even the most lavish junkets offered by Hollywood. The Washington Times has a blockbuster exclusive story: Two months before enrollment began in the Obamacare exchanges, the administration's top health care official heaped praise on WebMD for launching an online resource to help Americans navigate the complex law. The consumer health care site had the occasional...

We've been discussing doctors presuming to advise patients on gun safety. We saw a standard form used by an HMO and a form we can give back to make them think twice about dispensing advice they are not qualified to provide. It's not surprising that the medical establishment reflects an anti-gun bias. Such sentiment has been expressed at the top levels for some time now. A Reason article from 13 years ago shows how strong the leadership bias has been. Case in point, it discusses, among many other things, Mark Rosenberg, once director of the National Center for Injury Prevention...

Move over vitamins A, B, C and E. It is beginning to look like the long ignored vitamin D is every bit as important for preventing disease as you are. New research makes the case that vitamin D helps protect older women against rheumatoid arthritis -- an autoimmune joint disorder of unknown cause. Recent studies have also linked deficiencies of vitamin D to other disorders such as certain cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and even unexplained pain but its role in human autoimmune disease is less clear. The studies are far from conclusive, but researcher Michael Holick, MD, says there is...