A Wellness Founder's Journey
What was the innovative approach Paul and Barbi Schulick developed? What were the lessons from their 44-year journey? And why did Paul's latest venture, For The Biome, encounter headwinds?
Latest
For Our New Members: Our Founder's Intro, or How Not to Raise 100,000 Dollars
We broke a few stories this year: Mark and David Geier's victims; the plight of West Texas Mennonites; millions of "AI data annotation workers"; AI slop in US newspaper articles. But we selected this story as it describes our Founder's other "hat," a nonprofit called Eviva Partners.
Pirsumei Nissa
I lit the candles - the top one, the shamash, and the first one of the eight, symbolizing the miracle of a little bit of oil lasting for eight days - and was about to put it on the windowsill. "No, not there," my grandmother waived me off. "People will see it."
Ask Me Anything: Why I Became a Journalist
I'm doing a series of "Ask me anything" sessions this week with a provocative title, "Why I became a journalist, and why Evidence to the People" - please join! I'll share a story about the three people in the photo - does
The Aluminum Firestorm Starts Tomorrow
How we got to this point, that we never "nailed" this question of aluminum safety, and were "saved" by a Danish epidemiologist who had a last-minute "hunch," is a subject of a future story. But, as a top vaccine expert told me, "one study will not be enough."
The “People Will Have to Die” Fallacy
Brian Lehrer, the host of a daily NPR show bearing his name, broke my heart today. “It could be, sadly, that it’s going to be a lot of death and disease that ends this period,” he said in a panel at the New York Academy of Medicine on the topic of “how media shapes population health outcomes.”
Celebrities, Quasi-Particles, Everything Works and No Side Effects - Reporting From The Eudemonia Summit
“Eudemonia at its core is the source of truth. It’s the place to discover what’s real and what isn’t. What is science and what is snake oil.”
ETP Ask Me Anything: The Rise of Wellness
We are launching a multi-part series of investigative reporting and podcasts about Wellness. Who are the key voices? What is it like from a patient's perspective? How does wellness fit with evidence-based medicine? Will it start to be reimbursed by CMS? (Our prediction is Yes).
AI Slop Infiltrated American Newspaper Articles. 9% of them, to be exact.
A recent analysis of 1500 American newspapers finds the overall rate of fully AI-written articles a shocking 5%, and “mixed” another 4%, for a total of 9%. The rate was higher for articles about technology - no surprise! (16%) and health - no good! (12%).
A Modern-Day Jekyll
There is no term to describe the phenomenon of a public figure holding a dark secret for years before being exposed and falling from grace. So I borrowed one from Robert Louis Stevenson.
AI’s Toxicity Problem: A Guide for the Consumer
AI companies’ PR departments would much prefer their executives talked about other topics. An image of people teaching these purportedly all-powerful machines like babies - and the idea that they can be “adjusted” at any moment - does not exactly inspire investor confidence.
Conservative Forces Behind Today’s CDC Demolition Predate Kennedy’s arrival at HHS.
“Never again should public health bureaucrats be allowed to hide information, ignore information, or mislead the public.” - Project 2025.
Aluminum
Breaking: Kennedy brings the “Aluminum Family” back as an “Aluminum Working Group”
NEW YORK - Secretary Kennedy brought back members of the “aluminum family” as an “aluminum working group“ which is being led by Lyn Redwood, according to a member of the group who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The group consists of Christopher Exley (UK) and Christopher Shaw (Canada), the
The Dark Chapters
From Willowbrook to the Geiers: Families Speak Out
“Once, I went down to the Geiers’ basement to use the bathroom. I saw several ladies packaging drug bottles into boxes. And in the bathroom I saw what appeared to be equipment from a chemistry lab.”
Webinar
ETP Live - Monday 11:30 EST
"Autism Epidemic:" The Origin of an Idea. With the attention drawn to the concept of an "Autism Epidemic," we gathered four top voices in this field - Mitzi Waltz, Gil Eyal, David Mandell and Greg Robinson - to explore the origins of this idea. Who coined
We Are All Scared of Kennedy
Korney Chukovsky (pronounced cor-NEIGH choo-KOF-ski) is described as a “Russian Dr Seuss.” Born out of wedlock and kicked out of school for being of “lower class,” Chukovsky taught himself several languages and became the beloved founder of Russian children’s literature. In the 1960s he defended political dissidents such as
Kennedy
Monarez's Firing is Step #8 in the "Aluminum Plan"
With this firing, Kennedy and Trump are essentially telling the Senate - you can vote for whoever you want, and then if they get in the way, we just fire them. What is such an important thing that they are planning, that would risk them blowing up the CDC? The "aluminum plan."
Kennedy
The Aluminum Saga Continues: Kennedy Strikes Back
Kennedy even attacked Denmark as a country: do “Gold Standard Science” or risk US collaboration and business. This demand is reminiscent of the “quid pro quo” arrangement Trump proposed to Vladimir Zelensky in the Fall of 2019.
Vaccines
Kennedy, Wakefield and the Aluminum Grand Finale: Conversations with the "Aluminum Family": part 1 of 2
The interviews explain the gap between Kennedy’s 2005 “Deadly Immunity” piece and his resurgence of interest in aluminum in 2017. And they help us answer the key question - is the “aluminum family” just a group of ordinary scientists?
Media
No, TIME Magazine, Medicine Does Not Need to be “Rebuilt from Scratch”
"Send your pitch right after lunchtime. By that time, the journalist will have already taken a break but still isn’t focused on afternoon work - which makes this window of time perfect for a compelling pitch."
Vaccines
Video: The Double Life of Retsef Levi
What was a mathematician and Professor of Operations Research doing at a vaccine injury roundtable? How, four years later, did he end up on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)? What about the comments he made and questions he asked at the last ACIP meeting - were they reasonable?
Wellness
Does Kennedy want a pro-wellness USPSTF?
This anti-establishment sentiment is even reflected in the title of Kennedy’s planned ad campaign: “Take Back Your Health.” The “partnerships with health stores and wellness centers” that are planned to be promoted in the campaign will clearly benefit people close to Kennedy, if not Kennedy himself.
Podcast: The Language of Evidence
Podcast: The MAHA Press Conference
A very important event occurred in Washington, DC on Thursday, February 13. I got invited to it through pure serendipity. It was the press launch of MAHA Alliance, with Senator Ron Johnson, then CEO Del Bigtree.
Vaccines
The Double Life of Retsef Levi
Note: We are republishing our profile of Retsef Levi which is fascinating in its own right, and also because it features Tracy Beth Høeg, appointed today as acting head of CDER.