Breaking News

Opinion

Are jury trial problems unfixable?

Columns

This is not another opinion article about Lindsay Clancy. Well, not really. I’m not qualified to discuss the woman’s actions or the validity of her insanity defense in a murder trial for several million reasons at least. I’ve learned over the last few weeks that I’m one of the 10 people in the world who aren’t interested in learning much about the terrible events in January 2023. I guess there’s just something about hearing the details of a mother killing her three small kids that repels me. I also didn’t sit on the jury, and I’m not of the opinion that I can ...

Scuba diver experiences nausea due to nerve compression

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a scuba diver, and I recently purchased a dry suit that is expectedly tight on my neck. During my first dive with it, I pulled the hood down, and within a few minutes, I immediately felt nauseous before even entering the water. I also briefly felt lightheaded and faint. I removed the hood, loosened the neck a bit, and tried to relax. The feeling somewhat subsided. I tried again and was able to do a short 25-minute dive. But when I got out, I was immediately nauseated and subsequently vomited. I am usually quite sensitive to motion and take Dramamine when on a ...

Future shock: Is this Team Humanity’s last chance to stand up to AI?

Columns

Since we last visited the artificial intelligence industry in this column, a lot has happened, much of it seeming to confirm my worst fears. Seven weeks ago, I wrote about the “Hugging Face” breach, so called for the company that got hacked with no human intervention by “rogue” AI agents created by OpenAI. On their own initiative, OpenAI’s agents broke out of their containment, charmingly called their “sandboxes,” before eventually being detected. That was disconcerting enough, but in the past couple of weeks several key players at the forefront of AI research have ...

Iran war pushes diesel – the economy’s lifeblood – to record high prices, with no relief on the horizon

Columns

Diesel fuel prices in the U.S. continue to break all-time records, hitting $6.28 a gallon as a national average on Sept. 14, 2026, and they aren’t likely to come down anytime soon. Because diesel is the fuel for freight transportation, farming and construction — and is related to a key heating fuel — the effects are set to spread across the entire U.S. economy. The inflation-adjusted price of diesel in late August was about as high as it was in 2022 and has likely risen further. There are still three factors that we, scholars of U.S. and global energy markets and supply chains, ...

Explaining an adverse drug reaction called DRESS syndrome

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: Could you explain what happened to me with a condition called DRESS syndrome? I had back-to-back urinary tract infections (UTIs) that were about six weeks apart. For the first one, I was treated with three days of an antibiotic, and it went away. For the second, I was given another week of the same antibiotic. My UTI symptoms improved quickly, but after three days on the antibiotic, I developed a rash. I first noticed spots on my legs, but by the next morning, they were on both of my legs and arms with some on my belly and upper back. The following day, I had fever, ...

Not quite grateful for a broken arm, but it’s a reminder of people’s amazing resilience in the face of disabilities

Columns

On the Sunday evening of Labor Day weekend, after a delightful dinner with close friends, I tripped over one of those ubiquitous electric rent-a-scooters. I went down hard, landing on my knee and arm, though luckily not hitting my head. At home that night, I couldn’t even bend my left elbow enough to remove my earrings or necklace. For those who know me well, the surest sign of injury is that I couldn’t summon the strength in my left hand or arm to floss my teeth. Quelle horreur! A couple of days later, I got an X-ray and confirmed that the arm was indeed fractured at the elbow. I ...