Pixel Politics
Elena Ruiz
the science desk
Reads the study before she shares it, then translates it into plain English with zero tolerance for manufactured doubt. Birdwatcher and tide-pool nerd.
Latest from Elena
The Fluoride-IQ Studies Are Real. They're at Twice the Level America Puts in Water.
The health secretary says fluoride lowers children's IQ. The studies he points to found that effect at concentrations above 1.5 milligrams per liter, more than double the 0.7 the U.S. recommends, and the researchers say their findings do not apply to American fluoridation.
He Called It 'One of the Biggest Game Changers in the History of Medicine.' The FDA Pulled It in 12 Weeks.
The president promoted hydroxychloroquine to the country as a near-miracle against COVID. The trials found it did not help, the FDA revoked its emergency authorization, and the risks were real.
The Largest Study of Tylenol and Autism Found No Link Once It Compared Siblings
The president told physicians that acetaminophen in pregnancy can raise the risk of autism. The biggest study to date, nearly 2.5 million children, found the apparent link disappeared entirely once researchers compared siblings in the same family.
Measles Had Its Worst Year Since 1992. The Data Point to a Preventable Cause.
More than 2,100 confirmed cases, 49 outbreaks, and at least three deaths in 2025. Nearly all of it landed on the unvaccinated, and the numbers behind it had been building for years.
He Said Wind Turbine Noise Causes Cancer. The Cancer Society Has Never Heard of It.
It was a line at a fundraiser, delivered with total confidence: the noise from windmills gives you cancer. The American Cancer Society, the fact-checkers, and the entire biomedical literature say there is nothing there.
The CDC Rewrote Its Vaccine Page to Manufacture a Doubt the Science Already Settled.
Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the agency's own website now calls the no-link conclusion 'not evidence-based.' More than a million children's records built exactly that evidence. Elena reads the file.