Welcome to a whole new world where we can restore a child's hearing and give them the gift of language. What's next? In the not too distant future, we might repair a child's hearing at birth or give a blind child vision even before she leaves the hospital.

The bulk of the scientific evidence indicates that carnitine is beneficial for the heart, and the conclusion circulated by the media that carnitine is harmful is unwarranted.

I can't say, on the basis of evidence, that NIH is misdirecting vast fortunes from where they could do the most good within our lifetimes. But I certainly do believe it. What I can say is that biomedical research dollars are subject to the same myopia that tends to dominate our personal lives.

Here are three widespread beliefs about healthy living that may seem to be based on common sense but that research has revealed to be either partially or entirely wrong.

In the scientific world, we live by the tenet "association does not assume causation." That is, just because two things happen to be related, does not mean that one caused the other.

The abundance of nutritional research available certainly gives us food for thought when making decisions regarding diet and nutritional supplementation. It can also lead to confusion due to misleading headlines and questionable interpretations of studies.

While we need to celebrate the success stories in medical research that allow us to carry on our lives, we have more work to do. We must ensure that we continue to have a robust flow of scientific discoveries that we can then translate into better health.

According to the New York Times, scientific retractions are on the rise. But elsewhere, audacious, falsified research stands un-retracted -- including the work of authors who actually went to prison for fraud.

When it comes to medicine, all too often we think, "Well, if a little is good for you then more must be better!" But three recently published studies underscore why, when it comes to our health, more may actually be more than we need.

Premature death and chronic disease are overwhelmingly the result of a short list of behaviors we control; that list is dominated by just three: tobacco use, dietary pattern and physical activity.