A New Science Forum
Excitingly, a new science forum Scrutable is here.
There’s a SCEINCE forum (officially known as the Nerd Lab) for discussion of, well, science – click here for breathless discussions of the latest research or to share your horror at the latest pronouncements from anti-vaccine commentators.
There’s a second serious forum for Heavy Shit (AKA Weighty Matters) which contains serious topics for serious people. Click here if you’re seriously interested in such serious discussions. Srsly.
You are also permitted to have fun, but only in the designated zones. No puns.
Oh, and one last thing: you might want to read the rules and abide by them.
Homeopathy Awareness Week 2014: Skincare
Homeopathy, like sympathetic magic, operates upon the premise that “like affects like”. Its proposed mechanisms have been described as “physically impossible“, and the best available evidence from trials was found to be “compatible with the notion that the clinical effects of homoeopathy are placebo effects”. These are just some of the things that homeopaths may avoid mentioning when promoting “awareness” of homeopathy. Read the rest of this entry »
Homeopathy-Supporting Hunt as Health Secretary: Cabinet Reshuffle Shows Cameron’s Choices As Bad As Ever
In 2010, I wrote of my surprise on discovering that Nadine Dorries and David Tredinnick had been appointed to the Select Committee on Health. Cameron seems to have gone one better with his cabinet reshuffle, appointing Jeremy Hunt as Health Secretary. Read the rest of this entry »
Claims Of Unethical Skeptics: A Mirror Image Of The Truth
Over the years, I have seen a number of baseless claims made by anti-vaccinationists and advocates of alternative medicine regarding unethical behaviour by skeptics. They imagine conspiracies and financial interests. They make claims that their opponents are dishonest and mislead people. Yet there never seems to be any evidence that the skeptics they smear have done anything unethical.There is evidence, though, that some anti-vaccinationists and advocates of alternative medicine have been involved in unethical behaviour. Read the rest of this entry »
World Homeopathy Awareness Week
From 10th to 16th April, we are in World Homeopathy Awareness Week. I thought I’d do my bit to help raise awareness. Read the rest of this entry »
Why Write About Alternative Medicine? Part Two: Entertainment
Part one of this series of posts was a po-faced commentary on the uncritical promotion of alternative medicine in the mainstream media. I pointed out the poor reporting of non-mainstream therapies, the inaccuracy and the incompleteness of press articles. I argued that this was a worthy reason for blogging about alternative medicine.
Another reason is that of entertainment. Proponents of alternative medicine might be wrong, but some of their ideas are fascinating. And, occasionally, hilarious. Read the rest of this entry »
An A-Z of Alternative Medicine
An incomplete list of alternative therapies, and comment on some of the benefits and risks. Read the rest of this entry »
Papers for Skeptics
I’m sure everyone has favourite research articles (please tell me it’s not just me). I thought I’d share some of mine. Most are available as free full text, but there are a few where I link to an abstract. Some links will open in PDF, but I’ve tried to make these obvious in the post. I think I’ve saved copies of each paper where full text was available, so if a link to the full text of a paper dies and you can’t get hold of it elsewhere do feel free to email me or leave a comment below and ask for a copy. Read the rest of this entry »
Homeopathy and Claims to Treat or Cure
One of the adverts under a post I’d written on homeopathy led me to this page. A member of the Society of Homeopaths was claiming on their website to be able to cure a number of conditions – including herpes, depression, allergies, and chronic headaches. As the Nightingale Collaboration pointed out earlier this year, the ASA were: Read the rest of this entry »
Astrology
For me, the idea that the position of the stars can shape our personalities or our destinies doesn’t feel that bizarre. Probably because it’s so familiar. (See for example its influence on language and literature. Or the horoscopes that appear in pretty much every newspaper.) Some have been sufficiently interested in the claims of astrologers that they’ve tested how accurate they are when it comes to making predictions about people’s personalities or the future. Read the rest of this entry »
Stuff And Nonsense 