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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

When homeopaths kill by neglect

Busy, busy, busy. Between work and getting ready to for the 100th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle on Thursday as I mentioned on Monday, I’m afraid I don’t have time for my usual sterling gems of skeptically insolent prose or an analysis of a scientific paper that a couple of my readers have sent me. […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

There’s no such thing as viruses?

I was in a bit of a crappy mood last night. There were a number of reasons for this, including frustration at work trying to put together two grants, trying to revise a manuscript to resubmit it, dealing with collaborators and various other headaches. Indeed I had a splitting headache by the end of the […]

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Announcements Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Welcome to the Age of Ignorance

Everyone knows that the quackery-friendly, antivaccine blog Age of Autism has a rather–shall we say?–hypocritical stance when it comes to free speech. For one thing, for all their complaints about censorship and not being heard by the government, its denizens frequently confuse freedom of speech with freedom from criticism. For another thing, they also ruthlessly […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

That’ll teach ’em for using an actual valid placebo control

I almost feel sorry for acupuncturists these days. Almost. Well, not exactly. Clearly, given the infiltration of woo into academic medicine, acupuncturists are in demand even in the most allegedly “science-based” of academic medical centers. After all, acupuncture is what I like to refer to as “gateway woo,” an unscientific placebo-based therapy that has somehow […]

Categories
Announcements Skepticism/critical thinking

100 is on the way

As hard as it is to believe, it’s almost here. In a mere four days on Thursday, November 20, the 100th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle will land right here at its mothership for the first time in three years. As of this morning, I only have six submissions. That’s not nearly enough! I need […]