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Announcements Blog housekeeping Blogging Medicine

And so it begins…

…the long-awaited migration to WordPress, promised ever since NatGeo took over: Notice: ScienceBlogs.com will be migrating to a new publishing platform starting on the evening of Monday, May 21 at 7 PM Eastern Standard Time. Please do not add any comments or posts between then and Tuesday afternoon. We will update this page when maintenance […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

PAPupuncture? On the rebranding of regional anesthesia as acupuncture

Acupuncture has been a frequent topic on this blog because, of all the “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) modalities out there, it’s arguably the one that most people accept as potentially having some validity. The rationale behind acupuncture is, as we have explained many times before, little different than the rationale behind any “energy healing” […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

In which Orac basks in the adoration of an antivaccine fan…

I’m sometimes asked why I do this. Why, people ask me, do I spend so much time generating post after post after post day after day after day? Obviously, one reason is that it interests me. Another reason is the passion that drives me to support science and science-based medicine and to detest the damage […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The (not so) Thinking Moms’ (D)evolution continues apace

About a week ago, I took note of what appears to be a new offshoot of the antivaccine movement known as the Thinking Moms’ Revolution (TMR). At the time, I pointed out the toxic combination of hubris mixed with ignorance that resulted in a risible “declaration of independence” from “medical tyranny.” In reality, it was […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science fiction/fantasy Skepticism/critical thinking

Now there’s some “anti-science”…

I’m sometimes criticized for referring to various people who are “anti-science” as, well, “anti-science.” People, for whatever reason, have a hard time believing that anyone is anti-science; so when I point out how much, for example, antivaccinationists, alternative medicine believers, or creationists are anti-science, they have a had time believing it. This is particularly true […]