Category: Medicine

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Jennifer Margulis goes from antivax to anti-COVID-19 vaccine

Jennifer Margulis
Jennifer Margulis.

Old school antivaxxer Jennifer Margulis goes new school with COVID-19 antivaccine conspiracy theories as satire. Her satire fails, both as satire and in accuracy.

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Medicine Politics Popular culture Quackery

What do Tucker Carlson, testicular tanning, and fascism have in common?

Carlson's testicle tan
This is a real still from the trailer for Tucker Carlson's The End of Men (I kid you not), complete with Also sprach Zarathustra as its soundtrack (a famous composition by Richard Strauss, the fanfare from which was most recognizably used in the score for 2001: A Space Odyssey) swelling—if you'll excuse the word—to a crescendo over the imagery.

Last week, Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson ran a trailer for The End of Men, a special claiming that men are getting weak due to low testosterone levels. It’s pure fascist worship of “masculinity” combined with “bromeopathy.”

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Is it even possible to design high quality acupuncture trials?

Acupuncture
CHONGQING, CHINA - JANUARY 9: (CHINA OUT) Chinese man Wei Shengchu displays acupuncture needles in his forehead during a self-acupuncture performance on January 9, 2007 in Chongqing Municipality, China. Wei inserted 1,200 needles into his head skin during the show. According to local media, the sixty-year-old acupuncturist is a cosmetic doctor from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, who has the Guinness World Record for self-acupuncturing at 1,790 needles in his face. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Acupuncture advocates have published guidelines for “rigorous” acupuncture randomized controlled trials. While that sounds good on the surface, the devil is in the details, which reveal that acupuncturists’ dedication to scientific rigor is perhaps not so strong.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

The “spiritual child” of the Great Barrington Declaration goes antivax

Brownstone Institute, "spiritual child" of the Great Barrington Declaration
Brownstone Institute, "spiritual child" of the Great Barrington Declaration.

The Brownstone Institute, “spiritual child of the Great Barrington Declaration,” just went full on hard core antivax (and fascist), just as Orac has been predicting.

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Bad science Medicine Politics Pseudoscience

The Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) strikes back again

The GBD: "Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
The GBD: "Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

Cranks love to cry “Persecution!” So it’s no surprise that GBD authors are striking back against critics with that narrative. Again.