Category: Quackery

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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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Bad science Clinical trials Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Yet another negative ivermectin study, this time in the NEJM

Ivermectin and fraud?

Yesterday the The New England Journal of Medicine published a high quality clinical trial that found no benefit in treating COVID-19 with ivermectin. Cue attacks on the study.

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Clinical trials Homeopathy Medicine Quackery

Why are so many clinical trials of homeopathy “positive”?

Homeopathy
Truly, homeopathy is the air guitar of medicine, except that it's usually not even entertaining.

Homeopathy is The One Quackery To Rule Them All. Why, then, can homeopaths seemingly cite so many “positive” randomized clinical trials to support it?

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

How can germ theory denial explain contagion?

Infectious disease contagion according to germ theory denial
Infectious disease contagion according to germ theory denial: It's the vibrations, ma-an!

Germ theory denial has always had a hard time explaining the contagiousness of infectious diseases—until now, apparently. According to “Dr.” Melissa Sell, it’s all about the vibes, ma-an!