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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Nicholas Gonzalez on Steve Jobs: If only he had come to see me…

I debated a while about whether I should take this particular post on. It’s not because there isn’t a lot of fodder there deserving of that special form of not-so-Respectful Insolence that only Orac, in his usual inimitable fashion, can provide. There most definitely is. The problem, as is sometimes the case when I get […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

The “toxin gambit” on steroids and more

I had a really busy grant writing day today, and my brain is fried. What that means is that, even though there are some things that I could write about that would be really cool (as in studies), I’m just too tired to do it as I write this. So, as I settle down to […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Clinical trials Evolution Medicine Science

The return of the Medical Hypotheses anti-vaccine howler

When it rains it pours, as they say. Yes, sometimes there’s so much going on that I can’t possibly blog about it all, particularly now that I’ve cut back a bit. This week seems to be turning into one of those weeks. Yesterday, I couldn’t resist having a bit of fun with the grande dame […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

The fixed mindset of the anti-vaccine activist

One of my interests in skepticism and critical thinking has been the similarity in the fallacious arguments, approach to data, and general behavior of those who are–to put it generously–not so skeptical or scientific in their approach to life. I’m talking about believers in the paranormal, quacks, anti-vaccine activists, conspiracy theory mavens, Holocaust deniers, creationists, […]

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Cancer Medicine Quackery

Does chemotherapy work or not? The “2% gambit”

“CHEMOTHERAPY KILLS!!!!” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve come across brain-dead statements like the one above, often in all caps on websites resembling that of the Time Cube guy, quite frequently with more than one exclamation point, on the websites of “natural healers,” purveyors of “alternative medicine.” In fact, if you Google “chemotherapy […]