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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

SB 276 is now law, and antivaxers are not the “new civil rights movement”

While trying to block SB 276 from becoming law yesterday, antivaxers proclaimed themselves the “new civil rights movement.” They aren’t. Quite the opposite, in fact. Fortunately, SB 276 is now law, their attempts at civil disobedience notwithstanding.

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Medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

The WHO walks back its statement that asymptomatic COVID-19 transmission is “very rare”

Yesterday, the World Health Organization walked back its statement that asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 is “very rare.” This was after COVID-19 deniers had had a field day using that statement to attack social distancing, contact tracing, and mask wearing. It was a science communication disaster.

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Medicine Science Skepticism/critical thinking

On “doing your own research”

Ethan Siegel at Forbes argues that you “must not ‘do your own research.’” While the title grates, Siegel is correct that most of us are not really capable of “doing our own research” about most scientific and medical questions because we lack the necessary background. We must therefore be humble and be very, very careful about “doing our own research.”

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Popular culture Television

False balance on vaccines in Portland, courtesy of KATU and Genevieve Reaume

False balance is the bane of a science communicator’s existence. KATU’s Genevieve Reaume provided false balance in abundance in a story about the measles outbreak and the antivaccine movement.

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Bad science Bioethics Clinical trials Medicine Popular culture Skepticism/critical thinking

Dr. Didier Raoult: Bad science on COVID-19 and bullying critics

Didier Raoult is the French “brave maverick doctor” who’s been promoting hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to treat COVID-19. Like all true cranks, he’s now lashing out at critics as the science trends towards the conclusion that his treatment doesn’t work.