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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Biology Medicine Science

Tetyana Obukhanych swings at the measles immune amnesia studies—and whiffs!

Tetyana Obukhanych has a PhD in immunology but has somehow become antivaccine. This week, she tried to refute two recent studies on immune amnesia induced by measles virus infection. Let’s just say that it did not go well.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

Bernard and Lisa Selz (and Albert Dwoskin): Name and shame wealthy donors funding antivaxers

The Washington Post reported that Bernard and Lisa Selz have donated heavily to antivaccine causes. Will naming and shaming stop them? The Daily Beast reported that Albert Dwoskin is distancing himself from his ex-wife’s antivaccine foundation; so there’s hope.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery

Thank you, Chelsea Clinton, for speaking out against Andrew Wakefield and driving antivaxers crazy

Earlier this week, Chelsea Clinton spoke out against Andrew Wakefield and in support of vaccines. Hilarity ensued as antivaxers lost their mind in rage and faux disappointment in her.

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Autism Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Another antivaccine paper bites the dust

Christopher Shaw and Lucija Tomljenovic are known for producing dubious scientific studies in the service of antivaccine pseudoscience. Last month, they published a paper purporting to show that aluminum adjuvant causes neuroinflammation in mice that was roundly criticized for poor experimental design and manipulated images. Guess what? It’s soon to be retracted.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Biology Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Torturing more mice in the name of antivaccine pseudoscience: PubPeer versus antivaxers

Last week, I wrote about a truly execrable bit of science by Christopher Shaw and Lucija Tomljenovic purporting to show that aluminum adjuvants cause brain inflammation, which causes autism. Since then, I’ve learned that, not only is it bad science, but that there are red flags about several of the figures to raise the specter of fraud. This might not be just bad science. It might be fraudulent science. The only way to resolve this would be for the authors to release the original full resolution images of their blots.