Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Removing science from anthropology: Parallels with medicine

I don’t recall if I ever mentioned this before, but back when I was in college I had quite the interest in a couple of sciences that you might not have expected or guessed at, namely anthropology and archaelogy. Indeed, an archeology class that I took as a senior was one of the most memorable […]

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Homeopathy Medicine Quackery

Homeopathy in Cuba?

Homeopathy is among the most ridiculous of so-called “complementary and alternative medicine therapies.” I realize that I’ve made this point over and over and over again, but it bears repeating because, no matter how often homeopathy is shown to be utter and complete woo, homeopaths always seem to bounce right back, Gish galloping between the […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

The annals of “I’m not anti-vaccine,” part 3

Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 begins right here, in the comments of (where else?) the anti-vaccine crank blog Age of Autism, courtesy of commenter Kathy Blanco:

Categories
Cancer Clinical trials Medicine

The toll due to secondhand smoke

Given that I’ve dedicated my life to treating cancer and researching the biology of cancer, the ultimate goal being to use that knowledge of cancer biology to develop ever more effective treatments directed at the specific molecular derangements that lead to cancer, it’s not surprising that I’m very much anti-tobacco. After all, arguably there is […]

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Cancer Medicine Quackery Surgery

Holiday weekend reader mailbag: In which Orac is chastised for “condemning someone who helps people”

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend continues here in the U.S., and, believe it or not, I plan on taking it fairly easy, hanging out with my wife and (hopefully) going to see the new Harry Potter movie later today or tonight. However, even so, I can’t resist doing a bit of holiday mailbag fun, first because […]