Skeptic's Guide Interview
Category: Health
I'm on the latest instalment of the Skeptic's Guide podcast talking about the Mora/Orsa electrophobia case and the Obscurantist of the Year anti-award.
Posted by Martin R at 3:18 PM • 5 Comments •
Aardvarchaeology
Martin Rundkvist's blog. Archaeology, skepticism, Sweden. And books and music and stuff.
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Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
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Blogroll
Health:
Drugstore Misunderstanding About Saltpetre
Category: Health
One winter my dad went to a New York drug store to buy saltpetre for our traditional Christmas ham. And the elderly druggist winked at him and said this odd thing.
Posted by Martin R at 2:51 PM • 16 Comments •
I Have A Hidden Pill Compartment
Category: Health
Went to bed with a headache, woke up intermittently during the night to find it still there, and got up in the morning with the same headache or one very similar to it. So I took an aspirin, which stuck...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 15 Comments •
2011 Enlightener & Obscurantist Awards
Category: Skepticism
The Board for the Environment of Mora and Orsa municipalities receives the Obscurantist of the Year anti-award, as it has disregarded scientific knowledge when dealing with so-called electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
Posted by Martin R at 3:33 AM • 10 Comments •
Racist Eugenics Scholar Makes A Positive Difference
Category: Health
From the point of view of "racial purity", few populations could beat the Lister people since they were so unwilling to mix.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 13 Comments •
Radiation Phobia and Wolves
Category: Health
A family has moved out into the deep woods to get away from all electrical equipment. But despite all their attempts to get away from radiation, the malady persists. And they have a theory about why that is.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 11 Comments •
Singer And Jowly Do Drugs On The Commuter Train
Category: Health
Singer got out a pharmacy-style box of pill blisters from which he extracted two yellow/green capsules. "This is like cocaine, I promise! Strong shit! Have some!"
Posted by Martin R at 4:37 PM • 12 Comments •
Alopecia: Charm Quark's Non-Cancer
Category: Health
Looking like you have cancer without actually having to go through the disease, treatment and anxiety is a fairly good deal when it comes to undercover work.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 2 Comments •
Hot Rectal Peat Douche
Category: Health
Peat is a fascinating substance with qualities that made it suitable for a wide variety of tasks.
Posted by Martin R at 10:30 AM • 12 Comments •
Skiing Holiday, Broken Bone
Category: Children
As my friend David the physiotherapist commented, if you must break a bone, break your radius.
Posted by Martin R at 5:12 PM • 19 Comments •
Are Today's Allergics Yesterday's Survivors?
Category: Health
The kids who get allergies today: are they the ones who would have survived 200 years ago, or are they the ones who would have died?
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 13 Comments •
Sweden Has Antivaxers Too
Category: Health
Noted skeptical author and podcaster CJ Åkerberg takes a look at one of the most active and visible anti-vaccine cranks in Sweden, Sanna Ehdin, and at the history of vaccination.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 3 Comments •
2010 Enlightener & Obscurantist Awards
Category: Skepticism
The Swedish Skeptics' annual awards for 2010 were just announced.
Posted by Martin R at 5:43 AM • 3 Comments •
Science Fraud in Swedish Transplantation Biology
Category: Biology
The Swedish Research Council's expert panel has found professor Suchitra Holgersson guilty of severe science fraud.
Posted by Martin R at 12:50 PM • 12 Comments •
Sex Advice From An Amateur
Category: Health
The other day I happened upon a sex-related search term about someone with a problem looking for help. And feeling that I should offer what assistance I can, I'll give some free amateur's sex advice.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 11 Comments •
Drugs and Me
Category: Introspection
In close to five years of blogging, I've never talked specifically about my drug abstinence, though I've mentioned a few times that I'm tee-total. So I thought now I might say a few words on the subject.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 54 Comments •
Swedish Autism & Vaccination Lawsuit
Category: Health
The parents blamed the boy's condition on common vaccines, which would have entitled them to insurance money, while the company held that autism is almost always congenital and never caused by vaccines. The court found the science presented by the defendant convincing.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 18 Comments •
2009 Enlightener & Obscurantist Awards
Category: Skepticism
The Swedish Skeptic Society's annual awards for 2009 were announced yesterday.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 27 Comments •
Gay Men Allowed to Donate Blood (in Theory)
Category: Health
The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare has decided to change the rules. Gay men are now allowed to donate blood. If the last time they had sex with a man was more than a year ago.
Posted by Martin R at 8:47 AM • 17 Comments •
The Rundkvists Have Taken Their Swine Flu Shots
Category: Health
My family and I just came home from our local vårdcentral, the public medical centre, where we've taken our shots for epidemic H1N1/09 swine flu. It cost us nothing and we waited for only about 15 minutes. We got something...
Posted by Martin R at 10:57 AM • 11 Comments •
Only Certain Humans Ever Have Sex To Reproduce
Category: Health
Ed Yong's excellent post about fruit-bat fellatio received some even better, eye-opening comments from one Russell and Frog:Russell: "Tan is falling into the fallacy that animals have sex for the purpose of procreation. Or of writing as if. Those bats...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 5 Comments •
Fungal Research Tries To Surf MRSA Wave
Category: Biology
The research reported on is in fact irrelevant to the much-publicised concerns about MRSA and other bacterial strains that have evolved resistance to antibiotics.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 2 Comments •
Homeopathic Emergency Room
Category: Health
Thanks to Felicia for the tip-off....
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 4 Comments •
Computing My Caffeine Habit
Category: Health
My system is used to going without caffeine for over 40 hours at a time -- counted from afternoon tea on a Monday to morning tea on a Wednesday for instance.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 24 Comments •
Nose Balloon
Category: Children
Us grownups do the same thing easily by just closing our eyes, holding our noses and "pushing", like on air trips or while driving in mountains or scuba diving.
Posted by Martin R at 3:04 PM • 8 Comments •
Take Your Flu Shot
Category: Skepticism
The flu costs a week of lost work during which you feel like one of the restless dead.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 9 Comments •
Why Am I Still Skinny?
Category: Health
I recently realised what's probably depriving me of a beginning paunch.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 33 Comments •
Jeff Had Some Good Last Days
Category: Space
Jeff Medkeff's friend, co-blogging under the pen-name Iatros Polygenos ("mongrel doctor" if my Greek serves me), offers a detailed account of our friend's last days. Turns out that Jeff died during a trip to England where he was having...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 1 Comments •
Hymen Reconstruction and Public Healthcare
Category: Politics
Hymen construction is a silly pointless procedure in demand among certain immigrant groups.
Posted by Martin R at 9:35 AM • 3 Comments •
Austrian Anthroposophy Waldorf School Hit by Measles Outbreak
Category: Skepticism
Poor kids. They should have corrected their failings and gained soul forces and this would never have happened.
Posted by Martin R at 5:48 AM • 10 Comments •
Tap Water is Not a Naturally Occurring Substance
Category: Biology
Water suppliers use natural water to make tap water.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 30 Comments •
German Incest Case
Category: Skepticism
The incest taboo is a cultural universal, and most likely genetically determined.
Posted by Martin R at 7:20 AM • 94 Comments •
Guide Dog Activism and Allergies
Category: Health
It would pose no problem for allergics if guide dogs were allowed everywhere on Swedish Rail trains.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 15 Comments •
Scintillating Scotoma
Category: Health
It's a weird kind of snow crash in your visual cortex.
Posted by Martin R at 8:50 AM • 8 Comments •
US Stoners Afraid to Report ODs
Category: Health
In most US legislatures a drug user runs a great risk of a jail sentence if she reports an overdose.
Posted by Martin R at 2:38 PM • 10 Comments •
What's Ailing Grandpa Surisvatay?
Category: Health
With mounting frustration, I'm watching an attempt to secure adequate health care for an elderly relative turn into something that looks a lot like a failed foreign aid project....
Posted by Martin R at 1:34 PM • 4 Comments •
