critical thinking
terrasig | June 10, 2008Naw. This is more likely a case of an older person flushing some old prescription drugs down the toilet:
In a February interview with The Associated Press, Mayor Robert Cluck said trace concentrations of one pharmaceutical had been found in treated drinking water, but he declined to name it. He said revealing the name in the post-9/11 world could cause a terrorist to intentionally release more of the drug, causing harm to residents.
"I don't want to take that chance," Cluck said. "There is no public hazard, and I don't want to create one."
. . .Drinking water in Arlington, Texas, tested…
terrasig | May 5, 2008I did not know this:
In the spirit of our recent hosting of the Tar Heel Tavern blog carnival and our general posts on debunking alternative medicine, I learned today about the source of these two words with ties to the homeland.
Miss Cellania's always informative posts at mental_floss blog linked today to Neatorama's, 10 Insulting Words You Should Know. The outstanding list, which you should read in its entirety, includes the origin of the word, "bunkum," which is derived from Buncombe County, NC:
In 1819, a North Carolina congressman, the Honorable Felix Walker, was giving a rambling…
terrasig | February 25, 2008[Note: I originally posted this last Thursday under another title but it got lost in other events of that day. As I find it ironic that Mr Comarow has been attacked by an alternative medicine practitioner and advocate, I find this story worthy of reposting.]
A few weeks ago the skeptical blogosphere was up in arms about an article in US News & World Report by Avery Comarow on alternative medicine services in US academic medical centers. Mr Comarow is a senior medical writer for USN&WR and best known as editor for the last 18 years of the magazine's annual feature, America's Best…
terrasig | February 19, 2008For more details on this story, you can go to Mark Chu-Carroll, Orac, Mike the Mad Biologist, or the Autism Blog. I just wanted to share my personal views on the need for childhood vaccinations and support a public information campaign from the AAP.
Until I started medical blogging, I had not realized quite how vocal was the community of individuals refusing to vaccinate their children, mostly at the urging of those who claimed that vaccines and related components caused illness in their own children. I will first say that no drug product, natural or otherwise, is completely and absolutely…
terrasig | January 4, 2008I'm very excited to announce to Terra Sig readers the kickoff of a new group blog called Science Based Medicine. Yes, it may sound odd that one would need to preface "Medicine" with the qualifier, "Science-Based," but therein lies the goal of this new resource from its mission statement:
Safe and effective health care is critical to to everyone's quality of life; so much so that it is generally considered a basic human right. The best method for determining which interventions and health products are safe and effective is, without question, good science. Therefore it is in everyone's best…
terrasig | December 9, 2007PZ Myers also noted this story that came via Brandon Haught of Florida Citizens for Science: a Florida Department of Education official used her professional affiliations (albeit via a personal e-mail account) to lobby against evolution being taught as the state updates its science educational standards:
My name is Charlie Carraway and I'm a member of Sopchoppy Southern Baptist Church, Sopchoppy , Florida , but I also work for the Florida Department of Education as the Director of the Office of Instructional Materials. That means I oversee the adoption process in the state, and I work in…
terrasig | December 7, 2007I've been terribly remiss as of late in both promoting and submitting to blog carnivals. However, I wanted to draw your attention to an interesting new carnival and the latest edition of an old stalwart.
The Cancer Research Blog Carnival is hosted this week at nosugrefneb.com/weblog written by Ben Ferguson, an MD/PhD student in cancer biology and a capella jazz singer at the University of Chicago. Ben also writes for Medscape's med student feature, The Differential, and produces the Pritzker Podcasts for prospective students interested in the University of Chicago. In his spare time, he is…
terrasig | November 21, 2007I was looking through more links tonight after posting earlier on the Polk County school board's intention to introduce intelligent design into the science curriculum.
I saw this post, An Open Letter to the Polk County, Florida School Board from The Austringer, Dr Wesley Elsberry. Turns out that Elsberry is a product of [a] public schools [and two parochial schools] in Lakeland, the largest city in Polk Country.
From his compelling open letter:
I was born in Lakeland, Florida, and lived for eighteen years there. My parents still live there. I still care about what happens in my home town.
To…
terrasig | November 21, 2007 All the kool kids are keeping their eyes on the Polk County, Florida, school board and their contention that 'intelligent design' should be taught alongside evolution in their public schools.
Fortunately, several states have groups of concerned citizens who contend that actual science should be taught in schools, lest we continue to suffer as a society from the erosion of critical thinking skills.
Florida Citizens for Science (FCS, or FlCfS) is one of those valuable groups. Brandon Haught has been doing a terrific job keeping us apprised of local developments via the Florida Citizens for…
terrasig | August 23, 2007By now you have probably heard of the excellent primer published in PLoS Medicine entitled, HIV Denial in the Internet Era. Written by my fellow ScienceBlogger, Tara Smith, and academic neurologist, Steven Novella, this concise but forceful article tells you everything you need to know about the faulty arguments made by organizations and individuals who deny that HIV is the cause of AIDS (HIV denialists, if you will). The article is free and it is simply awesome.
Many bloggers have noted what to them is most important point of this article. For me, it is the first three sentences of the…
terrasig | April 8, 2007The relatively recent addition to ScienceBlogs, first-year medical resident, Signout, very generously tagged me with recognition as a "Thinking Blogger" on her list of "Five Blogs that Make Me Think." This meme was started in early February by Ilker Yoldas for peers to recognize content-rich blogs. Signout was all too kind:
A neighbor here at SB, Abel Pharmboy is a pharmacologist who writes critically and eloquently about all manner of issues in drug research and development. He's consistently both interesting and educational, and handles even conceptually dense issues with a light touch.
I…
terrasig | December 3, 2006Yesterday, Revere (Effect Measure) threw down the gauntlet challenging those critical of alternative medicine to examine work done at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2000 on the medicinal properties of chicken soup.
The news release cites work that a chicken/vegetable soup, but not simple chicken broth, inhibits in vitro neutrophil migration, or chemotaxis. Inhibiting the migration of this class of white blood cells might reduce the nasopharyngeal symptoms of the common cold, thereby providing some evidence that grandma's chicken soup might very well help one feel better during…
terrasig | August 5, 2006Driving back home from the beach yesterday through the very red part of the state that surrounds my very blue hometown/county:
License plate on white Mazda Miata: THX GOD!
Bumper sticker on said Miata: "Support the Troops, IMPEACH BUSH"
Perhaps they just need to pray a little harder?