January 24, 2008
Here I thought I was the only one but apparently photic sneezing has received enough attention to get researchers interested in it. Apparently it's an ancient problem:
Aristotle mused about why one sneezes more after looking at the sun in The Book of Problems: "Why does the heat of the sun provoke…
January 17, 2008
This week's circle is at skeptical surfer's blog. Although I think Christian has made an error or two in his evaluation of the latest NHANES studies and what they say about obesity. For one, obesity has always been 30+ BMI, overweight was changed from 27 to 25 by one government agency responsible…
January 17, 2008
Despite the best attempts of the New York Times Wellness Blog to get me fired, I'm still here and doing fine. Somehow a post about how impressed I was with surgery, the professionals that practice it, and how many of my preconceptions about surgeons were incorrect, got all turned around into some…
January 13, 2008
One only has to be minimally involved in a surgical procedure to understand the appeal of this profession. It is instantly gratifying and very rewarding to be able to just fix something. That, working under time pressure and mixture of physical and mental skill make it a very exciting way to…
January 9, 2008
Eight hours standing in a single spot, how do surgeons do it? I'm hoping my endurance will build, especially knowing that some of the procedures I'm going to see in the next few weeks such as the "Whipple" or pancreaticoduodenectomy may take twice as long.
The good news is that I have lucked into…
January 9, 2008
This time the Ask a Scienceblogger Challenge is to explain why a male contraceptive pill does not exist.
Good question! It's because medical researchers are all sexist bastards. Didn't you know?
Actually that's only part of the reason. Research into hormonal or pharmaceutical contraception for…
January 6, 2008
This new year is shaping up to be pretty exciting, and part of the changes in my life will be reflected in what I write about on the blog. First let me explain how the MD/PhD program I'm in works, and where I am in it.
The Medical Science Training Program (MSTP) or MD/PhD program is designed to…
January 4, 2008
After ten years the James Randi Educational Foundation is discontinuing its 1 million dollar paranormal challenge.
The James Randi Educational Foundation Million-Dollar Challenge will be discontinued 24 months from this coming March 6th, and those prize funds will then be available to generally…
January 3, 2008
White Coat Underground has the overmedicalized edition. I'm pleased to see Happy Jihad House of Pancakes arguing for more skepticism in the humanities as part of the circle. And a great post on epidemiology and autism from Andrea.
Orac had some important things to say about consensus, and just…
December 31, 2007
I see that I'm in good company in my curiosity about why Ron Paul enjoys so much crank magnetism. And his crank magnetism and appeal to racist groups can't be denied. Here for instance, is Ron Paul posing with Don Black, culled from the neo-nazi Stormfront website:
Now, I think its unlikely Ron…
December 31, 2007
Bill Kristol will soon have a weekly column in the New York Times. I have to admit, I'm really excited.
You see, Bill Kristol, or as we like to call him Krissandra has a nearly supernatural ability to be wrong. While some might think that the NYT has lost all credibility by hiring someone as…
December 26, 2007
I'm so confused. I've got Ed telling us that the neo-nazis are claiming them as one of his own, which I would usually dismiss since they're usually just lying about everything. But then I see Ron Paul supporters blame a Jewish Cabal for the allegations? That, and David Duke coming to his defense…
December 26, 2007
Why the Washington Post decided to devote space to libertarian crankery from the Pacific Research Institute, I'll never know, but today's op-ed from Sally Pipes on the evils of governmental interference in diet is a bit much.
The way I see it, obesity cranks recycle 3 arguments over and over. It…
December 25, 2007
I had an interesting X-mas week, hanging out with the parents, seeing patients at my mom's general practice and a very different set of patients in clinical studies at the NIH with my father. That, studying, and fulfilling the role of the good son by fixing every piece of technology in the parents…
December 22, 2007
Dan Solove brings up some privacy issues with using sitemeter on blogs:
But Site Meter also lists the IP address of each visitor, something that the public really doesn't need to see. An IP address is a unique numerical identifier that is assigned to every computer connected to the Web. It doesn't…
December 21, 2007
I want to point out two things about the anti-consensus report the anti-AGW denialists are spreading as if it is an actual scientific document. For one, if the first place I read about it is when it's promoted on Uncommon Descent, you immediately lose about 99.9% of your credibility. I'd be a…
December 21, 2007
Orac alerted me, based on my recent obesity writings, of a new crank obesity attack on science.
This latest is in the form of a rebuttal to Morgan Spurlock's excellent film Supersize me. Comedian Tom Naughton, who has all the charisma of a wet sponge, is making his own documentary Fathead: You've…
December 20, 2007
Good for Martin Hosting the Skeptics' Circle and keeping out the cranks.
I'm fond of Whiskey Before Breakfasts' entry on just whether the 20th century truly was the bloodiest, and Knudsens News straight-faced description of the failure of doctors to meet chiropractic standard of care.
Enjoy!
December 20, 2007
Except this time it's from the right! Richard Dolinar of the Heartland Institute (a crank tank) writes in TCS Daily that evidence-based medicine (EBM) is bad for patients.
A new buzzword entered the medical lexicon in 1992 when the Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group published one of the first…
December 20, 2007
While I can't say for sure the new guy will be any better on HIV/AIDS denialism, it's hard to image he'd be worse than South African President Thabo Mbeki, who just lost power.
The new guy sounds like a nutbag, but maybe we can see this issue, which negatively affects the lives of millions of South…
December 20, 2007
Recently, it seems there has been a backlash against medicine and the current knowledge of the relationship between diet, weight and overall health. I don't actually believe this is directly the fault of scientists or doctors, who react to the trashy mainstream reporting of science with little…
December 19, 2007
I'm flattered that Pandagon liked our post on a terrible ad campaign for diamonds.
But if Amanda thought that was bad, she should see some of the latest "reason" coming from our libertarian friends at Cato. David Boaz writes a post for Cato entitled "All Those Who'd Like to Live in Rwanda,…
December 18, 2007
So asks the copyranter over this latest example of human stupidity:
What's even funnier than the absurd notion that a "Hearts on Fire" diamond will buy you monogamy (or that diamond purchases aren't so frequently given in penitence for the sins of infidelity) is that really all it says is your man…
December 17, 2007
I'm in DC this week working for Dr. Mom and getting my physical exam skills back up to snuff, so I'll be a little quiet. In the meantime, Cectic is keeping the dream alive:
I love these guys.
December 13, 2007
Reading about the latest atrocity by KBR that is the cover up of a rape of a US citizen by its contractors (apparently one of many), I ask the lawyers a question. Surely there is enough on KBR (formerly known as the evil wing of Halliburton - now independent) now to get a RICO indictment on them,…
December 13, 2007
Yes, I know, I'm stating the obvious again. But I just couldn't resist when I saw this. In his never-ending quest to attack all science that doesn't affirm his belief that vitamin D and fruit smoothies will cure all disease, he's gone after the new new induced pluripotent stem cell findings. As…
December 13, 2007
I have to spend a few days doing anesthesiology during my surgery rotation, luckily one of the other med students forwarded this helpful video.
I had no idea it was so complicated.
I also like the drug song:
December 13, 2007
I don't have the time to be anything but a jerk today so I'm going to imitate Barry Arrington of Uncommon Descent, who tried to place the blame for the most recent shootings at a church on atheist writers.
You see, yesterday, there was an attack on the New York subway. In one of those events…
December 12, 2007
Reiterating our previous call for this debate, I'd like to point out two articles that have come out in the past day, that may address some of the negative commentary here.
The first is Chris Mooney and Lawrence Krauss at LA Times.
The second, by Sheril Kirshenbaum and Matthew Chapman at HuffPo…
December 10, 2007
We must adapt to the fact that over the last few decades it has become critical that our politicians and policymakers understand science and implement policy that is consistent with scientific facts. And it is past time that we made science enough of a priority to merit a presidential debate on…
