pseudoscience
clock | May 26, 2009An article that is likely to make the rounds of the science/medical blogosphere (and get the anti-vaccer trolls out of the woodwork):
Researchers long ago rejected the theory that vaccines cause autism, yet many parents don't believe them. Can scientists bridge the gap between evidence and doubt?
Writes Liza Gross in the latest Feature article in PLoS Biology: A Broken Trust: Lessons from the Vaccine-Autism Wars:
Until the summer of 2005, Sharon Kaufman had never paid much attention to the shifting theories blaming vaccines for a surge in reported cases of autism. Kaufman, a medical…
clock | April 5, 2009I know everyone and their grandmother has already posted this. But, if there is going to be a virally spread internet meme, this one is much better than most:
scientificactivist | April 5, 2009As mentioned here previously, the stimulus package passed in February includes funds to encourage evidence-based medicine. Some uninformed critics will claim that this is some big government conspiracy to exert socialized control over private medicine. But, truly, encouraging a firmer empirical basis in all aspects of medicine--through more studies, government guidelines, and just improved common practice--is a very desirable outcome.
A post by David Newman at The New York Time's Well blog lays out a variety of examples of why this is so (with links to original studies!). Also, Hugh Pickens…
jlynch | March 29, 2009
SkeptiCamp Phoenix 2009 went off wonderfully yesterday. Big thanks to Jim Lippard for doing such a wonderful organizational job.
The picture above is me beginning my 20 minute gallop through the issue of academic freedom and the intelligent design movement. Shorter - and undoubtedly more coherent - version is:
Evolution is not an unchallengeable orthodoxy within science and major areas (of evolution as fact, the pathway of evolution, and its mechanisms) have been challenged in the past by researchers working within the field. These researchers used the institutions of science (peer…
jlynch | March 28, 2009SkeptiCamp Phoenix beings in a few minutes. Jim Lippard has all the details and Magic Tony, one of the presenters, will be live-blogging the event, and there may also be twittering at #skepticamp. I'll be adding bits and pieces as the spirit moves me.
scientificactivist | March 21, 2009From The Washington Post:
The D.C. Council, in a flourish of whereases, proclaimed March 16 Brain Education Day, responding to a nationwide call from a brain-wave guru in Sedona, Ariz. (The Montgomery County Council was set to make the same proclamation Tuesday but canceled at the last minute. And supporters in Fairfax County missed the submission deadline.)
The council's formal resolution says brain education helps "create physical, emotional and social well-being, as well as higher achievement." The proclamation closes by praising its "potential to improve the human condition."
So what is…
oracknows | March 16, 2009The antivaccine counterattack against Brian Deer continues.
As you recall, about a month ago British reporter Brian Deer published an exposé, a tour de force of investigative journalism that led him to discover that Andre Wakefield had not only had incredibly blatant undisclosed conflicts of interest (his having been in the pocket of trial lawyers suing vaccine manufacturers and his forgetting to mention the little fact that he had been developing a competing version of a measles vaccine that he had been hoping to market) when he published his infamous 1998 Lancet paper linking MMR to…
oracknows | February 26, 2009"Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in."
At least, that's what Michael Corleone said in The Godfather, Part 3, and even though I'm not a mafia don, I can sort of relate to where he's coming from, if you know what I mean. It seems that whenever I try to get away from blogging about the nigh infinite level of stupidity and pseudoscience that emanates from the disease promotion movement (i.e., the antivaccine movement), it seems as though they somehow find a way to pull me back in. Of course, I'd rather like to think of myself as the reluctant gunslinger pulled out of retirement…
oracknows | February 24, 2009Alright, I know that, after yesterday's epic post (which was long even by Orac-ian standards), I said that I was going to try to get away from vaccine blogging for a while. I lied. Well, not really. At that time I really did mean it. But then I came across something that I just couldn't leave alone.
Regular readers of this blog know my opinion of Andrew Wakefield, namely that he is a fraud, a quack, a charlatan, and a danger to the health of autistic children and public health in general. There is, as documented in my post and elsewhere, abundant evidence to support my opinion. But apparently…
clock | January 25, 2009In our heads, of course. All of our heads.
But Seed is asking, so let me elaborate briefly.
As I said before, science is not just active participation in research. Science is a mindset.
We are all born scientists, exploring the world around us and experimenting with it. When we grow up, we continue being scientists in our day-to-day lives.
If you walk into a room and flip a switch and the light does not come on, what do you do? I doubt that you throw yourself on the floor in fear, speaking in tongues, praying, blaming the Aliens or asking the Government to help you. You calmly go about…
jlynch | January 7, 2009Jim Lippard is organizing SkeptiCamp Phoenix 2009. A SkeptiCamp is "a conference whose content is provided by attendees. Where BarCamp is focused on technology, SkeptiCamp instead focuses on topics of interest to skeptics, including science, critical thinking and skeptical inquiry." The event is planned for February 21st and I've already agreed to talk on "Academic Freedom" and the Intelligent Design movement. If you are an Arizona skeptic, or even from further afield, wander on over to the Camp Wiki and sign-up either to attend or present.
There's a FaceBook group as well, by the way.
clock | December 27, 2008The Touch That Doesn't Heal :
Is there anecdotal evidence that unconventional therapies sometimes yield positive outcomes? Yes. There's also anecdotal evidence that athletes who refuse to shave during winning streaks sometimes bring home championships. It was George D. Lundberg, a former editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, who said: "There's no alternative medicine. There is only scientifically proven, evidence-based medicine supported by solid data." We'd do well to keep that in mind as we plot the future of American health care. It's not like we've got billions to…
clock | November 13, 2008Young Australian Skeptics site is an excellent example of supporting other skeptics' writing. There's essays there by several of the 'regulars' of the Australian Skeptics of Carlos Blog Carnival, including: Karen Stollznow of Bad Language/Skepbitch; Kylie Sturgess of Podblack Blog / Skeptic Zone; Jack Scanlan of Homologous legs and Dr Rachael Dunlop of the Skeptic Zone - and will feature even more essays very soon.
There is a forum board, opportunities to network and is the brainchild of Elliot, a 21 year old student from Melbourne, Australia.
clock | September 18, 2008Hmmm, they did not actually see the blog - if they did they would notice it has been abandoned more than two years ago and that the top post says, in large bold letters: "This Blogs Is Dead!".
And they probably did not see when I hosted Skeptic's Circle (three times). Bwahahahahaha! Anyway, too busy now, but if you want to debunk and make fun of this piece of quackery, go ahead, it's all yours:
fromF B
reply-tofb200883@yahoo.com
tocoturnix@gmail.com
dateThu, Sep 18, 2008 at 3:47 PM
subjectInterested in a review on http://sciencepolitics.blogspot.com ?
Hello,
I'm the webmaster of http://www…
neurophilosophy | August 19, 2008
The notorious Australian bushranger Edward "Ned" Kelly was apprehended in 1878, following a confrontation during which he and his gang killed three policemen. Upon his arrest, Kelly was thus described by the police:
5'10" tall, weight 11st 4lbs, medium build, sallow complexion, dark brown hair, hazel eyes, scar on top of head, two scars on crown, scar on front of head.
Eyebrows meeting, two natural marks between shoulder blades.
Two freckles lower left arm, scar on ball of left thumb, scar on back of right hand and three scars on left thumb.
Kelly was convicted of robbery and murder and…
clock | July 18, 2008Just an hour or so ago I was in the car, listening to This American Life on NPR, when this story (Act Three) came up on the air:
Bob Berenz had a good job as an electrician. But he wanted to do something bigger. He came up with an idea for an invention. But as he studied physics texts to see if his invention could work, he happened upon the biggest idea of his life: a revelation about physics that would disprove Einstein, and Newton. That is, if Bob's right.
It is a great story to listen to, and quite revealing about the psychology and the emotional motivations for crackpottery.
Ah, what a…
jlynch | July 14, 2008Like many on the blogosphere, I've had the opportunity to view Randy Olson's latest production Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy. Billed as "an effort to understand the confusion around the global warming," the movie claims to be a "novel blend of three genres - mockumentary, documentary, and reality" and that alone illustrates the problem with the movie - it doesn't know what it's trying to be and after spending 85 minutes with it, I had no real clue what point Olson was trying to make and to whom he is making it. Indeed, it is only out of a sense of duty that I continued watching beyond the…
neurophilosophy | April 12, 2008Please be aware that I do not endorse any of the products being advertised by Proximic at the bottom of the side bar on the right. I am responsible for the content of the side bar on the left and, of course, for all of the written material on this blog, but I have no control over the products that appear in the "Related Ads", or, for that matter, anything in the column on the right.
If I had my way, the Proximic ads would be removed altogether, because they look very tacky and, more importantly, they advertise rubbish such as the Neurology & Psychology of Masculinity audio cassette, by…
jlynch | March 27, 2008
"Researcher in Astronomy:" ... "When you stand on the beach and look into the distance, everything you see is in the visible distance. In the blurred distance, you cannot see a thing. Later on as the ship gets closer to the shore or the harbor, you see the upper part. How do you see it? The eye, as I have said, no doctor has succeeded in understanding how the eye works." *sound of Lynch’s head exploding*
[ht to Boing Boing]
neurophilosophy | March 13, 2008Best-selling fantasy writer Terry Pratchett, who announced in December that he has a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's, has pledged $1million for research into the disease.
In a speech given ealier today at the Alzheimer's Research Trust Netowrk Conference in Bristol, Pratchett said that he compliments his conventional treatment with various unspecified alternative remedies, in the hope that he can slow the progression of the illness:
The NHS kindly allows me to buy my own Aricept because I'm too young to have Alzheimer's for free...But, on the whole, you try to be your own doctor. Teh…