Skepticism/Critical Thinking
oracknows | May 4, 2011I see I've managed to attract another anthropogenic global warming denialist in the comments again, I figured that now is as good a time as any to post this video. True, it's over a year old, but it does as good a job of describing the multiple interlocking strands of evidence supporting the concept that the climate is warming and that human activity is causing it.
In particular, I like how this video sums up multiple lines of evidence supporting AGW. The same sort of reasoning applies to every major scientific consensus, be it evolution, the germ theory of disease, the scientific consensus…
oracknows | May 3, 2011"Personalized medicine." You've probably heard the term. It's a bit of a buzzword these days and refers to a vision of future medicine in which therapies are much more tightly tailored to individual patients than they currently are. That's not to say that as physicians we haven't practiced personalized medicine before; certainly we have. However it has only been in the last decade or so that our understanding of genomics, systems biology, and cell signaling have evolved to the point where the vision of personalized medicine based on each patient's genome and biology might be achievable within…
oracknows | May 2, 2011Here's a brief one for you all. Former UPI editor and now editor of the anti-vaccine crank blog Age of Autism has a talent for incredibly un-self-aware statements. This time around, in the wake of President Obama's having released his "long form" birth certificate, ol' Danny Boy posted a quickie statement (in amongst a bunch of other almost as amusing quickie statements) that reads:
Now that the "birther" myth has been debunked, maybe we can get rid of the ridiculous but widespread notion -- pushed by people who should know better -- that vaccines don't cause autism.
Uh, no, Dan. You have it…
oracknows | April 30, 2011Dedicated to a certain commenter who thinks I'm an "eco-fascist" because I criticized Ann Coulter for abusing physics and biology for claiming that "radiation is good for you," I present a video that succinctly describes everything you need to know about the "Climategate" affair:
I posted it on my Facebook profile, too, and already a certain Libertarian comedian with a monumentally poor understanding of science and a chip on his shoulder when it comes to scientists has been drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
Actually, I had been planning on posting this video anyway sometime during the…
oracknows | April 29, 2011With the utter ridiculousness of the arguments laid down by Dr. Oz when Steve Novella appeared on his show and the even more ridiculous silliness of J.B. Handley thinking that Matt Carey, a.k.a. Sullivan, is really Bonnie Offit, I had originally thought that I should find some peer-reviewed scientific article today to do a sober, serious analysis of some cool bit of science. Hey, it sounded like a good idea. Then I finished my day, which was my clinic day, and I was simply too tired to summon up the effort it would take to go through a paper, analyze it, and write up that analysis for the…
oracknows | April 28, 2011Among the most bizarre and risible conspiracy theories currently going around, rising to the top (or near the top) has to be notion that President Obama was not actually born in the United States and therefore is not a U.S. citizen and not eligible to be President of the United States. Indeed, ever since the heat of the 2008 election, this particular unsinkable rubber duck of a conspiracy theory keeps getting slapped down by reason and evidence, only to rise to the surface again and again and again. It's truly a wingnut paradise, because, quite frankly, the people who passionately believe it…
oracknows | April 18, 2011I've frequently lamented what might happen if the current trend towards quackademic medicine continues unabated, and quackery is fully "integrated" with science-based medicine. First, there was homeopathic e.r. Then, Mitchell and Webb brought us the British version, namely Homeopathic A&E. What I didn't realize is that predating both of these was...Holistic E.R. (Embedding disabled, unfortunately.)
Favorite bits: The bit about vitamin C, visualization, and crystals. Sadly, with the way academic medicine is being infused with quackery such as energy healing, homeopathy, and even…
oracknows | April 8, 2011The animated short movie version of Tim Minchin's fantastic nine minute beat poem Storm is finally available. Watch. Learn. Enjoy.
oracknows | April 1, 2011
Ah, April Fools' Day!
I had thought of trying to do a typical April Fools' Day post, you know, something like trying to write something but the last time I tried to do that it fell really flat, so flat that I'm not even going to link to it. It's better not to remind my readers of my jokes that fell completely flat. Better to move on to a more appropriate April Fools' Day topic, a topic like the James Randi Educational Foundation's annual Pigasus Awards. The basic idea is to give recognition where recognition is due for the five worst promoters of nonsense from the previous year.
For 2011…
oracknows | March 29, 2011I've made no secret of my disdain for self-proclaimed "animal rights" activists, the ones who are more than willing to terrorize scientists doing research to understand disease better and thereby develop better treatments and even cures. None of this means that I am some sort of "animal abuser" (to steal the animal rights jargon) or that I'm cruel and advocate "torturing" animals. There is a difference between animal rights and animal welfare; animal rights activists in essence equate a mouse with a rat with a dog with a pig with a human being. In any case, I've reported how animal rights…
oracknows | March 27, 2011Grant time again! Since today--yes, today!--is the deadline for a rather big grant I'm writing (not quite R01 level, but a respectable three year project if I can get it), I was up until the wee hours of the morning trying to put this sucker to bed. Being the ever-benevolent blogger, though, far be it from me to deny you some Insolence. It's just recycled Insolence. Of course, given that this is nearly four years old, if you've been reading less than four years, it's new to you! I'll be back tomorrow; that is, assuming I've recovered. As I look at this post, it occurs to me that I haven't…
sa smith | March 22, 2011Because I am having so much fun at mah conference, I missed my chance to plug a Q&A ninja/journalist Trine Tsouderos hosted with Paul Offit, vaccine inventor.
Im sorry you all missed the chance to participate (Im hoping most ERV readers are Respectful Insolence readers, so you all got the info that way). I mean, Im having so much fun interacting with people working with HIV-1 vaccines right now, and I get all giddy nuts about that, and you all could have gotten a taste of it by having the chance to interact with Dr. Offit.
I sorry :(
BUT!
On the bright side, the Q&A was recorded and…
oracknows | March 17, 2011You know, I really know the feeling described in this song:
I really do. How about you?
oracknows | March 6, 2011A couple of weeks ago, the ever-inimitably sarcastic master of pus himself, Mark Crislip, posted an excellent deconstruction of a very disappointing article that was published in the most recent issue of Skeptical Inquirer, the flagship publication of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). I say "disappointing," because I was disappointed to see SI (Skeptical Inquirer, not Sports Illustrated) publish such a biased, poorly thought out article, apparently for the sake of controversy.
I've been an SI subscriber myself for several years, and usually enjoy reading the magazine, although of…
oracknows | March 5, 2011Due to my activities at the Society of Surgical Oncology meeting in San Antonio, somehow I didn't manage to crank out a bit of that Insolence, Respectful or Not-So-Respectful, that you all crave. So, given that this is Friday, I thought I'd to a "rerun" of a bit of classic woo. This one's a little newer than the reruns I usually do, only two and a half years old. So, if you've been reading less than two years, it's new to you!
In the nearly two years of its existence, I have strived to feature only the finest and most outrageous woo that I can find. It's mostly been medical quackery but…
oracknows | March 4, 2011Due to my activities at the Society of Surgical Oncology meeting in San Antonio, somehow I didn't manage to crank out a bit of that Insolence, Respectful or Not-So-Respectful, that you all crave. So, given that this is Friday, I thought I'd to a "rerun" of a bit of classic woo. This one's a little newer than the reruns I usually do, only a little less than two years old. So, if you've been reading less than two years, it's new to you! Maybe I'll even post another one later.
Ever since I started this little vanity bit known as Your Friday Dose of Woo, lo, these nearly three years ago, when I…
sa smith | March 2, 2011VIPDx took this down from their website, but this is the internet. The internet remembers everything.
VIP Dx Laboratory is highly regarded in the field of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and neuro immune disease testing. VIP Dx also tests for intestinal gut dysbiosis by means of the Immunobilan test, the same test used in BioRay's CytoFlora study. The CytoFlora study showed remarkable results with autistic children. Specifically:
Improvement in speech and social interaction
Reduction in abdominal pain and gastro-intestinal symptoms
Until now, antibiotics have been the only recognized treatment for…
sa smith | February 22, 2011Spend your lunch break with a founder of Science Based Medicine and Neurologica Blog!
Journalist/Ninja Trine Tsouderos is going to be hosting a live chat with Dr. Steve Novella TODAY, NOON CENTRAL time!
sa smith | February 16, 2011There are lots of controversies in viral research.
Not just woo ones, like whether HIV-1 exists and causes AIDS, but real controversies that have been going on for some time, like whether HIV-1 infects dendritic cells or DCs just carry-->pass on virions.
The public hears about the stupid stuff, but dont know (dont care?) about the real controversies. This travesty has a third negative effect, in that sometimes the public never hears the resolution to the stupid stuff, thus it lives on in word-of-mouth whispers and the internets underbelly, long after science has soundly whooped the stupid…