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Complementary and alternative medicine Friday Woo Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Your Friday Dose of Woo: It’s not just homeopathy, it’s quantum homeopathy!

While thinking about ways to make the blog better, I wondered if I should emulate some of my colleagues, many of whom have regular features every week, often on Friday. And, since I usually get a little less serious on Fridays anyway (and, because traffic seems to fall off 50% or more anyway regardless of […]

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Medicine

Doctors’ pay: Tell me something I didn’t already know

A new study suggests that, adjusted for inflation, physicians’ incomes are, by and large, falling: Doctors may be well off compared with the bulk oftheir patients, but a new study says fees physicians get from the government and private insurers aren’t keeping up with inflation. Last week, the Center for Studying Health System Change said […]

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Medicine

An unexpected question in a pub

Earlier this week, I was in Washington to attend my first ever NIH study section as an actual reviewer. It was definitely an illuminating experience, and overall I left with, believe it or not, more faith in the system the NIH uses to determine how grant money is doled out. Maybe I’ll become more cynical […]

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Autism Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Anti-mercury warriors descending further into the depths

Damn you, Kathleen. Every time I think that I can give the whole mercury/autism thing a rest for a while and move on to less infuriating pastures, you keep finding things that keep dragging me back to the pit of pseudoscience inhabited by Dr. Mark Geier and his son David. The first time around, Kathleen […]

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Blogging Skepticism/critical thinking

Belated fecal anniversary wishes

One year ago yesterday, a turd flew, the first of many to come. A new skeptic had arrived in the blogosphere, and he called himself (appropriately enough, given his propensity for lobbing fecalgrams at the credulous) The Pooflinger. I feel real bad that I missed his blogiversary because of something as insignificant as being on […]