Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Evolution Medicine Science Skepticism/critical thinking

All the way from Denmark: The 75th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle

It’s hard to believe that two weeks have flown by once again. It’s even harder to believe that the Skeptics’ Circle has been around long enough to reach its 75th edition, which this time around comes straight out of Denmark, courtesy of longtime Respectful Insolence commenter and now blogger Kristjan Wager at Pro-Science. Kristjan’s a […]

Categories
Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

The ethics of therapeutic touch

Lest I forget to mention this one, Randy Cohen, a.k.a. The Ethicist, answers a question. Here’s the question: I work at a hospital where several nurses practice therapies like healing touch and therapeutic touch, said to adjust a patient’s energy field and thereby decrease pain and improve healing, although there is no significant evidence for […]

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

Your Friday Dose of Woo: The sacred science of universal vibratory woo

I don’t know what it is about woo-meisters and vibration. I know I’ve said this before, but it seems to come up so often that I can’t help but repeat it. Everything is vibration. Everything. And if it’ not vibration, it’s waves, be they energy waves, sound waves, or, as I like to describe them […]

Categories
Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Surgery

Preventing injuries during surgery due to technical mistakes

You’ve probably heard the oft-repeated charge of “alternative” medicine advocates. If you get into a debate or conversation with one, you can almost count on seeing or hearing it before too long. Indeed, we heard a variant of this very claim yesterday coming from über-woomeister supreme Deepak Chopra. I’m referring, of course, to the rant […]

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

The return of the living Choprawoo

I was originally planning to do a real science post today. Indeed, there are at least two or three interesting studies that have been released in the last month or two that I’ve been meaning to write up, you know, to lose the snark and make this a real Science Blog. True, having a little […]