Categories
Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Yawn, still one more overhyped acupuncture study: Does acupuncture help infertile women conceive?

Oops, they did it again. You think the media would learn after the last time, but no…. There it was on Friday greeting me on the ABC News website: “Study: Acupuncture May Boost Pregnancy” in bold blue letters, with the title of the webpage being “Needles Help You Become Pregnant.” Wow, what a claim! Naturally, […]

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Announcements Skepticism/critical thinking

Valentine’s Day is coming, but so is something else

It’s clear from the treacly ads that are clogging the airwaves that Valentine’s Day is near. For those of us who tend to find Valentine’s Day (and, even worse, that knockoff holiday Sweetest Day) annoying, it’s a bad time of the year, particularly since in these parts February is the most depressing time of the […]

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

Your Friday Dose of Woo: Help me Obi-Wan. You’re my only hope.

In the year and a half or so that I’ve been doing Your Friday Dose of Woo, I must admit that I’ve come across some truly weird stuff. Stuff so weird that, after reading it, you wonder either, “How on earth could someone seriously think something like this is true or would work?” or “How […]

Categories
Biology Intelligent design/creationism Medicine Pseudoscience Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Time to get out the paper bag again

Nooooo! I thought I might be safe. It’s been a really long time since I’ve had to hang my head in shame and contemplate covering it with a paper bag because of creationist pontifications of a fellow physician bringing shame upon our shared profession. It had even been longer since I had dealt with Dr. […]

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Humor Politics Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

The “troof” hurts…

…when it comes to “9/11 Truthers”: (Click on the picture for the rest of the cartoon.) You know, the same thing could be said about creationists, HIV/AIDS denialists, and many “CAM” mavens.