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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

I was right: The teacher admits that Airborne doesn’t work

A while back, I wrote about Airborne, the “herbal” concoction designed by a schoolteacher that is touted as preventing colds and the flu if taken preemptively or lessening their severity if taken early on in the course of a cold. I concluded that there was no evidence that it did what Victoria Knight-McDowell, a schoolteacher […]

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Paranormal Pareidolia Skepticism/critical thinking

A little pareidolia, anyone?

Ya gotta love it. Whether it be the Virgin Mary under a freeway overpass on W. Fullerton Avenue in Chicago or on a window in Perth Amboy, NJ, or the face of Jesus on a shell, on the wall of a shower, on a sand dune, a potato chip, or (my personal favorite) a pierogi, […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Opinions without expertise

While I’m busy plugging blogs I like, I thought I’d mention that A Photon in the Darkness is another one of my favorite skeptical blogs. Lately, in all the turmoil over my move to ScienceBlogs, I failed to mention two good pieces that Prometheus has posted in the last few days: Why anecdotes aren’t data […]

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Announcements Skepticism/critical thinking

Let the poo fly again!

Good news! One of my favorite skeptical bloggers, Matt at Pooflingers Anonymous, has ended his blogging hiatus. I was sad to see him announce in early January that he was leaving the blogosphere , and I’m happy to see that he’s back in business. It turns out that the constant intense exposure to the rampant […]

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Skepticism/critical thinking

Orac knows science, skepticism, and critical thinking

Here is the second in a series of links to essential classic Respectful Insolence from Orac’s old blog. In a continuing series of posts, for the benefit of new readers (and a trip down memory lane for old readers), I now present: The Galileo Gambit What is a theory? Breast cancer “dormancy” Public speaking “Short […]