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Complementary and alternative medicine Evolution Intelligent design/creationism Medicine Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

The New England Journal of Medicine blows an opportunity

I happen to be in Phoenix today, attending the Academic Surgical Congress, where I actually have to present one of my abstracts. That means, between flying to Phoenix last night and preparing for my talk, I didn’t have time to serve up a heapin’ helping of that Respectful Insolence™ you know and (hopefully) love. Fortunately, […]

Categories
Clinical trials Medicine Quackery Surgery

Avoiding scientific delusions

I happen to be in Phoenix today, attending the Academic Surgical Congress, where I actually have to present one of my abstracts. That means, between flying to Phoenix last night and preparing for my talk, I didn’t have time to serve up a heapin’ helping of that Respectful Insolence™ you know and (hopefully) love. Fortunately, […]

Categories
Announcements Medicine Science

Basic concepts–patience

I know, I know. I’ve been a bad boy. I’ve been meaning to join in everyone else and produce a couple of “basic concepts” posts. Somehow, I’ve just been distracted. The problem is, blogging is my hobby. It’s what I do for enjoyment. Writing a “basic concepts” post seems too much like work and grant […]

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Paranormal Skepticism/critical thinking

Sylvia Browne tries intimidation when her psychic powers don’t work

Congratulations to Robert Lancaster, purveyor of the fine website Stop Sylvia Browne, a site dedicated to documenting the misadventures and misdeeds of the phony “psychic” known as Sylvia Browne. Apparently she has noticed him. In fact, between Robert, The Amazing Randi, and Anderson Cooper piling on to document her errors and downright callousness towards the […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

“Alternative medical income” (a.k.a. “woo pays the bills”)

I’ve written a lot about alternative medicine, much of which I consider to be woo; i.e., treatments for which there is no medical efficacy and the belief in which often requires magical thinking. I’ve expressed my disappointment in medical physicians who fall prey to and become purveyors or woo, doctors such as Dr. Deepak Chopra, […]