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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Why not just castrate them? (Part 6): The State of Maryland finally takes “emergency action” against Mark Geier and his Lupron protocol for autism

One of the most persistent myths is one that’s been particularly and doggedly resistant to evidence, science, clinical trials, epidemiology, and reason. It’s also a myth that I’ve been writing about since a couple of months after the beginning of this blog. Specifically, I’m referring to the now scientifically discredited myth that the mercury-containing thimerosal […]

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Medicine Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Progress mixed with hype in personalized medicine

“Personalized medicine.” You’ve probably heard the term. It’s a bit of a buzzword these days and refers to a vision of future medicine in which therapies are much more tightly tailored to individual patients than they currently are. That’s not to say that as physicians we haven’t practiced personalized medicine before; certainly we have. However […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Politics Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Birthers and the anti-vaccine movement: A brief interlude

Here’s a brief one for you all. Former UPI editor and now editor of the anti-vaccine crank blog Age of Autism has a talent for incredibly un-self-aware statements. This time around, in the wake of President Obama’s having released his “long form” birth certificate, ol’ Danny Boy posted a quickie statement (in amongst a bunch […]

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Politics

Osama bin Laden…dead. Finally.

After more than ten years, finally, Osama bin Laden is dead: This is such monumental news that I think it’s appropriate to pause blogging in order to pay tribute to the brave men and women who finally not only killed the terrorist mastermind behind 9/11 but brought his body back. Well done! I’ve written about […]

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Politics Science Skepticism/critical thinking

In “tribute” to a commenter…all you ever needed to know about Climategate

Dedicated to a certain commenter who thinks I’m an “eco-fascist” because I criticized Ann Coulter for abusing physics and biology for claiming that “radiation is good for you,” I present a video that succinctly describes everything you need to know about the “Climategate” affair: I posted it on my Facebook profile, too, and already a […]