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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Winning friends and influencing people the Handley way

You may have noticed that I’ve been laying off the antivaccination movement recently. Indeed, it’s been over two weeks since I last mentioned the topic, and then I only did so by briefly citing a post by Steve Novella. For this blog, aside from vacations, that has to be a record. Truth be told, periodically […]

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Humor Politics

What really happened in Iraq the other day…

I had always suspected that this is what was really going on: Actually, it would have been a lot more fun if this had been what really happened.

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

When PARADE goes woo

Having been sucked into the blogosphere for over four years now and having gotten the majority of my news online or from newsmagazines or the New York Times, I frequently forget that I’m not like the vast majority of people. Neither, I daresay, are my fellow ScienceBloggers or my readers. We don’t get our information […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

When faith in “alternative medicine” endangers children…

When confronted with skeptics who refuse to stay silent in the face of quackery–I’m sorry, “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), a large proportion of which is unproven if not outright quackery–shruggies frequently ask, “What’s the harm?” I can reply that so many of these modalities are no more than elaborate placebos reinforced with magical thinking. […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Entertainment/culture Medicine Quackery Television

Most credulous news report on an “alternative medicine” treatment ever?

Just as a quick followup to my post on Tong Ren, the quackery that combines acupuncture, “energy healing,” and, in essence, the stereotype of voodoo dolls in a veritable potpourri of woo, take a look at this news report done by the FOX News affiliate in Boston: If you want horrible, credulous, idiotic reporting, the […]