Categories
Cancer Medicine

A 10-month wait for a mammogram?

A small part of me is glad that my inquiries a while back to get a job at Northwestern University in Chicago came to nothing when I read stuff like this on, of all places, Julie Deardorff’s blog: Next appointment? Sept. 21, 2009 It now takes 10 months to get an appointment for a regular […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

Yet another acupuncture meta-analysis: Garbage in, garbage out

Ever since I started paying attention to it, acupuncture has, at least until recently, inspired ambivalence more than anything else in me. As a skeptic and science-based physician, I found it very easy to dismiss utter quackery like homeopathy or the various “energy healing” modalities, such as reiki or therapeutic touch strictly on the science […]

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Bioethics Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

The day after Thanksgiving: A bit of reading for you–and a “framing” response

Believe it or not, sometimes even Orac has a life. I know, I know, between the ridiculously logorrheic blogging here and other online activities, coupled with even more ridiculous long hours working at his day job, it’s hard to conceive. However, my wife and I had a whole passel of relatives over, several of whom […]

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

Where’s that Doctor Doom mask again?

As I sat down on the couch in front of the TV last night to do my nightly blogging ritual, trying to tickle the gray matter to come up with the pearls of wisdom or insolence that my readers have come to know and love, I had a fantastic idea for a serious consideration of […]

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

Your Friday Dose of Woo: Soundscapes on the brain

I had thought about taking the day off after celebrating the 100th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle yesterday, but a skeptic’s work is never done, and, besides, my wife’s out of town for a couple of days. Given the choice of television, working on my program’s section of our cancer center core grant or one […]