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Biology Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Science

Basic science: An “obstacle” to students who want to study medicine?

If there’s one aspect of medical education that I consider to be paramount, at least when it comes to understanding how to analyze and apply all the evidence, both basic science and clinical, it’s a firm grounding in the scientific method. I advocate science-based medicine (SBM), which is what evidence-based medicine (EBM) should be. SBM […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

A science section for the Huffington Post? More like a pseudoscience section! (2010 edition)

Funny how everything old is new again, isn’t it? Yes, if there’s one thing I’ve learned over nearly six years of blogging, it’s that, sooner or later, everything is recycled, and I do mean everything. At least, that was the thought going through my mind when I came across PZ’s discussion of a clueless wonder […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

Questions requested for an anti-vaxer

While the drama continues and interesting developments occur, I’ve found that I actually don’t mind taking a couple of days off. Don’t worry. Blogging’s a bug that’s gotten into me and, like PZ, I’ll probably start twitching and seizing if I go too long without producing one of my patented logorrheic screeds of pure insolence, […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

I know you are, but what am I?: Medical Voices’ woo-ful anti-vaccine whine

“I know you are, but what am I?” That’s basically the child’s version of a familiar logical fallacy known as the tu quoque, which basically means, “You, too!” It’s a very simple and simplistic logical fallacy that tries to argue that, if one’s trait shares one or more of the same bad traits of the […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

A more “fluid” discussion of the Human Genome Project

Remember Dr. David Katz? Fellow skeptic and supporter of science-based medicine Dr. Steve Novella is unfortunate to be saddle with Dr. Katz on the same faculty as him at Yale. He achieved some notoriety a couple of years ago when at a Yale conference on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), he laid down this gem: […]