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Biology Medicine Science

The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine

No IgNobels here, the 2007 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Mario R. Capecchi, Martin J. Evans, and Oliver Smithies for a technique that is so incredibly important to modern biomedical research that it’s a wonder they didn’t get the prize before: This year’s Nobel Laureates have made a series of […]

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Anti-Semitism History Politics Religion

Richard Dawkins walked right into that one, I’m afraid

Richard Dawkins really should know better. That’s why it’s frustrating to see him put his foot in his mouth in a big way in a recent interview. Indeed, he did it in a way that leaves himself wide open to charges of anti-Semitism: In an interview with the Guardian, he said: “When you think about […]

Categories
Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

5 alternative medical treatments that “work”?

Some readers have been sending me links to this article on CNN.com entitled 5 Alternative Medicine Treatments That Work. Unfortunately, Your Friday Dose of Woo took up the time that normally would have gone into given this article the lovingly Respectfully Insolent™ treatment that this utterly credulous article so richly deserves and that you, my […]

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

Your Friday Dose of Woo: The fuzziness of woo

Over the last 15 months that this regular Friday feature has been in existence, I’ve come across some real doozies in the world of woo. Who could forget, for example, quantum gyroscopic theories of homeopathy? Or the DNA activation guy? Or the “no plane” conspiracy theory of 9/11? Or a certain disgusting “feedback loop” for […]

Categories
Medicine Surgery

Pulling it out of your posterior

One of the stranger aspects of being a general surgeon or a colorectal surgeon can be summed up by this abdominal X-ray (click on the picture for a bigger image): Yep. From time to time, every general surgeon will be called upon to pull something out of someone’s ass. It’s not super common, but common […]