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Clinical trials Medicine Politics Popular culture Skepticism/critical thinking

WTF happened to John Ioannidis?

John Ioannidis is one of the most published and influential scientists in the world, someone whose skewering of bad medical research we at SBM have frequently lauded over the years. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Since then, Prof. Ioannidis has been publishing dubious studies that minimize the dangers of the coronavirus, shown up in the media to decry “lockdowns,” and, most recently, “punched down”, attacking a graduate student for having criticized him. What happened? Did Prof. Ioannidis change, or was he always like this and I just didn’t see it? Either way, he’s a cautionary tale of how even science watchdogs can fall prey to hubris.

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Science Skepticism/critical thinking

The cranks pile on John Ioannidis’ work on the reliability of science

Pity poor John Ioannidis. The man does provocative work about the reliability of scientific studies as published in the peer-reviewed literature, and his reward for trying to point out shortcomings in how we as scientists and clinical researchers do studies and evaluate evidence is to be turned into an icon for cranks and advocates of […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery

The Mercola tapes: A wealthy antivax quack scammed

Dr. Joe Mercola embraced “alternative health” in the late 1990s, including quackery and antivax, and has since become very wealthy. Lately, he’s fallen under the spell of a psychic grifter and declared himself to be the “new Jesus.” What will happen to his business empire?

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

Jay Bhattacharya’s attack Chihuahua smears Orac for criticizing him and the Great Barrington Declaration

Hack conspiracy “journalist” and attack Chihuahua Paul Thacker defends Nominee for NIH Director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, and his Great Barrington Declaration by rehashing the same old attacks on its critics. I appear to be living rent-free in their heads.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

Stanford University promotes disastrous “natural herd immunity” approaches to the pandemic

A week and a half ago, Stanford University announced a conference on pandemic policy that features several of the usual suspects who spread misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Truly, Stanford has become the “respectable” academic face of efforts to undermine public health.