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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Evolution Medicine Pseudoscience Science Skepticism/critical thinking

In which Orac defends Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum…

I realize that I’m possibly stepping into proverbial lion’s den with this one, but a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. As you may recall, former ScienceBlogs bloggers Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum (and current Discover Magazine bloggers) recently released a book called Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future. […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Surgery

Vertebroplasty for compression fractures due to osteoporosis: Modern acupuncture

If there’s one theme that’s run through this blog since the very beginning, it’s that the best medical care should be based on the best science. In other words, I like to think of myself as being far more for science- and evidence-based medicine, than I am against against so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM). […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

M.D. Anderson enters the blogosphere–and goes woo

Did you know that acupuncture is very much related to astrology? No, it’s not just because both of woo. Rather, it’s likely true that the whole concept of “meridians,” those invisible “channels” through which our life energy (a.k.a. qi) allegedly flow were indirectly based on astrological signs, which had been used to guide points used […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Medicine

Cancer research and clinical trials

During the month of June on this blog, I got annoyed not once, but twice. First, I got annoyed at Sharon Begley for a truly annoying and evidence-free (other than cherry-picked anecdotes) broadside against the NIH for its “culture of caution” that, according to her, is largely responsible for the “lack of progress” against cancer […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

A homeopathy apologist takes over the Lymphoma Association

I tell ya, I’m gone for a few days, and the woo-meisters take over the store! Seriously, I was really, really tempted to blog this over the weekend, even though I was at The Amazing Meeting and even though I had promised myself that I would not blog during the meeting. It was that tempting. […]