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Blogging Complementary and alternative medicine Humor Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Why, oh, why can’t I have something like this aimed at me?

I’m envious of Steve Novella. No, the reason isn’t his vastly greater influence in the skeptical community than mine, his podcast The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe, or the fact that he gets called a lot more for commentary when something involving quackery versus science-based medicine comes up. He’s earned that, having been at this […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Homeopathy vs. science?

I have a hard time arguing against the proposition that this is the perfect metaphor for homeopathy. Well, not exactly. The homeopath and homeopathy user are both far too rational in this example.

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

A “homeopathic” bit of breast cancer “science,” or: Who knew alcohol was so toxic?

Homeopaths are irritating. They’re irritating for a number of reasons. One is their magical thinking, and, make no mistake, their thinking is nothing but pure magic, sympathetic magic to be precise. That’s all that the principle of “like cures like” really is at its heart. Normally, that principle states that “like produces like,” but homeopathy […]

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

Your Friday Dose of Woo: Homeopathy gets needled

I realize that there are two huge target-rich articles out there that my readers have been clamoring for me to comment on. First, there’s a particularly silly and simplistic article by Nicholas Kristof about how it’s supposedly the “toxins” causing autism (an article in which he apparently doesn’t realize that Current Opinions in Pediatrics is […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Humor Medicine Quackery

How does homeopathy work?

How does homeopathy work? Heh. Yes, this is in honor of my post earlier today. I’m also appreciative that homeopaths have apparently diagnosed what’s wrong with Parliament. Apparently it’s emitting an angry purple aura.