Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

Pediatricians versus the Dunning-Kruger effect on vaccines

I don’t know if I could be a pediatrician right now. True, I probably don’t have the personality to be a pediatrician, at least not a primary care pediatrician on the front lines. After all, if I did, I probably wouldn’t have become a surgeon, much less a hyperspecialized cancer surgeon. One reason (among many, […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Movies Popular culture

It’s always the vaccines: Harold Ramis and autoimmune vasculitis

Last week, one of my favorite comedians and filmmakers of all time passed away unexpectedly. I’m referring, of course, to Harold Ramis, whose work ranged from movies like National Lampoon’s Animal House (the first R-rated movie I ever saw, actually), to gems like Ghostbusters and and Groundhog Day. In fact, in retrospect, when I posted […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Acid flashbacks to antivaccine conspiracy theories from nine years ago

I’m home. Oh, wait. No. Well, I’m back. Yes, the grant has been submitted, and I’m ready to get back to my hobby of science, skepticism, and, when necessary, laying down some Insolence, both Respectful and not-so-Respectful. And, it figures, too. While I was distracted with meatspace concerns, such as trying to keep my lab […]

Categories
Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Religion

Leaving the cult of antivaccinationism and alt-med

The other day, I got to thinking about cults. The reason is that it’s been clear to me for some time that the antivaccine movement is a quack cult. In fact, a lot of quack groups are very cultish, the example that reminded me of this having been an excellent report published by a young […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Thinker. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

After yesterday’s detailed analysis of a study that’s being touted far and wide as “evidence” that vitamin C cures cancer, I thought I deserved a bit of a break. No, that doesn’t mean I’m going to take the day off from blogging. (Obviously, as you’re reading this now.) It does mean that I plan on […]