Here is a rundown of the top stories in paranormal and pseudoscience news from the past week courtesy of Doubtful News.

This week had many tales of the dangers of alternative medicine. First, the U.K.'s new health minister is partial to homeopathy. What might this mean for an industry that is currently on the ropes?

Meanwhile, broadcasters in Norway are questioning alternative medicine. 

Last week we told you about dangerous ingredients found in Ayurvedic meds for pregnancy symptoms. This week it was revealed that 8 people are ill from lead poisoning likely due to an Ayurvedic acne treatment

Speaking of traditional medicine, Glaxo Smith Kline is entering the Traditional Chinese Medicine market. Will they bring credibility and standards to a non-standardized and backwards, yet very popular field? 

Outspoken, but totally discredited, physician Andrew Wakefield is not done yet. It appears that he will file an appeal of the dismissal of his defamation suit. Good luck. He'll need it. 

An iridologist faces SERIOUS charges of mistreatment as a woman dies after being misdiagnosed for a cancerous cyst.

To wrap up alt med for the week, kudos to skeptic groups who take on dubious claims and test them. This past week the Merseyside Skeptics with the help of Austrialian skeptics took to task the Shuzi sports bands. Similar to the Power Balance bracelets that promised an athletic edge, the rational assessment was featured in the Guardian news outlet. 

In psychic news, that Marks family just won't go away. After several members were charged with fraud using their psychic claims and banned from such activities, one obtains permission to continue with her "God-given" skills, as a phone psychic. 

Ex-psychic for hire, Mark Edwards, has his memoirs, Psychic Blues, reviewed by the New York Times.

Another paper disputes Daryl Bem's finding of precognition, putting it on very tenuous ground and serving as an educational opportunity regarding research methods and analysis. 

TV psychics Derek Acorah and Richard Felix announced they will educate the public using science in their upcoming stage performance. It seems like they have concocted their own rebuttal to the Million Dollar Challenge (which they refuse to take) with their own tests and proof. But, since they do it themselves, as a show, I'm skeptical. You should be too. 

Here's a guy who is skeptical. He is also furious that a paranormal group claims that they found evidence in a murder case involving his brother. 

Parts of the world remain solidly in the dark ages as women in Ghana accused of witchcraft live in exile

That, perhaps, is preferable compared to this story of a "witch" in Columbia who was beaten and burned to death

In UFO news, singer Robbie Williams will buy an island and turn it into a UFO spotting station

And, a lecture at the National Atomic Testing Museum is tantalizing in it's promotion of military UFO secrets revealed

Perennial science cheerleader Bill Nye gets slammed for speaking the truth about Creationism. 

Finally, congratulations to the Monster Talk gang for winning a Parsec award for podcasting at this years Dragon Con. 

 

Your editors of Doubtful News were at Dragon Con to participate in the skeptrack (and sit it on several paranormal track events as well). The highlight was James Randi in discussion with rock star Alice Cooper about his work on Alice's Billion Dollar Babies theatrical stage show. Kudos to Derek Colanduno for a a skeptrack well done and VERY well attended.

An expert take on skeptical news is available weekly on a new video cast called Virtual Skeptics. We talk about the latest events that occurred that week. Check it out LIVE on Wednesday 8PM Eastern time and tell us what you think. Watch social network feeds for the link.

Visit Doubtful News or follow us @Doubtfulnews on Twitter.

 

Sharon Hill runs Doubtful News, a unique feed of news stories about the paranormal, pseudoscience, the weird and the unexplained with questioning commentary.