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So my fine skeptical colleague, Bob Blaskiewicz, has written a terrific blog post that deserves wide circulation, entitled “What’s Right With Skepticism.” In recent weeks, if not indeed the last couple of years, there are voices in the wilderness that would have us believe that there’s not much right with skepticism these days, but in fact, that’s a pretty distorted view. Bob does a great job of reminding us of some of the great features of our movement and community, including Skepticamp, the Science-Based Medicine site, Doubtful News, JREF’s The Amazing Meeting, and much more. This is well worth a read by newbie skeptics and veterans alike. We are doing great work, we are having great conversations on the web and in person, and we are constantly informing and enlarging one another and our ever-growing community.

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Here is a rundown of the hoaxes, anomalies and faith-based news of the week courtesy of Doubtful News.

There were a couple of big science discovery stories this week that impact the realm of the mysterious and paranormal. First, a study on rats may shed more light on the phenomena of near death experiences as the dying rats' brains exhibited a sudden burst of activity.    

A discovery of a new mammal species was all over the place, mainly because he was cute as a button. But oliguito is no Bigfoot - why this discovery is BAD news for the field of cryptozoology. 

I like when really weirdo stories turn out to be true. Like this one: Knee snail. 

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Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo-woo in medicine.

When doctors betray their patients and science-based medicine for money (David Gorski)  http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/when-conventional-doctors-betray-science-based-medicine-for-money/ Medical boards have been notoriously ineffective in reining in quackery and bad physician behavior that endangers patients. Two recent cases are discussed: Farid Fata, an oncologist who was arrested because he falsely diagnosed cancers, gave unnecessary chemotherapy, and defrauded Medicare; and Abubakar Atiq Durrani, a spine surgeon who was indicted for performing unnecessary surgeries to defraud insurance companies. It was the legal system that acted; the medical boards did not.

Homeopathy First Aid Kits (Harriet Hall)  http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/homeopathy-first-aid-kits/ For $54.99, you can buy a first aid kit with 18 bottles of sugar pills that have been impregnated with homeopathic remedies diluted way beyond the point where no active ingredient remains. And you can get detailed instructions on which of the (now identical) remedies is indicated for everything from “fright” to food poisoning, from burns to bladder infections, from measles to muscle pain. Patients who rely on these remedies and the accompanying instructions in emergencies may be risking their health or even their life.

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I am often asked whether or not I believe the diagnosis of fibromyalgia really exists. It is a controversial medical diagnosis, although also very common. The FDA recognizes fibromyalgia and there are two drugs that have FDA indications to treat the disorder. Despite this, many doctors are not sure it exists.

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Newsweek today did a feature on Randi, JREF, and The Amaz!ng Meeting: "Inside a brilliant, nerdy, arrogant, sort of admirable, sort of insufferable movement that questions everything—and wants to upend the way you live and think."

The Bullshit Police

The activists of TAM see themselves as waging a broad, multifront battle to drag American culture, inch by inch, away from the nonscientific and the nonlogical. This turns out to be a surprisingly uphill struggle. Probably the majority of Americans believe in some degree of what JREF’s founder, James Randi, calls “woo-woo.”

“People like the flavor of bullshit, the aroma,” Randi says. “It’s very rare that people will stand for a complete lack of bullshit in anything.”

The feature article also includes comments by JREF Senior Fellow Jamy Ian Swiss, Daniel Loxton, Richard Saunders, Michael Shermer, and many more.

“I’m interested in looking at proof of paranormal claims, weird creatures, medical healings, spoon bending, talking to the dead—that’s my game.” - Richard Saunders

You can read the entire article here.

D.J. Grothe is president of the James Randi Educational Foundation

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