Details
Category: Swift
Hits: 5364

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.  

Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski’s antineoplastons versus patients (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/dr-stanislaw-burzynskis-antineoplastons/ Burzynski has been prohibited from providing his antineoplaston therapy outside of clinical trials, but he continues to attract patients with the promise of enrollment in clinical studies and not keep that promise. The problems with his practice have been highlighted in previous articles, but the impact on his patients needs to be emphasized more. These desperate sufferers are being lied to, charged exorbitantly, given false hope, and required to disrupt their lives for a difficult but ineffective treatment.  

Nonsense about the Health Effects of Electromagnetic Radiation (Harriet Hall) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/nonsense-about-the-health-effects-of-electromagnetic-radiation/ An article about the alleged health effects of low level EMF is packed with false statements and fallacious arguments. The recommended solutions to this non-problem include an astounding variety of nonsense like coffee enemas and avoidance of TV. This travesty purports to be science writing but is actually a propaganda piece consisting of opinion unsupported by credible evidence.  

Details
Category: Swift
Hits: 7216
A recent article by David Freedman, Survival of the Wrongest discusses some of the perils of health journalism. David Gorski  has already pointed out the irony of the article, given that Freedman's 2011 article on so-called alternative medicine was highly criticized by proponents of science-based medicine as terrible health journalism.  

I won't bother repeating David's excellent deconstruction, but I would like to explore some of the same issues raised.  

Irony aside, Freedman does bring up a valid point - medical research is error prone, those stories that journalists tend to report are the ones that sound the most counterintuitive and dramatic, and are also the ones most likely to be wrong.  

Details
Category: Swift
Hits: 59026

A fellow Twitter user recently asked me for my impressions of the The Dead Files. The Travel Channel show first aired back in September, 2011, and is now into its third season. Here is the network’s glowing blurb:

The Dead Files team approaches every case from their two specific areas of expertise: Steve DiSchiavi is a Homicide Detective and Amy Allan is a Physical Medium. They are a paranormal team like no other, combining their unique, eclectic and often-conflicting skills to solve unexplained paranormal phenomena in haunted locations across America.

Details
Category: Swift
Hits: 39532

There is a pornographer lurking in some corner of your mind. He peeks out from behind the curtains of your consciousness without warning, and almost never at an acceptable time.

The lurking pornographer in your brain is ever vigilant, looking for patterns, for signs of nudity, and sometimes generating them out of nowhere. He is exceedingly good at what he does, and isn’t afraid to prove his power over your perception. Just like that, he can take a picture of Daniel Craig in a bathing suit and turn it obscene.

Details
Category: Swift
Hits: 12211
The following is one of a series of articles by skeptical teachers who use the investigation of the paranormal, fringe science, and pseudoscience to teach methods of science and reason. If you would like to be involved in this project, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

 

I have spent many electrons typing on my keyboard and posting online about those who would use the government to impose their religious beliefs upon the rest of us by undercutting science education in our public schools. In fact, the most published category on my blog is in reference to creationism, that bugaboo which never seems to go away, like a bad game of Whack-a-Mole that you can’t ever finish.  

Like many who call themselves skeptics of pseudoscience, the paranormal, and religion, I have some friends who are into one or more of the aforementioned areas. Specifically, I have friends who proudly call themselves creationists, in the sense that they adhere to the most common variant called Young Earth Creationism (where their reading of the Bible says the Earth/universe is roughly 6000-10,000 years old). What I want to do here is to recount a conversation I had with one of these friends and how it opened my eyes into how the creationist mind seems to work.  

  1. Shining a Light on the Burzynski Clinic
  2. This Week In Doubtful News
  3. Last Week At Science-Based Medicine
  4. Idealism as Intrinsic Motivation