Last Week At Science-Based Medicine
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- Written by Dr. Harriet Hall
- Category: Swift
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The problem of nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the-problem-of-nonmedical-exemptions-to-school-vaccine-mandates/ There’s overwhelming evidence that the existence of nonmedical (religious and philosophical) vaccine exemptions results in more children remaining unvaccinated, creating a public health risk. The easier it is to get exemptions, the more parents will take them. Arguments from parental rights and religious beliefs complicate the issues; eliminating all nonmedical exemptions is unrealistic in the present political climate, but we can hope to limit exemptions and make them harder to get.
News flash! Doctors aren’t all compliant pharma drones! (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/news-flash-doctors-arent-all-compliant-pharma-drones/ A new study shows that doctors are anything but minions of Big Pharma. They are only half as willing to prescribe new drugs if the research was funded by industry and are twice as willing to trust data from NIH-funded trials. If anything, they may be more skeptical of Big Pharma than necessary.
What You Can Do to Fight Woo
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- Written by Carrie Poppy
- Category: Uncategorised
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It's been quite a week for news stories. If you haven't been glued to your TV (and your Twitter feed) following the presidential elections, you may have been reading about Simon Cowell hiring a house healer (more on what the JREF is doing to help Mr. Cowell in an upcoming post) or tracking Theresa Caputo's tour across the United States. But what can you do with news of pseudoscience and paranormal claims, besides gently tugging at the roots of your hair until your head bleeds? Here are a few suggestions.
UFO Spotted Over Pregnant Mother in the United Kingdom
What Happened: The Irish Sun is reporting that a Buzz-Lightyear-like figure was spotted floating above an unsuspecting pregnant woman last week. The photographer claims he did nothing to manipulate the photo and that he didn't notice the Tim Allen-like figure until after the photo was taken. Okay, sure, so the Sun isn't exactly the premiere source of credible information, but this is just the sort of claim we hear every day, from people who accidentally catch their own thumb in a photo, to those who intentionally insert an object into the frame. And, unfortunately, these fakes often fool many people, causing them to wonder if aliens are on their way to Earth to rob graves and slowly chase women.
What You Can Do: If you can recreate the effect in the photo, send us your own version, and we'll share the best ones, so the world can see how easy it is to manipulate a photo and get the same effect. We've already received many fantastic entries, so hurry up and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.! The best one wins a Team Randi shirt!
Videos: TAM 2012 Sunday Paper Presentations
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- Written by JREF Staff
- Category: Latest JREF News
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It's a yearly tradition at the Amaz!ng Meeting to open the Sunday morning stage for paper presentations from some of the many experts and laypeople who want to share their valuable, skeptical perspective with the TAM audience. Today, we are very pleased to announce that all of the paper presentations from TAM 2012 are now available on our YouTube channel, including their introductions from Dr. Ray Hall.
Dr. Martha Keller - "Quackery no Longer Just Refers to Ducks: The Growing Presence of CAM in Veterinary Medicine"
Veterinarian Dr. Martha Keller exposes the rising tide of pseudoscience in veterinary medicine.
JREF News & Updates for September 2012
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- Written by JREF Staff
- Category: Latest JREF News
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It has been a busy past month for the JREF crew. Along with scores of other notable skeptics, Randi and Brian Thompson appeared at Dragon*Con, where Randi had an on-stage reunion with his old friend Alice Cooper. We are gearing up for our upcoming Amaz!ng Adventure 2012 (Hint: It’s Not The End Of The World!), as well as speaking tours for Randi in India and Australia. We announced some academic scholarship opportunities, as well as existing JREF grants for teachers and skeptic groups.
We’ve posted a great number of challenging and thought-provoking videos on skeptical topics from TAM 2012 on JREF’s popular YouTube channel, including talks by Stuart Firestein, Dierdre Barrett, Tim Farley, Eugenie Scott, Ben Radford and many, many more. One of the most popular videos posted from TAM 2012 is the recording of our Live Million Dollar Challenge, where Banachek, Jamy Ian Swiss, Chip Denman, Richard Saunders, and Baxter, along with over a dozen other JREF volunteers, tested the claims of the inventor of the Dynactiv SR wristband, a gizmo purported to improve the wearer’s strength, stamina, energy and balance, as well as help regulate sleep and increase focus and concentration. To me, the video of our live test is a breathtaking example of both the seriousness and thoroughness with which such claims must be treated and the ideal posture — a combination of humility and open-mindedness — required when examining such paranormal or pseudoscientific claims.
Earlier this week, Randi and I were in Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona, where among other things, he was featured at an event for the internationally renowned Barrow Neurological Institute. The special event was “Magic and the Brain,” and also featured prominent Vegas magician Mac King, along with the neuroscientists Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde (authors of Sleights of Mind), and it explored the intersection of magic, science, skepticism and deception. While we were in town, Randi and I also gave lectures on skepticism, science and magic at the University of Arizona.
Download the JREF's "Today in Skeptic History" App Today!
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- Written by JREF Staff
- Category: Latest JREF News
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For years now, JREF research fellow Tim Farley has been tirelessly compiling a database of important dates in skeptic history, commemorating everything from the 
birthdays of skeptical luminaries like James Randi and Carl Sagan to the anniversaries of major scientific discoveries and breakthroughs. That exhaustive database is literally at your fingertips with the “Today in Skeptic History” app.
Co-created by Tim Farley and Mike Vargas and published by the JREF, “Today in Skeptic History” displays all the important skeptical events that happened on the date you open the app. It also provides links to more information about these events, and you can easily share them on social networks like Twitter or Facebook right from the app. Even better, you can search the entire database, using any date you like.
More events are added all the time, and “Today in Skeptic History” updates itself over the internet automatically. With 1,300 events and counting, you can spend hours brushing up on your knowledge of critical thinking’s long and fascinating history.
You can download the app for your iOS device (iPhone, iPad and iPod) for free right now.
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