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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 in medicine.  

Does massage therapy decrease inflammation and stimulate mitochondrial growth? An intriguing study oversold (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/massage-therapy-decreases-inflammation/ Massage makes people feel good, but it doesn’t do all the other things it is claimed to do, like hastening healing.  A recent study was was essentially negative, but was presented as proof that massage “promotes mitochondrial biogenesis” and was hyped out of all recognition by the media. The study was unethical because it involved multiple muscle biopsies.    

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Political bodies are notoriously unreliable as authorities on scientific controversies. Sometimes they get it right - sometimes they get it horribly wrong. The outcome depends heavily on the people involved (what is their ideology and agenda) and political forces that are putting their meaty thumbs on the scale. But also on which experts are relied upon for information, analysis, and advice.  

Politicians are generally not scientists. As with journalists, even the science savvy among them still lack sufficient expertise to formulate a definitive opinion (although that often does not stop them from trying), so they need to consult experts. This can be tricky when experts disagree, in which case (unless a thorough sampling is done) expert advice can be a crapshoot.  

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  • The Jay Thomas Show | Sirius/XM Satellite Radio, February 15, 2012
    Interview with D.J. Grothe (not available online)
    P    resident of JREF and the host of For Good Reason, a critical thinking podcast, will tell us about the tricks fake psychics use to convince people of their powers.
  • The Thinking Atheist, February 16, 2012
    Faith Healers - With Special Guest James Randi
    In this show, world-famous illusionist and skeptic James Randi explains the faith healing phenomenon, exposes many of the fraudulent tactics of faith healers, and speaks about the $1 million challenge given to anyone who can demonstrate supernatural power.
  • Willamette Week, February 13, 2012
    Willamette Geek: The Week in Geek
    Noted skeptic and former magician James Randi will look at the trickery of various "think tanks" over the past three decades, "launching a world-wide plague of misinformation, the repercussions of which can still be felt today." Dun, dun duuuunn.

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Remembrance of Lives Past

Long a staple of many eastern cultures and religions, past life recall gained a following in Western countries through the influential books by Helena Blavatsky and her Theosophical society. Since hypnosis had gained certain respectability due to optimistic medical researchers studying human memory, exploring human reincarnation through hypnotic regression was a natural enough development.   During the 1950s, “past life regression therapy” using hypnosis to explore past lives of patients and resolving past-life issues to improve their lives in the present began attracting media attention. Although mainstream psychology never took the movement seriously, the fact that many true believers did was enough to stir up interest.

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If you attended TAM 2011 Las Vegas, you may have seen award-winning filmmakers Tyler Measom and Justin Weinstein walking around with their crew, shooting for this film. Measom co-directed the documentary Sons of Perdition, and Weinstein wrote and edited the Sundance jury-prize-winning Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey.

Their latest work-in-progress is an independently-produced documentary about the life and work of James Randi, called An Honest Liar: The Story of The Amazing Randi. You can learn more about the project at AnHonestLiar.com and watch the new trailer below.


  1. Video: James Randi Returns to the Magic Castle
  2. The Care And Feeding Of Homunculi
  3. Can Science Test the Validity of the Supernatural?
  4. Changing the Frame on Vaccination