Month: January 2021

Ad-Conned: A Critical Look At CASPer

Medical schools are facing a flood of applicants, and have started using for-profit tests alleged to assess people skills as a way to distinguish candidates. The evidence is weak, and lacks transparency.

/ January 29, 2021

Consumer and public health groups push for cancer warning on alcoholic beverages

A coalition of consumer and public health groups, citing scientific consensus, is pushing for a government-required warning that alcohol consumption causes cancer on alcoholic beverage containers. Despite the evidence, we can expect alcohol industry opposition.

/ January 28, 2021

CRISPR vs. TALEN

There are more than one genetic engineering technologies available. Here's a comparison.

/ January 27, 2021

Is Midstream Urine Collection Necessary?

There's considerable evidence that the standard procedure for urine specimens, with cleansing and mid-stream collection, may not be necessary. Is it time to change?

/ January 26, 2021

All science denial is a form of conspiracy theory

Regular readers of this blog know that many forms of quackery and science denial have conspiracy theories associated with them, but a further examination suggests that all forms of science denial are a form of conspiracy theory. In the middle of a deadly pandemic, science denial represents a form of conspiracy theory with potentially deadly consequences.

/ January 25, 2021

Science-Based Satire: Implantable Desubluxators Revolutionize Chiropractic Care

Have chiropractic scientists developed an implantable device that will detect and treat subluxations? Are there companies that monitor these devices in order to alert patients and to arrange for 24-7 emergency adjustments? No. There absolutely are not. This is satire.

/ January 22, 2021

The Anti-Vaxxer Playbook to Destroy Confidence in COVID-19 Vaccines

Major anti-vaccination voices and organizations have coalesced around three key messages to keep people from accepting the COVID-19 vaccine. Their playbook has now been exposed.

/ January 21, 2021

The Threat of Conspiracy Thinking to SBM

Conspiracy thinking is on the rise, and threatens the very notion of science and truth.

/ January 20, 2021

Statin Side Effects Revisited

Patients on statins frequently report muscle pain and other side effects, but controlled studies have shown side effects are not more frequent than with placebo. Why this discrepancy? A new study sheds some light.

/ January 19, 2021
Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

The efforts of antivaxxers to portray COVID-19 vaccines as harmful or even deadly continue apace…

As more and more COVID-19 vaccines find their way into more and more arms, there are reports of bad things happening to people after vaccination up to and including even death. As I've been predicting for a long time that they would, antivaxxers are now weaponizing these reports and anecdotes before they have even been investigated in order to spread fear, uncertainty,...

/ January 18, 2021