Category: Commentary
Time to Move Beyond the Impact Factor
The impact factor has become the one metric for journal quality. It's time to rethink this system.
JAMA on Medical Misinformation
A JAMA article addresses the issue of confronting medical misinformation. They make good recommendations - but do not go nearly far enough.
Fighting Online for SBM
Physicians are being harassed offline by antivax and other trolls. We can't let that happen.
SBM in 2018 and Beyond
A look back at SBM in 2018 and the future of SBM.
Vertigo Voodoo: A Crazy-Sounding Cure That Actually Works
A sequence of positional changes sounds like voodoo, but is actually an effective way to cure benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).
Italy’s Antivaccine Government – The Attack on Experts Continues
Anti-vaccine Italian government fires its entire Health Council. This is unfortunately part of a bigger trend against expertise and reality-based policy.
Chinese Researcher Reports First Gene-Edited Babies
A Chinese scientist announces first gene-edited babies, setting off a discussion of the science and ethics of using CRISPR on humans.
Should Evidence-Based Medicine Be Replaced by Interpersonal Medicine?
An opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine complains about the limitations of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and recommends a new approach they call "interpersonal medicine." In my opinion, good clinical medicine is already interpersonal medicine; there is no need for something new.
A right to science
Unless forced to do so, the state and federal governments will continue to base law and policy on bad science. Maybe it's time for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a "right to science."
Taking On the Wellness Industry
The wellness industry is just one more manifestation of quackery and pseudoscience in health.