Category: History

The Swan Song of a Chiropractic Heretic

After 41 years of private practice as a chiropractor and 60 years of writing books and articles, the age of 94 finds me rethinking my career, wondering if my contributions to the literature justify the path I took.

/ November 14, 2023

Skeptics in the Pub. Cholera.

Prologue from the serialization of the novel Skeptics in the Pub: Cholera.

/ October 7, 2023

Spontaneous Human Combustion. A Sort of Narrative Review.

Burning Man. It is more than a rained out festival in the desert.

/ September 19, 2023

Quack Quack

Joe Schwarcz's new book Quack Quack is an informative and entertaining look at quackery and pseudoscience past and present. A delightful read.

/ January 3, 2023
Quackery duck

The war on the science-based regulation of medicine accelerates

Last week, it was reported how increasingly there is a war on the science-based regulation of medicine and physicians. It's an old story, but unfortunately the forces arrayed against science-based policy have been emboldened by the pandemic and an stronger alliance with political groups that are against government regulation in general.

/ October 31, 2022

How the “Don’t take this medication with grapefruit juice” warning originated

How a chance discovery by one scientist improved the safety of consumers worldwide.

/ September 29, 2022
Nuremberg Doctors Trial

COVID-19 vaccines and the Nuremberg Code

Antivaxxers love to claim that vaccine mandates (especially COVID-19 vaccine mandates) violate the Nuremberg Code and call for Nuremberg-style tribunals to hold public health and vaccine advocates "accountable". As usual, they have no idea what they are talking about. This is also not a new antivax narrative, although what is unprecedented is that what was once fringe even among antivaxxers is now...

/ August 29, 2022

Deciding Which Risks to Take

No medical treatment is risk-free. Paul Offit's new book covers the history of innovations that went awry and advises how to balance the risks of new medical innovations with the risk of not treating.

/ March 8, 2022

Science Goes Viral

Joe Schwarcz has done it again! His new book is not only packed with good science-based information, but is highly entertaining.

/ September 7, 2021

The First Woman Doctor in America

This book about the first woman doctor in America contains fascinating details about the Blackwell sisters, their struggles, and the times they lived in. Elizabeth Blackwell is to be commended for her accomplishments, but it appears that she was not a nice person.

/ June 22, 2021