Category: Science and the Media
Brownstone uses flawed data analysis to minimize COVID in NYC; An NYC hospitalist’s perspective
Guest posters Drs. Eric Burnett and Jonathan Laxton provide a lengthy rebuttal to Dr. Jessica Hockett's claims that NYC did not suffer a deadly, almost overwhelming wave of COVID-19 in 2020.
The appeal of being a medical “apostate”
There has long been a huge appeal in medicine that derives from being an "apostate". Since COVID-19 hit, apostasy has become like a drug among too many doctors, and social media has amplified the popularity of "medical apostates" beyond anything I've seen previously.
The making of COVID-19 “contrarian” doctors
In 2009, I tried to answer the question: How do doctors become quacks and antivaxxers? A Twitter encounter suggested to me that an update to that post is massively overdue.
Science denial, overconfidence, and persuasion
The pandemic has brought scientists who have rejected science with respect to COVID-19 public health measures a disturbing level of influence. Recent research suggests reasons why and who among the public susceptible to such misinformation remains persuadable.
Conspiracy theories about monkeypox: Déjà vu all over again or same as it ever was?
Last Thursday, the Biden administration officially declared monkeypox to be a national public health emergency. Unsurprisingly, conspiracy theories abound, many of them recycled from COVID-19 and older antivax conspiracy theories.
In What Is a Woman?, Matt Walsh asks a question, but doesn’t like the answers
Matt Walsh's documentary asks What Is a Woman? Unfortunately, his documentary is every bit as much of a science denying propaganda film disguised as a documentary as antivax films like VAXXED or the anti-evolution film Expelled!, and such films tend to be potent messaging tools.
Gender-Affirming Care is Not Experimental, Part II
A lot of the "facts" about providing healthcare to transgender youth turn out to be not actually facts. We present here a summary of the evidence relating to transition-related health care for transgender adolescents.
Legislative alchemy and abortion: How the fall of Roe v. Wade will degrade science-based medicine
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, eliminating the federal right to an abortion. What does that mean for science-based reproductive health and science-based medicine in general? Hint: It's not good, even for areas of medicine outside of reproductive health.
“New school” COVID-19 antivaxxers are becoming less and less distinguishable from “old school” antivaxxers
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a new generation of antivaxxers has arisen. Most view themselves as pro-vaccine, just not pro-COVID-19 vaccines. Recent developments, however, have demonstrated that "new school" antivaxxers are increasingly indistinguishable from "old school" antivaxxers and that this fusion is increasingly endangering all public health, not just COVID-19 public health interventions.
The ABIM vs. medical misinformation: Better late than never?
Last week, the New England Journal of Medicine published an editorial by the President of ABIM discussing how the board certification can be taken away from diplomates who spread medical misinformation. Is this too little, too late?