Category: Science and the Media
After 15 years of SBM: Lessons learned and what the future holds
Last week, Dr. Novella discussed what SBM has accomplished over the last 15 years. I'm going to discuss lessons learned, what has changed, and remaining huge challenges. Unfortunately, after the pandemic, our position in 2022 reminds me even more than ever of Aragorn at the Black Gate of Mordor, but that does not mean things are hopeless.
A clot too far: An embalmer dissects antivax misinformation about blood clots in Died Suddenly
Two weeks ago, COVID-19 conspiracy theorist Stew Peters released an antivax pseudodocumentary, Died Suddenly, whose main claim is that COVID-19 vaccines cause clots that have caused a massive wave of people to "die suddenly". Key to its narrative are embalmers claiming that they are seeing more clots in the bodies they are embalming than ever before. SBM has recruited Benjamin Schmidt, an...
Died Suddenly: A tsunami of antivax misinformation and conspiracy theories
Everything old is new again when it comes to antivax tropes. Stew Peters' antivax pseudodocumentary Died Suddenly resurrects the old antivax conspiracy that vaccines kill, the plan being to cause “depopulation” that will allow “global elites” to control the world. Dr. Gorski watched the whole movie so that you don't have to.
What the New York Times gets wrong about puberty blockers for transgender youth
The New York Times recently published an article expressing grave concern about the use of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria in transgender adolescents. Unfortunately, the reporting ignored evidence and important context to weave a narrative portraying puberty blockers as far more risky than they actually are.
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.