Category: Science and the Media

Dr. Vinay Prasad: “Public Health’s (Mis)Truth Problem”

Dr. Vinay Prasad continues to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about the government response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

/ February 27, 2022
Kim Kardashian

John Ioannidis uses the Kardashian Index to attack critics of the Great Barrington Declaration

This isn't a title that I ever thought I'd use or a post that I ever thought I'd write, but John Ioannidis has really done it. He's incompetently used the Kardashian index to attack John Snow Memorandum signatories and argue that the Great Barrington Declaration signatories, who argue for a "natural herd immunity" approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, are the underdogs who...

/ February 14, 2022
Oz challenges Fauci to debate

“Debate me, bro!”: Debate challenges by science deniers in the age of COVID-19

Quacks, science deniers, and conspiracy theorists love to challenge doctors, scientists, and science communicators to "live public debates" over the science they deny. I just say no, and you should say no too if you are in a position to receive such a challenge.

/ January 31, 2022
Brownstone Institute

The “spiritual child of the Great Barrington Declaration” promotes antivaccine misinformation

The signatories of the Great Barrington Declaration and its "spiritual child" the Brownstone Institute, swear up and down that they are not anttivaccine. If that's so, why are Brownstone-affiliated academics spreading antivaccine misinformation in Uganda?

/ January 24, 2022

The Misinformation Dilemma

Is there a workable solution to the social media dilemma?

/ January 19, 2022

Everything old is new again

Since the pandemic hit, I've frequently said things like, "Everything old is new again", referring to the antivaccine movement in the age of COVID-19. As 2022 dawned, I thought I'd expand a bit on what I mean. Is there a term for déjà vu, but what I'm seeing now is amplified a thousand-fold? Proponents of science-based medicine have been warning us for...

/ January 3, 2022

Poor Science Reporting and Premature Enthusiasm

Press releases often outpace the data. Here are some examples of over-enthusiastic reporting on extremely preliminary research.

/ December 21, 2021
Carl Sagan

John Ioannidis and the Carl Sagan effect in science communication about COVID-19

We have been critical about John Ioannidis over a number of his statements about the COVID-19 pandemic. Now he's done it again, producing a poor-quality paper whose unwritten assumptions suggest that the Carl Sagan effect, in which scientists are penalized professionally by their peers for becoming popular science communicators, still holds considerable sway in science and medicine.

/ December 13, 2021

The Dawning of Friends of Science in Medicine (FSM)

For over 10 years, Friends of Science in Medicine has been fighting quackery, fraud, and pseudoscience in Australia.

/ December 4, 2021

Those Joe Namath Medicare Commercials

Joe Namath is promoting Medicare Advantage Plans on TV. Some of what he says is misleading. Here's the rest of the story.

/ November 9, 2021