Results for: acupuncture
Mark Sircus and “natural allopathic medicine”? Now I’ve heard everything from quacks
The term "allopathic medicine" was invented by homeopaths in the 19th century as a disparaging term for medicine. So to see a quack like Mark Sircus try to coopt it as "natural allopathic medicine" is quite something.
Best Hospital Eye Roll
Science: Figuring things out is better than making things up. A tee shirt I recently saw. Except… In a recent post Mayo Clinic Promotes Reiki, Steve seemed surprised that the Mayo was offering Reiki. I don’t know. Maybe he was channeling Louie. I know the Mayo is a top hospital, but I trained in Minneapolis at Hennepin County and we would have...
Music for Reducing Pain in Newborns
Newborns are exposed to painful procedures for good reason every day. Treating pain is important in this population, and music might play a role. At least it definitely won't hurt.
COVID-19 antivax quacks are now “repurposing” ivermectin for cancer
A year ago, I noticed that COVID-19 quacks were touting the "repurposing" of ivermectin to treat cancer. Now, familiar COVID-19 antivaxxers—cough, cough, FLCCC—have turbocharged this quackery.
More Americans turning to complementary approaches to pain control
The use of of complementary health approaches overall, and for pain management, is growing among US adults.
Skeptics in the Pub. Cholera. Chapter 7a
The story continues apace.
2023: The year that the evidence-based medicine (EBM) paradigm was weaponized against vaccines and public health
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been a very useful paradigm for assessing evidence in medicine. However, like any other framework, it can be misused, particularly when fundamentalist EBM methodolatry leads to its inappropriate application to questions for which it is ill-suited, a misuse that has been weaponized against public health during the pandemic.
Skeptics in the Pub. Cholera Chapter 6b
There were at least a dozen tents devoted to the Cholera. There was a small tent occupied by a single woman who sat at a desk with several piles of brochures. Looking closely, I could see the brochures were advertising for the Medical Societies, one stack for each of the five Societies. “Hello,” said the woman at the table. “How are you...
SBM in 2023
Some thoughts as we complete our 15th year of science-based medicine.


What Is Somatic Therapy?
Is modern medicine descending into pseudoscience, or is scientific medicine still going strong? Unfortunately, I think both of these things can happen at the same time. On the one hand, scientific research in medicine is progressing nicely. We are seeing the results of scientific breakthroughs made decades ago, with monoclonal antibody therapies, new therapeutic targets, the beginning of real genetic therapy, brain-machine...