How We Believe
James Alcock's new book about belief is a masterpiece that explains how our minds work, how we form beliefs, and why they are so powerful. It amounts to a course in psychology and an owner's manual for the brain.
Clínica 0-19: False hope in Monterrey for DIPG patients (part 1)
Drs. Alberto Siller and Alberto Garcia run Clínica 0-19 in Monterrey, Mexico, which has become a magnet for patients with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a deadly brain cancer. Unfortunately, their treatment is an unproven combination of 11 chemotherapy drugs injected into an artery feeding the brainstem, plus an unknown and unproven "immunotherapy." Of course it all costs $300,000 or more for...
Certification in chiropractic techniques: legitimate care or tomfoolery?
Chiropractic vertebral subluxation theory breeds a variety of questionable diagnostic and treatment methods. Certification in use of a subluxation-based technique offers no assurance that the technique is effective or scientifically acceptable.
Prevagen goes P-hacking
Can post-hoc data-dredging produce competent and reliable scientific evidence for Prevagen's claims of memory improvement? The FTC and consumer groups say "no."
Is Gaming Addiction a Thing?
The WHO has added gaming disorder as an official ICD diagnosis, and the APA is considering adding gaming disorder to the DSM. What is gaming disorder and how should it be diagnosed?
H.O.P.E.: A Movie Promoting Veganism
H.O.P.E., a movie promoting veganism, is short on science and long on appeals to emotion.
ASCO endorses the integration of quackery into breast cancer care
In 2014, the Society for Integrative Oncology first published clinical guidelines for the care of breast cancer patients. Not surprisingly, SIO advocated "integrating" dubious therapies with oncology. Last week, the most influential oncology society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), endorsed a 2017 update to the SIO guidelines, thus endorsing the "integration" of quackery with oncology and paving the way for...
Anti-Vaccine Hotspots are Getting Hotter
More parents are seeking to avoid childhood vaccinations in states that allow nonmedical exemptions. These "hotspots" of decreasing vaccination rates, some of which include large urban cities, are likely locations for future outbreaks of preventable disease.
So-Called Alternative Medicine
Edzard Ernst calls it "So-Called Alternative Medicine". This insider's view of SCAM is a new book from an prolific researcher and author.
Halotherapy – The Latest Spa Pseudoscience
Halotherapy, sitting in a salt room, is the latest spa trend, just as full of pseudoscience and false claims as we have come to expect from wellness spas.