Category: Science and Medicine
Conspirituality: Where New Age wellness meets right wing conspiracy thinking
Conspiracy theorists and QAnon may sound miles apart from wellness, yoga and GOOP, but they're converging into "conspirituality", the integration of spirituality and conspiracy theories.
The efforts of antivaxxers to portray COVID-19 vaccines as harmful or even deadly continue apace (VAERS edition)
With the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines continuing apace, so are the efforts of antivaxxers to portray the vaccines as dangerous. This time around, they've resurrected the old antivaccine trick of deceptively misusing the VAERS database to imply causation from VAERS reports. That's not how VAERS works, however.
Ad-Conned: A Critical Look At CASPer
Medical schools are facing a flood of applicants, and have started using for-profit tests alleged to assess people skills as a way to distinguish candidates. The evidence is weak, and lacks transparency.
CRISPR vs. TALEN
There are more than one genetic engineering technologies available. Here's a comparison.
All science denial is a form of conspiracy theory
Regular readers of this blog know that many forms of quackery and science denial have conspiracy theories associated with them, but a further examination suggests that all forms of science denial are a form of conspiracy theory. In the middle of a deadly pandemic, science denial represents a form of conspiracy theory with potentially deadly consequences.
Science-Based Satire: Implantable Desubluxators Revolutionize Chiropractic Care
Have chiropractic scientists developed an implantable device that will detect and treat subluxations? Are there companies that monitor these devices in order to alert patients and to arrange for 24-7 emergency adjustments? No. There absolutely are not. This is satire.
Topical Barley Flour for the Management of Newborn Jaundice: A Real Study Done by Actual Pediatricians
Ever heard of coating a newborn in barley flour as a treatment for jaundice? Me neither...but here we are. And there's a study! This is not satire.
Germ theory denial in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic
As hard as it is to believe, in the middle of a global pandemic that's claimed so many lives and so thoroughly disrupted society, there are people who still deny germ theory. How can this be?
The Guardian and the “Cult” of Online Chiropractic
Over the past few years, a handful of chiropractors have gone viral because of aggressive neck adjustments that make a loud crack and provide a quick thrill for viewers of their YouTube videos. A recent article in The Guardian discussed the phenomenon, but it doesn't go far enough.
2020 – The Good and the Bad
What 2020 has taught us about the power of science and the harm of pseudoscience.