Tag: pseudoscience

A person stands in the center of intricate, neon-green light trails forming a circular, flower-like pattern against a dark background. The light trails create a sense of movement and energy around the person.

Medical Intuitives: More Integrative Medicine Pseudoscience

The integrative medicine industry is all in on making a "scan" of your "biofield" part of your physician's diagnostic toolkit.

/ September 1, 2026

Acupuncture for Heart Attacks and more State-Sanctioned Pseudoscience

States default to a private organization run by acupuncturists and TCM practitioners to vet continuing education courses, with predictable results.

/ June 2, 2026
Interstitium

A blast from the past: The “interstitium,” the inspiration for that recent awful NYT acupuncture article

I'm on vacation this week and decided to repost a 2018 article that I had written for my other blog (but never published on SBM) that's oddly relevant to the SBM post last week about that awful NYT acupuncture article. Meet the introduction of the "interstitium" in acupuncture, complete with a major Deepak Chopra connection!

/ May 18, 2026
A woman lies face down on a massage table with several acupuncture needles inserted into her bare upper back, receiving acupuncture treatment. A white towel covers part of her body, and she appears relaxed.

More credulous nonsense about acupuncture, this time from National Geographic

PNAS recently published credulous nonsense about acupuncture so bad that I thought it couldn't be topped. "Hold my beer!" cried National Geographic, as it proceeded to top PNAS.

/ May 11, 2026

Legislative Alchemy: Licensing reflexologists and other practitioners of pseudoscience

State legislatures are considering bills that would legitimize pseudoscience like reflexology and reiki by recognizing their practitioners as health care professionals.

/ April 7, 2026
CDC Headquarters

The CDC is lying to you about vaccines and autism

The CDC webpage about vaccines and autism now misrepresents the science and lies to the public about vaccines and autism. It's just part of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s continuing war on vaccines.

/ November 24, 2025
A historic illustration depicting an operation with medieval Islamic physicians. One patient lies on a table while three doctors dressed in traditional robes and turbans tend to him, one holding his wrist and the others examining and discussing the patient.

The Biopolitics of Quackademic Medicine in Iran

The problem of quackademic medicine in a place we in the US don't often consider.

/ August 27, 2024

Quack Quack

Joe Schwarcz's new book Quack Quack is an informative and entertaining look at quackery and pseudoscience past and present. A delightful read.

/ January 3, 2023
The Cow-Pock

What does “antivaccine” really mean since the pandemic hit?

We frequently use terms like “antivaccine,” “antivax,” and “antivaxxers.” Critics think it’s a “gotcha” to ask how we define “antivax” or to accuse us of reflexively label "questioning" of vaccines as "antivax." It's not. There are gray areas, but not so gray that the word is never appropriate. Has anything changed since I first tried to define "antivaccine" in 2010? The answer:...

/ November 28, 2022