Tag: quackery

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
Placebo

The myth of the magically powerful placebo returns

It's been a long time since I've written about the deceptive narratives around placebos promoted by supporters of alternative medicine. Unfortunately, a new article claiming placebos can work as well as "real medicine" is making the rounds on social media. Here we go again.

/ April 27, 2026
RFK Jr. fail

One year of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS Secretary: The Lancet reacts, and so do I

Editors of The Lancet published an op-ed decrying RFK Jr.'s one year of failure at HHS. They're correct about RFK Jr, but they are not blameless in what has happened.

/ March 2, 2026

MAHA: Everything old is new again, except this time antiscience cranks (like Stanislaw Burzynski) are in charge

Returning from my hiatus, I couldn't decide on a specific new topic, mainly because so much bad stuff happened in my absence. So, in this post I back up a bit to reflect on how RFK Jr.'s "make America healthy again" is nothing new. What is new is that the antiscience-cranks are in charge.

/ February 23, 2026
A close-up, black and white image shows one hand massaging a person's back while the other hand holds a smooth hot stone, likely during a hot stone massage therapy session.

The Red Marks of Pseudo-Medicine: Gua Sha

Claiming that an inflammatory response to injury is inherently therapeutic is a massive leap of faith.

/ February 16, 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
McCullough Foundation nonsense

Antivaxxer Steve Kirsch unknowingly identifies the fatal flaw of an antivax “report” from the McCullough Foundation

Hilariously and without realizing it, antivaxxer Steve Kirsch nailed the essence of why a recent antivax "report" by the McCullough Foundation is nonsense. It's basically a very old tactic for misrepresenting science repackaged for "new school" antivaxxers.

/ November 10, 2025
Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.)
Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.)

Every accusation was a confession of what they wanted to do if they were to attain power

On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would shift power over grantmaking away from career scientists to political appointees. Lysenkoism 2.0 has been made official policy, and science in the US is in deep trouble.

/ August 11, 2025