Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Both the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast, Science-Based Medicine, and many many others, are quite openly critical of the various absurd claims that are promoted by charlatans as supposed miracle cures. One specific example of this is the criticism of the promotion of perispinal etanercept (Enbrel) for a long and apparently growing list of conditions that it … Read more
Harriet Hall, the skeptic-doc, writes over on Science Based Medicine a fabulous article all about why people ignore the facts and instead buy into absurd ideas when it comes to making decisions that can potentially be the wrong side of the line between life and death. (Side note: she is a fascinating person, not only is she … Read more
And so now it is the turn of the alchemists, oops sorry, I mean Chemists, to receive an award. What is interesting about this category is that if you look down the list of past winners, you will at best only recognise a few names such as Ernest Rutherford, Marie Curie, and Linus Pauling. Check the rest and … Read more
It is once again the time of year when the Nobel Prizes are awarded, and so each day this week we will be hearing about an award for one specific category. The roadmap is as follows: Mon 7 Oct – Physiology or Medicine Tues 8 Oct – Physics Wed 9 Oct – Chemistry Thur 10 Oct … Read more
Nature reports a rather scary story. It is an item of news that many have known was coming … bacteria have now become resistant to the powerful carbapenem antibiotics — one of the last drugs left on the shelf. The article starts with a rather stark warning … …it was worrying to hear Thomas Frieden and … Read more
Every year I take time off to make a trek to a local clinic for a flu shot (OK, so this year was different, I did honestly intend to go, I just never got around to it). So why do I keep doing this most years (when I remember) , why can’t I just do … Read more