Ramblings, Offcuts, Purgations
As you can see above, this here blog caught the attention of the Irish Times yesterday, with founder skeptic Paul O’Donoghue using it as the hook for his latest column in … Continue Reading Homeopathy, vaccination, autism: Together again
People who know me personally will know that I don’t take cancer lightly (for various reasons I won’t go into here). So I am always a bit reluctant to criticize people … Continue Reading Cancer: Misinformation is a risk factor too
I recently came across this campaign for homeopathy awareness. Sounds good to me, we could certainly do with a helluva lot more awareness in this area. In fact, one of … Continue Reading I’ve decided to do my bit for homeopathy awareness…
This is dangerously close to “day job” territory, but yesterday evening I was on the wireless talking about the relationship between psychological traits and physical health. This was part of … Continue Reading Personality goes a long way…toward making you sick
I am generally nonplussed by birthdays. And I realise that blog posts about blog posts can sometimes be boring. However, as I’m an obsessive hoarder and a data geek, in … Continue Reading One year in: The Science Bit’s greatest hits
Here is an opinion piece I wrote for in this week’s Modern Medicine magazine. The version below is the final draft prior to some very minor typographical edits. The article also … Continue Reading The costs of complementary medicine
What’s the most cited academic paper on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)? Is it an evidence-based trial demonstrating the efficacy of a particular therapy? Is it a systematic review of … Continue Reading Why is this paper still cited?
This is a slightly unusual format for a post on this blog, but I thought it was worth recording for posterity. It concerns the rather bizarre suggestion made yesterday by … Continue Reading “Racecardgate” on Storify
http://twitter.com/#!/bengoldacre/status/60028892009861120 Last week, the British market research firm YouGov published findings from a national UK opinion survey on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). While the survey focused on CAM in … Continue Reading Skeptics vs. Quacks: Who’s winning?
Perhaps few words in contemporary science have been abused as much as “quantum”. Simply put, a quantum is the minimum amount of an entity that can actually do anything. One … Continue Reading Towards a quantum Theory of Everything (including dirty dishes)
Last night I gave a public lecture in Dublin for the Irish Skeptics Society, entitled “The Babel Fish Dilemma: Talking Science with Non-Scientists“. The Irish Skeptics, under the leadership of … Continue Reading The Babel Fish Dilemma: Talking Science with Non-Scientists
Reiki is a complementary therapy in which a therapist’s hands are placed on — or simply near — a patient’s body, with the intention of redirecting what are purported to … Continue Reading Reiki, cancer, and the problem of informed consent
The Irish Times is the so-called “newspaper of record” in Ireland. It has a reputation for being Ireland’s leading print source of intellectual commentary and political analysis. It is widely … Continue Reading The Irish Times: Promoting homeopathy, endangering children?
Providers of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are always absolutely thrilled whenever real medical doctors claim to support their activities. Such support from authentic physicians constitutes a highly persuasive form … Continue Reading The BMA’s dodgy claim about British GPs and CAM
One of the most troubling aspect of this newspaper story — “I’d lost my baby then somehow fell pregnant thanks to acupuncture”– is knowing quite where to begin discussing it … Continue Reading “Pregnant thanks to acupuncture”
Recently, I came across this product available for over-the-counter sale. It was one of a number of herbal remedies, each targeting different ailments, that were available at this premises. I was immediately … Continue Reading “Menopause relief: Do not use if pregnant”
