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 of community advertising. Therefore, the fact that an entire organization of medical doctors is willing to lend its corporate support […]
Other Bits
Right-wingers are better looking, study doesn’t show
Last week, the news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) issued a press release with the title, “Rightwing candidates are better looking, says study”. The item described a study conducted by Swedish and Finnish economists in which 2,500 non-Finns rated 1,357 Finnish election candidates for attractiveness. The authors identified two main conclusions. […]
How not to perform genetic engineering
Demonstrating that good people are capable of bad things, here is the BBC attempting to explain genetic engineering to its news audience. Most of what is presented is fine really. Except for the bit about genes.
The science of tea: News-reporting as PR
Consider this slightly cumbersome headline in the last Saturday’s Daily Mail, located in the newspaper’s Health section: “Take time for tea and give your brain a lift as well as reduce tiredness”. The story refers to a new research paper published in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience. Based on the research, […]
“Pregnant thanks to acupuncture”
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 (although I know I should start by thanking @johnbirrane for tweeting it to me). The story appeared in the “Mothers […]
‘Science News’ and Football: Together at last
The Daily Telegraph recently reported — in their “Science News” section, notice — a story headlined “Secret of match success: Suits for the dugout, tracksuits for training”. According to the byline, “sports coaches who wear suits on match days and tracksuits on training days are more likely to get the […]
Recent Posts
That BMJ review of Long Covid therapies does not show what it says it does
My submission on the new Canadian draft recommendations for Long Covid
The cries for help are getting louder. And that’s a good sign
“A science that does not allow opposing opinions abolishes knowledge.” Er, kind of
Getting it Right: Addressing Myths about the 2021 NICE Guideline for ME/CFS
