Month: February 2013

Calcium supplements and heart attacks: More data, more questions

Why take a drug, herb or any other supplement? It’s usually because we believe the substance will do something desirable, and that we’re doing more good than harm. To be truly rational we’d carefully evaluate the expected risks and benefits, estimate the overall odds of a good outcome, and then make a decision that would weigh these factors against any costs (if...

/ February 28, 2013

Doctors and Dying

“I intend to live forever. So far, so good.” – Steven Wright The humor in many of comedian Steven Wright’s famous one-liners is that they are simultaneously familiar and absurd. At some level we all know that we are going to die, but as long as we are still alive (or a loved-one is alive) we can cling to the irrational hope,...

/ February 27, 2013

Kudos to a Journalist

Many SBM readers will remember the late, great Barry Beyerstein,  a luminary of the skeptical movement and author of a classic article that has been cited many times on SBM, an explanation of why bogus therapies seem to work. One of his greatest personal accomplishments is not as well known: he produced an exceptional daughter, Lindsay Beyerstein, a freelance writer, philosopher, and...

/ February 26, 2013

Blame and magical thinking: The consequences of the autism “biomed” movement

That the myth that vaccines cause autism is indeed nothing more than a myth, a phantom, a delusion unsupported by science is no longer in doubt. In fact, it’s been many years now since it was last taken seriously by real scientists and physicians, as opposed to crank scientists and physicians, who are still selling the myth.  Thanks to them, and a...

/ February 25, 2013

Warts

As this is published I am finishing the last day of a 12 day stretch covering my partner while he is off trying to get MDRTB and typhoid fever.  He is in India. I may have to autoclave him when he returns before I let him in the hospital.  Double the work means double the fun, but free time goes down by...

/ February 22, 2013

A Final Word: On T-Shirts and Teapot Tempests

I wore a T-shirt at The Amazing Meeting 2012 that generated a lot of controversy. You can see a picture of it on my Wikipedia article.  I didn’t want to talk about the T-shirt, but I’ve been repeatedly challenged to explain myself, and I’m afraid I can no longer avoid it. Steven Novella has recommended that we try to give other people’s...

/ February 21, 2013

Legislative Alchemy: Chiropractic 2013

Via the magic of legislative alchemy, chiropractors are already licensed health care providers in all 50 states. Thus their legislative efforts tend to focus on expanding their scope of practice and forcing public and private insurers to cover their services, in some cases at the same rate as medical doctors. Those efforts continue in 2013 with 65 bills impacting chiropractors introduced so...

/ February 21, 2013

SBM e-Books

[NEW POSTS JUST BELOW THIS POST] I am happy to announce that Science-Based Medicine has published three e-Books: Science-Based Medicine’s Guide to Naturopathy Kindle | iBooks | Nook Science-Based Medicine’s Guide to Miscellaneous CAM Kindle | iBooks | Nook Science-Based Medicine’s Guide to Homeopathy Kindle | iBooks | Nook

/ February 20, 2013

I Am Not Your Enemy: An Open Letter to My Feminist Critics

Note: The previous post is my usual weekly contribution to SBM. I am taking the liberty of posting this additional entry today on an issue that is peripheral to Science Based Medicine. If you are not interested in the recent squabbles within the skeptical movement, you will probably want to skip it. But it does respond to a detailed critique of an...

/ February 19, 2013

Sex, Gender, and Sexuality: It’s Complicated

When a baby is born, the obstetrician or midwife announces “It’s a boy” or “It’s a girl.” As toddlers, children learn to classify everyone as either boy or girl. When our firstborn was very young, we overheard her talking to herself as she grappled with the concept: Let’s see… I’m a girl, and Kimberly [her baby sister] is a girl, and Mommy’s...

/ February 19, 2013