Category: Science and Medicine
Quality differences of supplements vs. drugs
When it comes to drugs or dietary supplements, accuracy should be a given. What’s on the label should accurately describe what’s in the bottle. No exceptions. When it comes to ensuring the products we buy are of high quality, we’re all effectively reliant on regulation to protect us. As a pharmacist, I can’t personally verify that each tablet in your prescription contains...
The Great Barrington Declaration Wasn’t a Plan For Public Health Officials. It Was a List of Absurd Demands of Them.
The authors of the GBD advised and influenced many politicians at the highest level. They claim to have delineated many practical policies to protect the vulnerable, and they said it would’ve been possible, certainly. So an obvious question emerges. Why didn’t they protect the vulnerable?
False balance in an NBC news story on whole body MRI scans
Over the weekend, NBC News aired a story on whole body MRI scans. Although it did include the usual cautions about false positives and the harm they cause, the caution was diluted by the story's focus a rare case of a woman who had a brain tumor detected. Overall, it was false balance that reminded me of vaccine/autism stories 20 years ago.
Science Based Satire: Sure, COVID Is Killing 1,500 Americans Per Week, But I Saw a Stranger Wearing a Mask…OUTSIDE!
We shouldn't "give a shit" about COVID. Instead, we should care deeply about strangers who still "give a shit" about COVID. They need to be publicly mocked and shamed over and over again.
Skeptics in the Pub: Cholera. Chapter 10a
When I woke up the next morning, I went for my usual tea and scone. Then I caught the trolley to work. When it reached the far side of the Steel Bridge, I hopped off. I took the steps down to the lower level and took the narrow walking path back across the river. I saw no one get off the trolley...
Music for Reducing Pain in Newborns
Newborns are exposed to painful procedures for good reason every day. Treating pain is important in this population, and music might play a role. At least it definitely won't hurt.
Skeptics in the Pub. Cholera. Chapter 9b
“You are here early,” he said. “Yeah. I’m trying to decide what to do about this pump and the seawater cure. So far, my attempts are falling flat.” I told him about the couple pumping water and my lack of success in stopping them from taking the water home. “No surprise,” said Bonham. “Water is supposed to be as safe as mothers”...
Skeptics in the Pub. Cholera. Chapter 8b
It's the pump! But you knew that.
Dr. Adam Cifu: “We Now Need to Accept That This is Here to Get Infected With Again and Again.”
If Dr. Adam Cifu were genuinely concerned about vaccine hesitancy, I would strongly encourage him to learn about the anti-vaccine movement. He'll discover that it is fueled not by a lack of "robust data" on COVID boosters, but rather by exactly the sort of mistrust and anti-vaccine misinformation spread by his own blog and collaborators.
What Is Somatic Therapy?
Is modern medicine descending into pseudoscience, or is scientific medicine still going strong? Unfortunately, I think both of these things can happen at the same time. On the one hand, scientific research in medicine is progressing nicely. We are seeing the results of scientific breakthroughs made decades ago, with monoclonal antibody therapies, new therapeutic targets, the beginning of real genetic therapy, brain-machine...