Category: Basic Science
No, James Lyons-Weiler did not “break the coronavirus code”
Last week, a new conspiracy theory about the coronavirus outbreak by James Lyons-Weiler went viral (if you'll excuse the term) after antivax conspiracy theorist Del Bigtree interviewed him. Lyons-Weiler strongly implies that the strain of coronavirus behind the outbreak (2019-nCoV) has a SARS-like sequence that came from a laboratory working on a SARS vaccine. Fortunately, Dr. Gorski has the mad molecular biology...
Ellura: A Supplement Backed By Evidence
Ellura is a dietary supplement marketed to treat recurrent urinary tract infections. There is promising evidence and a credible mechanism of action, and using it instead of antibiotic prophylaxis could reduce antibiotic resistance.
Aging: Is It a Preventable Disease?
David Sinclair says aging is a disease that can be prevented and treated, and there is no reason life must end. The evidence he presents from scientific studies is intriguing, but far from definitive.
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 given to researchers who discovered the mechanisms of oxygen sensing in cells.
One reason mouse studies often don’t translate to humans very well
Mouse models are often used as preclinical models of human disease, but the number of drugs that succeed in mice but go on to be approved as a drug for humans is only about one in ten. A new study comparing gene expression in the cells of human brains with those of mouse brains provides new insight into why.
Processed Foods and Autism
Reports of a "link" between processed food and autism highly misrepresent the actual findings of an in-vitro study.
Skin pH: Salesmanship, Not Science
People are being encouraged to worry about the pH of their skin and to try to change it. These concerns and interventions are not supported by scientific evidence.
Infomercial in PLOS One links to website selling unproven treatments for fibromyalgia and dementia
PLOS One recently published a clinical trial that was essentially a poorly-disguised advertisement for an unproven product. I object to this use of the scientific literature to market such a device.
Is Dentistry Science Based?
A recent article in The Atlantic claims that dentistry is not science-based. Is it right? Nah.
A world-renowned placebo researcher asks, “Does placebo research boost pseudoscience?”
Professor Fabrizio Benedetti is the most famous and almost certainly also the most influential researcher investigating the physiology of placebo effects. In a recent commentary, he asks whether placebo research is fueling quackery, as quacks co-opt its results. The answer to that question is certainly yes. A better question is: How do supporters of science counter the placebo narrative promoted by quacks,...