Tag: death

We are saddened to announce that The SkepDoc Dr. Harriet Hall has passed away

We at SBM are greatly saddened to announce that co-founder Dr. Harriet Hall passed away unexpectedly last night.

/ January 12, 2023

Can “optimizing your metabolism” through diet prevent or cure COVID-19?

A favorite claim by those favoring "holistic" therapies is that using diet to "optimize metabolism" can prevent or treat COVID-19. These claims are of a piece with similar claims for many other diseases and are just as exaggerated.

/ August 31, 2020

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.

/ November 12, 2019

What Does It Feel Like to Die?

We're all going to die; we wonder what it will feel like. This book describes what typically happens during the period between diagnosis of a fatal illness and death.

/ August 6, 2019

Facing Decline and Death

Note: Atul Gawande and his book will be featured on a Frontline episode airing on PBS tonight. We’re all going to die. (There’s nothing like starting on a positive note! 🙂 ) We’re all going to die, and if we are fortunate enough to survive long enough to become old, we’re all going to experience a decline of one sort or another...

/ February 10, 2015

Cold reality versus the wishful thinking of cryonics

We all seek immortality in some way. Death has been one of the prime terrors haunting us since humans first started realizing that every living thing dies and death is permanent. After all, no one wants to face the end of everything that one has been, is, and will be. Indeed, a key feature of many religions is a belief that death...

/ August 2, 2014

Taking Control of Death

Science isn’t the only game in town. Literature can teach us things about the world that science can’t. It can give us vicarious experience and insight into other minds. Two recently published novels illuminate why perfectly rational people might reject the help of scientific medicine and prefer to die a little sooner but to die on their own terms.

/ April 6, 2010