Friday, 3rd July

jdc325's Weblog

Unprincipled Healthcare: Part Two
By jdc325

Nutribollocks special: you are deficient in fish oils, sugar tablets are essential for busy people, CoQ10 is a cure for a stressful lifestyle, homocysteine is a risk factor for circulatory disease and apple cider vinegar will detox you and make you thin and healthy.

Holford Watch: Patrick Holford, nutritionism and bad science

Patrick Holford, Shark Liver Oil and Walnuts
By dvnutrix

Holford over-extrapolates the evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis to support his own, inconsistently-expressed views on nuts and seeds; neglects to mention appropriate caveats; is currently premature in promoting squalene as a “cancer preventive”; makes inappropriate comparisons of the ORAC values of substances that have very different water percentages ...

A canna’ change the laws of physics


In praise of chiropractic?
By apgaylard

A Professor of Chiropractic appears upset with people questioning the safety of Chiropractic, as it really works for musculoskeletal disorders. The problem is with all the anti-democratic, exclusive, positivist scientists who have not made it into the post-normal age who are ontologically commited to only part of the knowledge ...

the quackometer


Skeptics in the Field
By Le Canard Noir

DC's Improbable Science


Accident and Emergency: alternative style
By David Colquhoun

Hilarious.

SciencePunk


Animal Liberation Front vs Prof Tipu Aziz
By SciencePunk

Blog warz! Read their motions on animal testing, leave a comment...

DC's Improbable Science


Schizophrenia: hoopla, disappointment and science journalism
By David Colquhoun

On July 1st. the journal Nature, published three reports that described genetic differences between people with schizophrenia and the rest of us. Nature held a big press conference, at the World Conference of Science Journalists,  Many of the individual institutions involved in the studies also issued press releases.  As so ...

Left Brain/Right Brain


Wakefield, distortion and the Sunday Times
By Mike Stanton

Thursday, 2nd July

The Lay Scientist


Inside the Skeptical Blogging Conspiracy: Ben Goldacre’s Real History Revealed
By Martin

In the aftermath of major blogging landmarks like the BCA Statement takedown and the Jeni Barnett affair, I've received numerous e-mails on the subject of how it is that we manage to coordinate so much action so quickly on these key issues. Many thoughtful alternative medicine practitioners and anti-vaccination activists ...

jdc325's Weblog


Unprincipled Healthcare: Part 1
By jdc325

Are unlicensed herbal medicines being promoted via claims that would not be allowed under the Medicines Act of 1968?

gimpy's blog


BCA plethora ? the previously unavailable Fallon paper
By gimpy

When I had a look at the papers in the British Chiropractic Association’s (BCA) ‘plethora’ for ear infection I noted that I could not access the Fallon JM (1997) paper of which the BCA claim  ‘[t]he results indicate that there is a strong correlation between the chiropractic adjustment and the ...

Wednesday, 1st July

Letting Off Steam


Illustrating The Point
By jaycueaitch

[BPSDB] Steven Connor, Science Editor of the Independent, spectacularly missed the point with this opinion piece, not to mention confirming many peoples suspicions as to the state of science journalism today. Many bloggers have criticised print journalists for their lack of fact checking. Let us see how well Connor does in ...

Thinking Is Dangerous


MHRA publish public assessment of homeopathic arnica, admit it does nothing, but license it anyway
By Dr* T

Dr Aust's Spleen


Rank? in more ways than one
By draust

In which Dr Aust considers his lack of promotional prospects, but does attain rank in the “Anti-CAM brigade” Dr Aust is feeling very sheepish about his lack of blog activity, and even more so since the much-appreciated plug (combined with a bit of gentle chiding) from ace legal blogger Jack of ...

jdc325's Weblog


Excess Woo ? Reduce, Reuse and Recycle?
By jdc325

Far too much energy is being expended on producing and consuming the bullshit of the counterknowledge industry. Let's see if we can do something about that.

Hawk/Handsaw


I get my name in the Veterinary Record
By Paul Wilson

SciencePunk


Taliban “opium” haul turns out to be food crop
By SciencePunk

The Ministry of Defence has been left with egg on its face after a much-vaunted seizure of 1.3 tonnes of poppy seed turned out to be mung beans. The food crop was taken during Operation Panther Claw, breathlessly reported as a major strike at the heart of ...

Bad Science


Steve Connor is an angry man
By Ben Goldacre

Tuesday, 30th June

SciencePunk


“Boys Hardwired to Like Trucks”
By SciencePunk

Apparently truck-preference genes evolved 9900 years before real trucks

Monday, 29th June

jdc325's Weblog


Chiropractic Dirty Tricks. What of the Repercussions?
By jdc325

It's an incredible way for someone who is presumably either a medical professional (or a member of a regulatory body for medical professionals) to behave. How can these people possibly expect to be taken seriously if this is the way they respond to criticism of their making unsubstantiated claims?...

SciencePunk


Big Tobacco given just 38 years to live
By SciencePunk

Persistent legislation has metastasised into full-blown FDA regulation

Sunday, 28th June

What the hell is this?


Jesus’ blood never failed me yet
By What the hell is this?

It's on the news that a priest was stopped at the exit of the Milano-Torino autostrada with a blood alcohol level of 0.08% (the legal limit in Italy is 0.05%) and had his licence taken off him. He had to call “friends and family” to come and take ...

Left Brain/Right Brain


Time for a cordon sanitaire?
By Anthony Cox

Saturday, 27th June

SciencePunk


‘Waterless’ washing machine cleans using nylon beads
By SciencePunk

Hmm... Dirt not washed away, so kinda like washing your clothes in the same water over and over.

The Lay Scientist


Rock Stars of (White Male) Science
By Martin

Seeing GQ's Rock Stars of Science campaign for the first time gave me the same sort of instinctive reaction that I got when I saw OK Magazine's Jade Goody Tribute Edition released before she'd actually, y'know, died; or when I boarded the train to Windsor & Eton a few ...

Friday, 26th June

jdc325's Weblog


Ignoreland: A Refusal To Engage
By jdc325

I’ve been attempting to communicate with various people and institutions recently and I’ve been having a little trouble. I don’t seem to be getting responses to my emails. Let’s see if we can figure out where I’ve been going wrong. The University of Westminster have been less than forthcoming with answers ...

Left Brain/Right Brain


Autism and aspergers are essentially the same
By Kev

Thinking Is Dangerous


Say goodbye to colic the easy way!
By Dr* T

Thursday, 25th June

Letting Off Steam


Unclean, Unclean!
By jaycueaitch

[BPSDB] The H1N1 pandemic seems to have caused over-reaction in some quarters. A colleague on a training course was greeted with all the enthusiasm one would expect for a leper turning up at a society wedding. Background: two students and one member of staff at my workplace have swine flu. My colleague ...

What the hell is this?


Another happy customer
By What the hell is this?

BPSDB There's a plethora of a letter at A Case of Chiropractic Manipulation Immediately Relieving Depression with Chronic Pain: Patient A, a 41-year-old Taiwanese male, suffered from intermittent dysthymia which presented with minor low mood, insomnia, anxiety, chest tightness, back pain, and subjectively mild occupational difficulty... patient A received a single ...

jdc325's Weblog


GCC and the Privy Council
By jdc325

Having read on David Colquhoun’s blog that the GCC wanted to “waive the rules” regarding complaints, I noted a suggestion that those not in favour of the GCC doing so contact the Privy Council. I did so, concentrating on my opinion of the GCC’s ability to provide accurate and meaningful ...

Left Brain/Right Brain


Rethinking Autism
By Sullivan