Posts
May 30, 2013
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12:34 AM | Worth the effort…?
There is (fair) argument sometimes made that the huge amount of public money expended on often unnecessary and/or ineffective and/or downright dangerous ‘Big Pharma’ products renders objection to that frittered on, say, (always unnecessary, ineffective and potentially indirectly dangerous) homeopathy to be hardly worth rational effort. Indeed, the NHS’s 65-year support for homeopathy is on the wane: though not an immaterial amount – £4–12 million a year awarded to strapped academics […]
May 07, 2013
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8:20 PM | No such thing as ‘Allopathy’
Over at FreethoughtBlogs, an uncharacteristic petit faux pas in the prolifically excellent ‘A Million Gods‘ motivates me into publicly scratching an irritation. The first time I think I heard/read the term ‘allopathy’ was in the context of something discussing homeopathy. And it seemed quite reasonable to me at the time: homeopathy = ‘like cures like’; ‘allopathy’ = err, something other cures it; or it cures something other. Until I got wise on who coined this term, and why? One […]
May 04, 2013
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A recent study linking cold winters in Europe to sunspots has updated bad science reaching back to the 19th century for the internet age, reveal Geert Jan van Oldenborgh from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and his colleagues, helped by an unholy alliance between Roger Pielke Sr and Stefan Rahmstorf.
Sirocko, F., Brunck, H. & Pfahl, S. (2012). Solar influence on winter severity in central Europe, Geophysical Research Letters, 39 (16) DOI: 10.1029/2012GL052412
Pittock, A. B. (1983). Solar variability, weather and climate: An update, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 109 (459) 23-55. DOI: 10.1002/qj.49710945903
van Oldenborgh, G., de Laat, A., Luterbacher, J., Ingram, W. & Osborn, T. (2013). Claim of solar influence is on thin ice: are 11-year cycle solar minima associated with severe winters in Europe?, Environmental Research Letters, 8 (2) 24014. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024014
Citation
May 03, 2013
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11:46 AM | Yet further comment…
(I know at least one reader will be interested in this, thus making it a topic theme worth continuing…) I have of late been banging my head at the ongoing frustration borne of repeat attempts to post comment on a pretty questionable, seemingly homeopathy-lauding paper published in a scientific medical journal. Yesterday, my eye was caught by something over at the BioMed Central blog, whence appeared an interesting post, entitled ‘Can open peer review work? Biology Direct suggests it […]
April 24, 2013
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Well, I don’t know what bugs are at play in the BMC Cancer system. Almost three weeks since submitting the latest re-worked version of my comment (which I append below so it may be read by somebody), not only has it not appeared under the paper in question, but the continued lack of response (excepting one message informing me that – again – my query has been forwarded to the Editorial team) to my interim e-mails to the relevant provided... Read more
April 16, 2013
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12:01 PM | Pseudoscience Awareness Week
Today is the last day of ‘World Homeopathy Awareness Week‘, which commences every year with cult-like commemoration of the birthday of its movement’s founder. The site informs us: ‘WHAW (World Homeopathy Awareness Week) was created to promote homeopathic awareness around the world. During this week homeopaths and friends of homeopathy share with the world the miracles of homeopathy.’ The miracles of homeopathy. Hmm. They are a confused bunch, these people. Trying to couple the […]
April 05, 2013
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It took (me) a month to get a comment posted on a paper on BMC Cancer’s site. My abbreviated version (which appeared five days after re-submitting it) has now sat there for three weeks alongside Kausik’s, both seemingly being roundly ignored. As is my query concerning the full text of my original blog post. What to do? Does it matter? Well, actually, as a QuackRag deems that the paper in question constitutes subject(ive) matter for (re-)citation, then yes, I think... Read more
March 13, 2013
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12:23 AM | Further comment on ‘Comment on protracted moderation of a comment: BMC Cancer, WDDTY and homeopathy’
Feb 21st (twenty days ago): I posted here a critical review of a paper purporting to research the effects of homeopathy on cancer patients, prompted by its citation in QuackRag What Doctors Don’t Tell You. Concurrently, I attempted to post question/comment on the paper – with a link to my blog piece – via facility for the purpose at BMC Cancer. Feb 28th (thirteen days ago): I followed-up on the non-appearance of my comment at BMC Cancer. The paper, my... Read more
March 07, 2013
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11,000 years during which human civilisation has emerged have not seen temperatures ‘even close’ to what model forecasts predict, a record built by Shaun Marcott from Oregon State University and his teammates shows.
Shaun A. Marcott, Jeremy D. Shakun, Peter U. Clark, Alan C. Mix (2013). A Reconstruction of Regional and Global Temperature for the Past 11,300 Years, Science, 339 1198-1201. Other: Link
Citation
February 28, 2013
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Concomitant with airing my recent take on QuackRag WDDTY's clumsy referencing, I proceeded (after previous attempt to contact the corresponding author via the e-mail address provided for the purpose proved fruitless) to post the following as a Reader comment on the cited paper at BMC Cancer: 'Without homeopathic remedies, is care 'homeopathic'? I came across this reference in an article entitled 'Homeopathy is more than placebo' in the latest issue of the magazine 'What Doctor's Don't Tell […]
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A rise in temperatures that caused the last major global defrost has now been placed in the same 150-year window as an accompanying CO2 increase by Frédéric Parrenin from the French National Centre for Scientific Research and his teammates, rather than happening 800 years before the CO2 change as previously thought.
F. Parrenin, V. Masson-Delmotte, P. Köhler, D. Raynaud, D. Paillard, J. Schwander, C. Barbante, A. Landais, A. Wegner, J. Jouze (2013). Synchronous Change of Atmospheric CO2 and Antarctic Temperature During the Last Deglacial Warming, Science, 339 1060-1063. Other: Link
E. Brook (2012). Leads and Lags at the End of the Last Ice Age, Science, 339 1042-1043. Other: Link
Citation
February 21, 2013
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3:41 PM | ‘What Doctors Don’t Tell You’ cites paper that demonstrates there is no such thing as homeopathy
Back in that supermarket a few days ago, I again found myself driven to taking a thumb through the latest edition of QuackRag What Doctor’s Don’t Tell You, whose unscrupulously permissive advertising policy is being systematically exposed by The Nightingale Collaboration. Though I didn’t buy the rancid rubbish, I alighted on a small piece entitled ‘Homeopathy is more than placebo’, from which I noted the reference cited as voucher for that statement. From BMC Cancer, no less. I’ll […]
Rostock, M., Naumann, J., Guethlin, C., Guenther, L., Bartsch, H. & Walach, H. (2011). Classical homeopathy in the treatment of cancer patients - a prospective observational study of two independent cohorts, BMC Cancer, 11 (1) 19. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2407-11-19
Citation
February 08, 2013
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11:58 AM | Junking ‘Junk Science?’
I've become aware of David Colquhoun's apology, posted on his DC's Improbable Science, to Chris Woollams, founder of CANCERactive. I am not up to speed with the detailed history of their dispute, a legal matter between them on which I am unable to comment. What I consider appropriate, however, is comment on some of the reaction to this: for example, the gloating, self-righteous opining at Junk Science?, whose editor, Sam Wilson '… openly detests the misleading or downright incorrect […]
January 24, 2013
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12:06 PM | Haled comment
Traipsing to a(nother branch of that) supermarket just before Christmas, I passed an independent bookshop in the throes of its closing down sale, as is the way of this world. Re-approaching later from the opposite direction, laden with some unnecessary extra victuals, I decided to enter and see if an interesting bargain might be had. I managed to check any temptation to more spending until, taking another scan along on the 'Health' shelves, I put my bags down and took... Read more
January 18, 2013
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(A variation on some accommodating words proffered elsewhere, though unlikely to make the cut...) . Science is disingenuously misrepresented by those whose agenda rely on contra-scientific promotional tactics, such as devotees of ‘Complementary and Alternative Medicine.’ Refutation necessitates an appreciation of the psychology underlying people’s needs and preferences. CAM appeals to our intuitive nature. We seek patterns and readily attribute cause and effect: post hoc ergo propter hoc […]
January 01, 2013
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9:36 PM | Ear candling? – don’t be an ass!
If you’ve ever publicly aired an opinion on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, its products, practices and practitioners, and (cough) philosophy, then, not uncoupled from the probability of encountering adherence to fallacious logic and the provoking of irrational wrath, you may well have met with the defensive protestation that you are being offensive. Like that is somehow relevant. But, this entrenching attitude goes, rather than criticise or question, you should perhaps instead […]
December 22, 2012
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4:08 PM | Ever for Never
Just come back from the middle class's likely favourite supermarket, having got up at six in order to get there for a 7 am opening so as to avoid as much as possible the elbowed and elbowing throng storing up their appliance pouches in readiness for a week of sitting around getting drunk and fat (sez me), wherein, after I'd bit the bullet at spending more than I intended, I wandered over, in conversation with my companion about the insidious... Read more
December 04, 2012
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“We should be skeptical of all points of view, including those of the skeptics.”* I came across the quote above in Michael Shermer’s article remembering Paul Kurtz, one of the founders of the modern US skeptical movement (see “Paul Kurtz … Continue reading →
October 13, 2012
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6:37 PM | Libel reform and the public interest
Further to my passing on of the Libel Reform Campaign’s e-mail flagging up the Second Reading of the Defamation Bill in the House of Lords last Tuesday, a further LRC communiqué was sent out – from Simon Singh. It is apposite that Singh is reminding us of the serious limitation of this Bill – specifically, the public interest defence, which, as it stands, would still leave expressers of reasonable opinion exposed to the threat of libel action, such as brought... Read more
September 08, 2012
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Patterns in the heat we feel stopped being caused by the Sun since the 1970s, mathematical tests done by Antonello Pasini from the Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research in Rome and his teammates show, with greenhouse gases and other human influences likely to be drowning its influence out.
Antonello Pasini, Umberto Triacca and Alessandro Attanasio (2012). Evidence of recent causal decoupling between solar radiation and global temperature , Environmental Research Letters, DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/7/3/034020
Citation
July 26, 2012
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5:41 PM | (Some) Tarot People
Having recently freely-‘fessed up my Tarot-ic ignorance (and thus mainly homing my criticism toward the presentation of pseudoscientific ‘healing’ techniques), and having had my proboscis-ly-limited worldview assailed by a commenter who apparently doesn’t do self-deprecating irony, and who holds to the notion that all beliefs should be afforded respect (a ridiculous assertion), I’ve been stimulated into finding out some more. So, I exercised my prodigious research skills through my TV […]
April 02, 2012
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I was collecting up videos to drip feed when I got around to it, but figured I may as well post them all at once to liven up a Monday afternoon.
Enjoy.
The Great and Powerful Tyson…
Dan Dennett on “Deepities”…
Richard Wiseman amazes and astounds….
Daleks: Hitchhiker’s Guide style…
“Vectron” from the amazingly funny Mitchell and Webb….
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I was collecting up videos to drip feed when I got around to it, but figured I may as well post them all at once to liven up a Monday afternoon. Enjoy. The Great and Powerful Tyson… Dan Dennett on “Deepities”… “Vectron” from the amazingly funny Mitchell and Webb…. Levitation, I have to admit while
March 25, 2011
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Getting the name of your movement right is crucial. Can you imagine waking up one morning, as a campaigner for the right of women to have abortions, to realise that the other side had just called their campaign Pro-Life? How...
March 24, 2011
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9:45 PM | Five Signs You Might Be Wrong
Over the last few weeks several things have been happening both in my own life and in the wider public (Ken Ring) that have made me think about good rules of thumb to determine whether a claim is likely to be right or wrong. In particular when is it reasonable to perform a self examination [...]
February 18, 2011
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2:49 PM | Propaganda posing as journalism
My interests are very diverse. Much of what I might want to share is done by others, and probably better. Medicine and quackery are covered by -among others- Orac, Steven Novella, Science-Based Medicine, and PalMD. Scienceblogs, Scientopia for science in general. Analysis of U.S. Policies regarding the War of Terror can be found at Glenn Greenwald's blog. Information on Global Warming can be found at Skeptical Science, Open Mind, Watching the Deniers. For other suggestions look at my [...]
February 14, 2011
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5:17 PM | The House of God
When I began as a resident I was allowed to ask for any diagnostic tool. The only requirement was that I needed to show the specialist I worked for how the results would influence my decisions. Imagine ordering an X-ray of the left foot to evaluate a possible heart attack. As it is impossible to make any reasonable connection between the two (foot-heart) no radiograph would be allowed.Before that, as an intern, I was impressed to see an orthopaedic surgeon evaluate patients in order to find [...]
January 13, 2011
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11:44 PM | Facts are overrated anyway
This blog was started to share my thoughts on science, rationality and why they are continuously attacked. Today I am convinced intra-personal psychological processes create the caustic responses from humans that are confronted with scientific conclusions which contradict their ideology.Even before I began writing this blog I was not impressed by what journalists produce. Knowing a little about medicine I was repeatedly surprised by the either outdated, incomplete, or even incorrect [...]
January 06, 2011
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5:51 PM | BMJ: Wakefield is a fraud
In a stunning article in the British Medical Journal we are told that Andrew Wakefield, possibly the principal cause of the recent vaccines-are-evil-hype, is even less trustworthy than we discovered before.Of course, who but Orac is on the prowl:The discrepancies between the case reports as described in Wakefield's Lancet paper and the actual medical records are anything but random; all are in the direction of suggesting a link between the MMR and Wakefield's as yet unverified syndrome of
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5:46 PM | The Lehrer effect
Ever since Jonah Lehrer identified the supposed flawed nature of the scientific method, and named it the decline effect, the Intertoobz has responded by either advancing the notion this proves science is just as unreliable as other manufactroversies, or by pointing out that what Lehrer sees as problematic actually is why science is reliable: it eventually filters out human bias.Eventhough I was somewhat late in noticing the current kerfuffle others are slightly faster to comment on the notion [...]
