Correspondent Lorne Oliver is highly skeptical of acupuncture, but faced cognitive dissonance because he believed acupuncture saved his life. He describes the experience on his blog at http://www.filletofseoul.com/2008/10/acupuncture.html Briefly, he developed itching after eating a dried persimmon, broke out in hives, developed a rapid pulse, then shallow, rapid breathing and… read more "Acupuncture miracle"
Letters to the editor in SI 39:5 criticizing my article on Chemophobia (SI 39:3) with my response.
Skeptical Inquirer 2015 For “Myth” 3 in her article ”Pesticides: Just How Bad Are They?” (May/June 2015) Hall states, “…99.99 percent of all the pesticides in our diet are natural components of the food….” (by volume? by weight? by molecular count? by list entry count?) “Any synthetic pesticide residue… read more "Letters to the editor in SI 39:5 criticizing my article on Chemophobia (SI 39:3) with my response."
Questioning the Annual Pelvic Exam
A new article in the Journal of Women’s Health by Westhoff, Jones, and Guiahi asks “Do New Guidelines and Technology Make the Routine Pelvic Examination Obsolete?” The pelvic exam consists of two main components: the insertion of a speculum to visualize the cervix and the bimanual exam where the practitioner… read more "Questioning the Annual Pelvic Exam"
Train Track Therapy
There seems to be many uses for the trains in Indonesia. Shown above, the over-crowded locomotive is taken on by “surfers”. I am constantly amazed by the ingenuity of humans in coming up with weird and funny treatments for real and imagined illnesses. One of my favorites is train track… read more "Train Track Therapy"
The Future of Medicine
April 17, 2012 Eric Topol, MD, has written a book about the convergence of the digital revolution and medicine. It is full of fascinating information and prognostication, but I wish he had given it a better title. He called it The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will… read more "The Future of Medicine"
Psychodermatology
Psychodermatology has emerged as a new subspecialty of dermatology and psychiatry. It even has its own organization, the Association for Psychoneurocutaneous Medicine of North America. On their website you can locate a psychodermatologist in your area. What exactly is psychodermatology? According to a review article in American Family Physician “A… read more "Psychodermatology"
Modern Reflexology: Still As Bogus As Pre-Modern Reflexology
April 10, 2018 Reflexology is an alternative medicine system that claims to treat internal organs by pressing on designated spots on the feet and hands; there is no anatomical connection between those organs and those spots. Systematic reviews in 2009 and 2011 found no convincing evidence that reflexology is an… read more "Modern Reflexology: Still As Bogus As Pre-Modern Reflexology"
Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy Against Science
We live in a post-truth, anti-intellectual world where intuition, “common sense,” and fake news are often preferred to scientific evidence and where pseudoscience is often presented as valid science. Assuming that truth exists and is worth searching for, and that science is our most reliable tool in that search, how… read more "Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy Against Science"
Acupuncture Revisited
Believers in acupuncture claim it is supported by plenty of published scientific evidence. Critics disagree. Thousands of acupuncture studies have been done over the last several decades, with conflicting results. Even systematic reviews have disagreed with each other. The time had come to re-visit the entire body of acupuncture research… read more "Acupuncture Revisited"
Announcing: Video Lecture Course on Science-Based Medicine
A couple of years ago, the James Randi Educational Foundation commissioned me to develop a series of 10 video lectures on Science-Based Medicine. After a lot of work and many vicissitudes, it is now available. The lecture titles are: Science-Based Medicine vs. Evidence-Based Medicine What Is CAM? Chiropractic Acupuncture Homeopathy Naturopathy and… read more "Announcing: Video Lecture Course on Science-Based Medicine"