The Internet is a wonderful new medium for communicating ideas and information in a rapid and interactive way. Many articles are followed by a “comments” section. Like so many things in this imperfect world, comments are a mixed blessing. They can enhance the article by correcting errors, adding further information,… read more "Defending Isagenix: A Case Study in Flawed Thinking"
Power Balance Technology:Pseudoscientific Silliness Suckers Card-Carrying Surfers
Carrying a Power Balance card in your pocket will supposedly improve your athletic performance and cure what ails you. The alleged mechanism (“frequencies” in an embedded hologram) is laughable pseudoscientific bunk. Remember when professional golfers were wearing Q-ray bracelets to improve their game? The Q-ray folks recently had a run-in… read more "Power Balance Technology:Pseudoscientific Silliness Suckers Card-Carrying Surfers"
The One True Cause of All Disease
Alternative practitioners constantly claim that conventional medicine treats only symptoms while they treat underlying causes. They’ve got it backwards. Chiropractors, homeopaths, naturopaths, acupuncturists, and other alternative medicine practitioners constantly criticize conventional medicine for “only treating the symptoms,” while alternative medicine allegedly treats “the underlying causes” of disease. Nope. Not true.… read more "The One True Cause of All Disease"
Playing by the Rules
It is useless for skeptics to argue with someone who doesn’t play by the rules of science and reason. If no amount of evidence will change your opponent’s mind, you are wasting your breath. I recently read Flock of Dodos (no relation to the movie of the same name). It’s… read more "Playing by the Rules"
Gary Schwartz’s Energy Healing Experiments: The Emperor’s New Clothes?
Gary Schwartz says his experiments reveal our natural power to heal based on our ability to sense and manipulate human energy fields. Has he discovered scientific truths, or has he only demonstrated the human talent for self-deception. Gary Schwartz believes many things. He believes in psychics, mediums, and life after… read more "Gary Schwartz’s Energy Healing Experiments: The Emperor’s New Clothes?"
Akavar 20/50 and Truth in Advertising
Over the last few months, I have had a truly surreal experience. It started when I noticed a two-page full color spread in TV Guide magazine advertising a product called Akavar 20/50. It contained the same claims that so many bogus weight loss products do: eat all you want and… read more "Akavar 20/50 and Truth in Advertising"
Masaru Emoto’s Wonderful World of Water
It can read, listen to music, look at pictures, hear your thoughts, heal you, and create world peace. — The folks in my community have been arguing about fluoride again. A nutritionist wrote in the local newspaper that fluoride is a deadly poison, and it doesn’t reduce tooth decay. She… read more "Masaru Emoto’s Wonderful World of Water"
Critical Chiropractor, Inept Publisher
Book review of: The P.R.E.S.T.O.N. Protocol for Back Pain: The Seven Evidence-Based Practices for Living Pain Free, by Preston H. Long. PublishAmerica: Baltimore, 2006. 84 pp. ISBN 1- 4241-0684-2. Paperback, $14.95. I really, really wanted to recommend The P.R.E.S.T.O.N. Protocol for Back Pain, but I cannot. It is full… read more "Critical Chiropractor, Inept Publisher"
Teaching Pigs to Sing: An Experiment in Bringing Critical Thinking to the Masses
A skeptic encounters psychics, astrologers, and other strange creatures and discovers firsthand how they react to science and reason. Included: a fable about testing the Tooth Fairy. A couple of years ago, I saw an announcement for an astrology presentation to a local discussion group called Mingling of the Minds.… read more "Teaching Pigs to Sing: An Experiment in Bringing Critical Thinking to the Masses"
Andrew Weil: Harvard Hatched a Gullible Guru
Book review of Natural Health, Natural Medicine: The Complete Guide to Wellness and Self-care for Optimum Health. By Andrew Weil. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2004. ISBN 0-618-47903-1. 432 pp. Softcover, $14. Andrew Weil’s Natural Health, Natural Medicine is a dangerous book. The preface states: “All the information is consistent with the… read more "Andrew Weil: Harvard Hatched a Gullible Guru"