MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'bad science'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:59:05 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968424&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F06%2Fim-talking-at-glastonbury-saturday-130pm-free-university-in-the-park%2F Hi all, just to say, I’m doing a talk in the Free University of Glastonbury, 1:30pm (or thereabouts) on Saturday. Free University is the literarature tent in The Park field, based inside HMS Sweet Charity, which sounds like it’s probably a big silly boat. www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news/the-free-university-of-glastonbury-returns I’m also talking at Secret Garden Party (speakers tent, no [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968424 Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:19:18 +0100 4968424 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968425&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F06%2Ftheres-something-magical-about-watching-patterns-emerge-from-data%2F Ben Goldacre The Guardian Saturday 11 June 2011 We all know one atom of experience isn’t enough to spot a pattern: but when you put lots of experiences together and process that data, you get new knowledge. This might sound obvious, but following it through – watching patterns emerge from the noise – still gives me [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968425 Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:29:09 +0100 4968425 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4744812&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F04%2Fi-foresee-that-nobody-will-do-anything-about-this-problem%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 23 April 2011 Last year a mainstream psychology researcher called Daryl Bem published a competent academic paper, in a well respected journal, showing evidence of precognition. Instead of designing new studies to see whether people could consciously tell you about the future, he ran some classic psychology experiments backwards. For [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4744812 Sat, 23 Apr 2011 10:00:26 +0100 4744812 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4723942&cid=t_99425_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F18%2Funderstanding-research-methodology-4-peer-review-process%2F Conclusion The peer review process is not perfect, but it is the best safeguard we have against junk science. When evaluating the worth of scientific data, in addition to verifying its publication in a peer-reviewed journal, it is important to take into consideration:  funding sources, whether the study has been replicated, study design, sample size, and conflicting interest (design details and critiques will be discussed in later articles). When referencing scientific data, it is common for individuals to reference popular science magazines and books.  Be extra cautious when getting your science information from these sources. Of course, there is some good science information published in popular science publications.   But, when the authors cannot provide references for their scienti... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4723942 Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:44:26 +0100 4723942 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4719863&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F04%2Fid-expect-this-from-ukip-or-the-daily-mail-not-from-a-government-leaflet%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, 15 April 2011 HM Government have issued a new leaflet to justify their NHS reforms: Working Together For A Stronger NHS. It was produced by Number 10, appears on the Department of Health website, and many of the figures it contains are misleading, out of date, or flatly incorrect. It begins, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4719863 Fri, 15 Apr 2011 23:00:26 +0100 4719863 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693244&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F04%2Fwhen-journalists-do-primary-research%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 9 April 2011 This week some journalists found a pattern in some data, and ascribed a cause to it. “Recession linked to huge rise in antidepressants” said the Telegraph. “Economic woes fuel dramatic rise in use of antidepressants” said the Daily Mail. “Record numbers of people are being handed antidepressants” [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693244 Fri, 08 Apr 2011 23:01:53 +0100 4693244 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693290&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fwhere-is-the-worst-health-information-on-the-internet-the-huffington-post%2F2011.04.07 Going to the Huffington Post for medical information is perhaps comparable to going to Vito Corleone for advice on income tax compliance.  Another prominent blogger refers to is as “that hive of scum and quackery,” a lovely and accurate epithet for a media outlet which provides refuge and cover for anti-vaccationists, homeopaths and practictioners of reiki and other such pseudoscientific twaddle. I avoid the HuffPo like the plague.  But, like a moth to the flame, sometimes I can’t help myself, and when a facebook friend (and former blogger) pointed to this contrarian article, my interest was piqued and I had to check it out. Is High Blood Pressure Overtreated? Dr. Dennis Gottfried, Associate professor, University of Connecticut Medical School First of all, I don’... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693290 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4693290 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4610775&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F03%2Fwhy-dont-journalists-link-to-primary-sources%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 19 March 2011 Why don’t journalists link to primary sources? Whether it’s a press release, an academic journal article, a formal report, or perhaps (if everyone’s feeling brave) the full transcript of an interview, the primary source contains more information for interested readers, it shows your working, and it allows [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4610775 Sat, 19 Mar 2011 01:36:59 +0100 4610775 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4575023&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F03%2Fwhy-cigarette-packs-matter%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 12 March 2011 This week our government committed itself to the removal, albeit slowly, of cigarette displays in shops. But plain packaging on cigarettes has been delayed for further consultation. The Unite union is unimpressed. They represent 6,000 people in tobacco production and distribution, and put out a statement: “Switching [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4575023 Sat, 12 Mar 2011 00:01:30 +0100 4575023 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4592323&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F03%2Fwhen-regulation-is-opaque-trust-is-all-you-have%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 5 March 2011 The European Medicines Agency now regulate the pharmaceutical industry throughout the whole of Europe. In December 2010 Thomas Lonngren stepped down as their executive director. On the 28th of that month he sent a letter telling the EMA management board that he was going to start working [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4592323 Sat, 05 Mar 2011 00:01:52 +0100 4592323 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4575024&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F03%2Fwhen-regulation-is-opaque-trust-is-all-you-have%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 5 March 2011 The European Medicines Agency now regulate the pharmaceutical industry throughout the whole of Europe. In December 2010 Thomas Lonngren stepped down as their executive director. On the 28th of that month he sent a letter telling the EMA management board that he was going to start working [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4575024 Sat, 05 Mar 2011 00:01:52 +0100 4575024 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4549716&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F03%2Fwhen-regulation-is-opaque-trust-is-all-you-have%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 5 March 2011 The European Medicines Agency now regulate the pharmaceutical industry throughout the whole of Europe. In December 2010 Thomas Lonngren stepped down as their executive director. On the 28th of that month he sent a letter telling the EMA management board that he was going to start working [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4549716 Sat, 05 Mar 2011 00:01:52 +0100 4549716 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4522072&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F02%2Fyoure-ooonly-cheating-yourself%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 26 February 2011 Science is about disproving hypotheses, and no matter what the armchair conspiracy theorists tell you, torpedoing cherished ideas is a very good way to make a name for yourself in academia. Here are two fun ones from the literature this month. Firstly: are sniffer dogs for real? [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4522072 Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:01:26 +0100 4522072 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4501590&cid=t_99425_88_f&fid=38129&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Flifeinthefastlane%2FWZHV%2F%7E3%2FDuNIkML7OKA%2F Check out @ProfessorFunk's kinetic typography take on the utter weirdness of placebos, based on information from @BenGoldacre's superlative book, Bad Science. (Source: Life in the Fast Lane) Life in the Fast Lane blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4501590 Sun, 20 Feb 2011 09:40:48 +0100 4501590 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4495162&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F02%2Fpretending-that-evidence-is-difficult-and-complicated%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 19 February 2011 For the past two weeks we’ve followed the government’s misuse of evidence on NHS reforms, remembering that they’re perfectly permitted to reform things with no evidence at all, like everyone else does, they just shouldn’t pretend to have evidence. On Thursday health minister Simon Burns appeared before [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4495162 Sat, 19 Feb 2011 01:27:36 +0100 4495162 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4464458&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F02%2Fwhy-is-evidence-so-hard-for-politicians%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 12 February 2011 One thing you hope for, with politicians, is that they won’t make the same mistakes over and over again. Last week we saw that the government has overstated the problems in the NHS by using dodgy figures (to be precise, they used misleading static figures instead of [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4464458 Sat, 12 Feb 2011 00:00:30 +0100 4464458 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4436716&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F02%2Fandrew-lansley-and-his-imaginary-evidence%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 5 February 2011 I have never heard one politician use the word “evidence” so persistently, and so misleadingly, as Andrew Lansley defending his NHS reforms. Since he repeatedly claims that the evidence supports his plan, let’s skim through what we can find on whether GP consortiums work, the benefits of [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4436716 Sat, 05 Feb 2011 00:00:56 +0100 4436716 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4411493&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F01%2Fhow-to-read-a-paper%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 29 January 2011 If science has any authority, it derives from transparency: you can check the claims against the working. Sometimes you hit a brick wall. Sometimes you might consider a shortcut. Let’s look at 3 types of checking. First up, in the Sun, a child has been born at [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4411493 Sat, 29 Jan 2011 00:57:32 +0100 4411493 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4382723&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F01%2Ftell-me-now-how-do-i-feel%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 22 January 2011 I’m not going to tell the same story once a year, like some kind of journalistic dirty protest, even if it crops up in parliament, every newspaper, and all over Radio 4: there are more interesting things to say than “Blue Monday is bullshit”, but before we [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4382723 Sat, 22 Jan 2011 00:01:25 +0100 4382723 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4349478&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F01%2Fnone-of-your-damn-business%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 15 January 2011 Sometimes something will go wrong with an academic paper, and it will need to be retracted: that’s entirely expected. What matters is how academic journals deal with problems when they arise. In 2004 the Annals of Thoracic Surgery published a study comparing two heart drugs. This week [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4349478 Fri, 14 Jan 2011 23:38:41 +0100 4349478 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4322475&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2011%2F01%2Fputting-a-number-in-its-context%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 8th January 2011 “600 pregnancies despite contraceptive implant” said the BBC.  “500 fall pregnant after having contraceptive implant” said the Express. “Contraceptive implant alert” said the Daily Mail: “Hundreds of women fall pregnant after birth control fails”. The story first broke on Channel 4, and it’s still not entirely clear [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4322475 Sat, 08 Jan 2011 00:01:26 +0100 4322475 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4318332&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fbad-science-and-the-gift-of-medical-skepticism%2F2011.01.06 Discover magazine had an article about Dr. Ben Goldacre, a British physician who writes for The Guardian, is the author of the new book “Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks,” and is considered a gift to skepticism. His column is also called “Bad Science,” and he recently gave a short and interesting talk about non-evidence-based medicine at the Pop!Tech conference held in Camden, Maine. Enjoy! Ben Goldacre Talks Bad Science from PopTech on Vimeo. *This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll* (Source: Better Health) Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4318332 Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:00:52 +0100 4318332 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4314048&cid=t_99425_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2F05%2Fandrew-wakefield-the-autism-vaccine-link-and-deliberate-fraud%2F As though Dr. Andrew Wakefield didn’t have enough problems. After his study of 12 (count ‘em — a whole 12!) children was thrown out of The Lancet when its original claim of a link between autism and MMR vaccines didn’t really hold water, now he’s got the BMJ on his case. The problem with the original study came when nobody — and I mean, nobody — could replicate the research. Not Wakefield. Not other researchers. Science demonstrates a strong finding when data is replicable. When nobody can replicate your research, it’s considered an unreliable or extremely weak finding. And in this case, it’s not even that. The BMJ today claimed that Dr. Andrew Wakefield allegedly engaged in deliberate fraud in his original study. “The MMR [measl... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4314048 Thu, 06 Jan 2011 01:13:52 +0100 4314048 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4275293&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F12%2Fim-doing-this-awesome-massive-nerd-tour%2F I’m doing this awesome massive nerd tour with Simon Singh, Brian Cox and Robin Ince. We will talk about science and it will be funny. Also, we will make a Spinal Tap tour video. Come! The first ever national science tour celebrating the universe and many of the wonders that lie within it. Robin Ince, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4275293 Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:37:34 +0100 4275293 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4265626&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F12%2Fthe-year-in-nonsense-2%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 18 December 2010 It’s been a marvellous year for bullshit. We saw quantitative evidence showing that drug adverts aimed at doctors are routinely factually inaccurate, while pharmaceutical company ghostwriters were the secret hands behind letters to the Times, and a whole series of academic papers. We saw more drug companies [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4265626 Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:42:46 +0100 4265626 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4249004&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F12%2Fnmt-are-suing-dr-wilmshurst-so-how-trustworthy-are-they%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 11 December 2010 You will hopefully remember – from the era before Wikileaks – that US medical device company NMT are suing NHS cardiologist Peter Wilmshurst over his comments about the conduct and results of the MIST trial, which sadly for NMT found no evidence that their device prevents migraine. [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4249004 Sat, 11 Dec 2010 00:44:27 +0100 4249004 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4241685&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F12%2Fi-made-a-documentary-about-science-and-libel-for-the-bbc-here-it-is%2F Hi all, I made a documentary for the BBC World Service on libel and science. It’s really good, go and listen to it here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009xbbw It goes out live on the BBC World Service today (8 December) at 20:30 GMT; 9 December at 01:30; and 11 Dec at 13:30. There’s a piece about it here [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4241685 Wed, 08 Dec 2010 16:29:51 +0100 4241685 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4225182&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F12%2Fillusions-of-control%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 4 December 2010 Why do clever people believe stupid things? It’s difficult to make sense of the world from the small atoms of experience that we each gather as we wander around it, and a new paper in the British Journal of Psychology this month shows how we can create [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4225182 Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:35:03 +0100 4225182 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4205925&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F11%2F1864%2F Ben Goldacre. The Guardian, Saturday 27 November 2010 Wrong isn’t enough: we need interestingly wrong, and this week that came in some research from Stonewall, an organisation for whom I generally have great respect, which was reported in the Guardian. Stonewall have conducted a survey, and their press release says it shows “the average coming [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4205925 Sat, 27 Nov 2010 00:01:51 +0100 4205925 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4186896&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F11%2Fhello-madam-would-you-like-your-children-to-be-unemployed%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 20 November 2010 Obviously I like nerdy days out: like Kelvedon Hatch secret nuclear bunker, maybe, with its sign on the A128 saying “secret nuclear bunker this way”. Last month eight of us commissioned a boat to get onto a rotting man-made WW2 sea-fort in the middle of the ocean [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4186896 Sat, 20 Nov 2010 00:01:00 +0100 4186896 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4162905&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F11%2Fscience-is-about-embracing-your-knockers%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 13 November 2010 If science has any credibility, it derives from transparency: when you make a claim about how something works, you provide references to experiments, which describe openly and in full what was done, in enough detail for the experiment to be replicated, detailing what was measured, and how. [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4162905 Fri, 12 Nov 2010 23:45:48 +0100 4162905 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4143012&cid=t_99425_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fjust-in-time-for-christmas_07.html Buy"Ben Goldacre, a British physician and author, has written a very funny and biting book critiquing what he calls "Bad Science.'' Under this heading he includes homeopathy, cosmetics manufacturers whose claims about their products defy plausibility, proponents of miracle vitamins, and drug companies and physicians who design faulty studies and manipulate the results . . . While it is a very entertaining book, it also provides important insight into the horrifying outcomes that can result when willful anti-intellectualism is allowed equal footing with scientific methodology." ----Dennis Rosen, The Boston Globe (Source: PharmaGossip) PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4143012 Sun, 07 Nov 2010 03:03:00 +0100 4143012 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4139194&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F11%2Fthe-glorious-mess-of-real-scientific-results%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 6 November 2010 Popular science is often triumphalist, presenting research as a set of completed answers, when in reality much of what gets published makes a glorious, necessary mess. Here is an example. Solomon Asch’s legendary studies from the 1950s on conformity are among my favourite experiments of all time: [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4139194 Sat, 06 Nov 2010 00:02:43 +0100 4139194 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4118807&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F10%2Fneuro-realism%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 30 October 2010 When the BBC tells you, in a headline, that libido problems are in the brain and not in the mind, then you might find yourself wondering what the difference between the two is supposed to be, and whether a science article can really be assuming – in [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4118807 Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:01:40 +0100 4118807 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4118808&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F10%2Fdegrees-of-consent%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 23 October 2010 This month it was revealed that US academics funded by NIH deliberately infected mentally incapacitated patients, prison inmates, sex workers, and soldiers from Guatemala with syphilis, gonorrhea, and chancroid during the 1940s.There has been outrage, and rightly so. Since the 1940s, regulations on consent have been tightened [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4118808 Fri, 29 Oct 2010 22:47:31 +0100 4118808 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4073990&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F10%2Fthe-caveat-in-paragraph-number-19%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 16 October 2010 You will be familiar with the Daily Mail’s ongoing project to divide all the inanimate objects in the world into the ones that either cause or prevent cancer. Individual entries are now barely worth documenting, and the phenomenon is best appreciated in bulk through websites such as [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4073990 Fri, 15 Oct 2010 23:03:04 +0100 4073990 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4060547&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F10%2Fmy-book-is-coming-out-in-the-us-and-canada%2F My first book “Bad Science” is out today in the US and Canada, and there are some talks coming up in Canada and the US next week. Clicking on the covers below will take you to the Amazon page. . The talks should be fun, I’m passing through: Montreal Trottier Symposium in McGill  on October [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4060547 Tue, 12 Oct 2010 10:00:21 +0100 4060547 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045053&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F10%2Fpride-and-prejudice%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 9 October 2010 What does it mean to say that a psychological or behavioural condition has a biological cause? Over the past week more battles have been raging over ADHD, after a paper published by a group of Cardiff researchers found evidence that there is a genetic association with the [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045053 Fri, 08 Oct 2010 22:37:52 +0100 4045053 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045054&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F10%2Fnerds-rise-up-science-cuts-protest-tomorrow%2F I’m speaking tomorrow at the protest against science cuts, it’s 2pm outside the Treasury, wear something that looks like your field, maybe a white coat, or a telescope, or a field if you’re a botanist. Details of the protest: (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045054 Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:07:16 +0100 4045054 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4022873&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F10%2Fempathy%2F Like all students of wrongness, I’m fascinated by research into irrational beliefs and behaviours, but I’m also suspicious of how far you can stretch the findings from a laboratory into the real world. A cracking new paper from Social Psychology and Personality Science makes a neat attempt to address this shortcoming. Loran Nordgren and Mary [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4022873 Fri, 01 Oct 2010 23:01:52 +0100 4022873 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4022874&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F10%2Fempathys-failures%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 2 October 2010 Like all students of wrongness, I’m fascinated by research into irrational beliefs and behaviours, but I’m also suspicious of how far you can stretch the findings from a laboratory into the real world. A cracking new paper from Social Psychology and Personality Science makes a neat attempt [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4022874 Fri, 01 Oct 2010 23:01:48 +0100 4022874 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3998923&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F09%2Fpornography-in-hospitals%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 25 September 2010 The Sun, of all people, are angry about pornography: “THE hard-up NHS is blowing taxpayers’ cash on PORN for sperm donors, a report reveals today.” The Telegraph immediately followed suit. Some clinics provide pornography for men masturbating in clinic rooms to produce sperm for IVF with their [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3998923 Fri, 24 Sep 2010 23:01:51 +0100 3998923 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3980795&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F09%2Fghostwriters%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 18 September 2010 If I tell you that Katie Price did not, necessarily, write her own book, this is not a revelation. From academics I have slightly higher expectations, but now the legal system has spat out another skip full of documents: this time, we get a new insight into [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3980795 Fri, 17 Sep 2010 23:01:17 +0100 3980795 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3957868&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F09%2Fthe-pope-and-aids%2F This week the pope is in London. You will have your own views on the discrimination against women, the homophobia, and the international criminal conspiracy to cover up for mass child rape. My special interest is his role in the 2 million people who die of Aids each year. In May 2005, shortly after taking [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3957868 Sat, 11 Sep 2010 01:06:07 +0100 3957868 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3933055&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F09%2Fblind-prejudice%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 4 September 2010 Everyone likes to imagine they are rational, fair, and free from prejudice. But how easily are we misled by appearances? Noola Griffiths is an academic who studies the psychology of music, and she’s published a cracking paper on what women wear, and how that effects your judgement [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3933055 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:01:34 +0100 3933055 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3911650&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F08%2Fin-praise-of-anecdotes%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 28 August 2010 For simpletons and amateurs, there are good research methods, and bad research methods. In reality, different tools are valuable in different situations, and sometimes, even very tiny numbers of people can give you a meaningful piece of information: even an anecdote can be informative. For example, if [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3911650 Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:01:58 +0100 3911650 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3889046&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F08%2Fexams-are-getting-easier%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 21 August 2010 Pass rates are at 98%. A quarter of grades are higher than an A. This week every newspaper in the country was filled with people asserting that exams are definitely getting easier, and then other people asserting that exams are definitely not getting easier. The question for [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3889046 Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:01:00 +0100 3889046 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3865226&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F08%2Fgive-us-the-trial-data%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 14 August 2010 This week the drug company AstraZeneca paid out £125m to settle a class action. Over 17,500 patients claim the company withheld information showing that schizophrenia drug quetiapine (tradename Seroquel) might cause diabetes. Why do companies pay out money before cases get to court? One interesting feature of [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3865226 Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:40:00 +0100 3865226 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3833417&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F08%2Fmore-than-60-children-saved-from-abuse%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 7 August 2010 According to the Home Office this week, Sarah’s law – where any parent can find out if any adult in contact with their child has a record of violent or sexual crimes – has “already protected more than 60 children from abuse during its pilot“. This fact [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3833417 Sat, 07 Aug 2010 01:34:58 +0100 3833417 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3831318&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F08%2Fmore-than-60-children-saved-from-abuse%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 7 August 2010 According to the Home Office this week, Sarah’s law – where any parent can find out if any adult in contact with their child has a record of violent or sexual crimes – has "already protected more than 60 children from abuse during its pilot". This fact [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3831318 Sat, 07 Aug 2010 01:34:58 +0100 3831318 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3802444&cid=t_99425_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F07%2F29%2Fbad-science-mytype-ipad-research%2F I hate to give press to a “research firm” that doesn’t know the first thing about reporting statistics or basic methodology in their own “research” report. I guess that’s what happens when you get a bunch of people together who are mostly technologists, not statisticians or social scientists. This past week, MyType, a Facebook personality application that takes your data and then sells aggregated reports based upon your answers to their quiz, released a report about the iPad. They suggested that iPad owners and those looking to buy one were “selfish elites” while those who were iPad critics were characterized as “independent geeks.” You can already tell that this isn’t exactly going to be a scientific analysis, right? First... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3802444 Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:22:05 +0100 3802444 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3798514&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2Ffiles%2Fhomeop.mp3 I zipped off this quick podcast from my phone on Monday and put it on my secondary blog, which I run for scrappy stuff. People seemed to like it a bit so I’m reposting here. There’s more audio stuff coming, a bit of video too, and I’ll work out good feeds and iTunes stuff over [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3798514 Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:06:15 +0100 3798514 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3784214&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F07%2Fi-love-research-about-research%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 24 July 2010 There is a pleasing symmetry in the ropey science you get from different players. When GlaxoSmithKline are confronted with an unflattering meta-analysis summarising the results of all 56 trials on one of their treatments, as we saw last week, their defense is to point at 7 positive trials, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3784214 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:01:00 +0100 3784214 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3764127&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stablesound.co.uk%2Fmp3%2Fdrgillian.mp3 Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Monday 19 July 2010 What do you do, as a campaigner for libel reform, when a litigious millionaire calls you a liar? This ethical quandary was presented to me last week when twitter account of Gillian McKeith – or to give her full medical title, “Gillian McKeith” – called my book “lies”. Now, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3764127 Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:01:00 +0100 3764127 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3761390&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F07%2Fpharmaco-epidemiology-would-be-fascinating-enough-even-if-society-didnt-manage-it-really-really-badly%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 17 July 2010 This week the FDA voted not to ban GlaxoSmithKline’s diabetes drug rosiglitazone (brand name Avandia). Their vote has been reported as a victory for the company. I don’t think so: this saga tells an ugly story about our collective medical incompetence. Rosiglitazone was first marketed in 1999. From [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3761390 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 23:01:00 +0100 3761390 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3740558&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F07%2Fthe-bullshit-box%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 10 July 2010 This week the food and nutrition pills industries are complaining. They like to make health claims about their products, which often turn out to be unsupported by the evidence. Regulating that mess would be tedious and long-winded, the kind of project enjoyed by the EU, and so the [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3740558 Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:27:21 +0100 3740558 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3721730&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F07%2Fyeah-well-you-can-prove-anything-with-science%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 3 July 2010 What do people do when confronted with scientific evidence that challenges their pre-existing view? Often they will try to ignore it, intimidate it, buy it off, sue it for libel, or reason it away. The classic paper on the last of those strategies is from Lord in 1979: [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3721730 Fri, 02 Jul 2010 22:56:24 +0100 3721730 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3714125&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F06%2Fnullius-in-verba-in-verba-nullius%2F Hi there, just back from Glastonbury, here’s my column from last Saturday. The Guardian didn’t take it, they said it was too soon to be critical of a Guardian journalist after the column on fish oil, and the issue was too technical. I’m not prone to melodrama, so I don’t see this as a big [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3714125 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:22:41 +0100 3714125 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3676626&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F06%2Fburn-the-scientists%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 19 June 2010 On the 6th of April 2009, an earthquake registering 5.8 on the richter scale hit the town of L’Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. This was a tragedy, and hundreds of people died. It would be great if we could have firm predictions about every risk whose rare but tragic [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3676626 Fri, 18 Jun 2010 22:31:22 +0100 3676626 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3655561&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F06%2F1693%2F Ben Goldacre The Guardian Saturday 12 June 2010 As someone who strives – sanctimoniously – to be right, I’m a masochistic fan of research showing that people who are wrong have better lives than I do. This is why I particularly enjoyed a study from the current edition of Psychological Science showing that being superstitious improves performance on a [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3655561 Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:01:09 +0100 3655561 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3640974&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F06%2Fjeremy-laurance-is-an-angry-man%2F You might be amused by this piece from the Independent’s health reporter Jeremy Laurance today. It’s about what a bad man I am for pointing out when science and health journalists get things wrong. Alongside the lengthy ad hominem – a matter of taste for you – there are a number of mistakes and, more [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3640974 Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:23:51 +0100 3640974 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3632239&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F06%2Fthe-return-of-a-2bn-fishy-friend%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 5 June 2010 “Fish oil helps schoolchildren to concentrate” was the headline in the Observer. Regular readers will remember the omega-3 fish oil pill issue, as the entire British news media has been claiming for several years now that there are trials showing it improves school performance and behaviour in mainstream [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3632239 Fri, 04 Jun 2010 23:47:24 +0100 3632239 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3610306&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F05%2Fthe-noble-and-ancient-tradition-of-moron-baiting%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 29 May 2010 This week a man called Martin Gardner died, aged 95. His popular maths column in Scientific American (and 50 books on the subject) spanned the decades, but in 1952 he published a book about pseudoscience, quacks, and credulous journalists. How much do you think has changed over 60 [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3610306 Fri, 28 May 2010 22:21:57 +0100 3610306 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3592181&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F05%2Fa-staggeringly-weak-interview-of-andrew-wakefield-on-the-today-programme%2F Uninformed reporter fails to present even the most basic GMC allegations of misrepresenting individual patients findings. You can listen to it here: news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8700000/8700062.stm When your interviewee – who has been found guilty by the GMC of misrepresenting his own scientific findings, and conducting dangerous experiments on children without ethics committee clearance, in a clearly laid out document [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3592181 Mon, 24 May 2010 10:09:59 +0100 3592181 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3588839&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F05%2Fpoliticians-can-divine-which-policy-works-best-by-using-their-special-magic-politician-beam%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 22 May 2010 So all good citizens this week are poring over the “Programme For Government”, and it’s true to say that there is much to be pleased with. Labour wasn’t all about unbridled credit and fun public sector spending sprees: they kept all your emails, kept records of the websites [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3588839 Fri, 21 May 2010 23:45:00 +0100 3588839 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3566586&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F05%2Fpeep-peep%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 15 May 2010 It’s worth paying attention to medicine, because when it goes wrong, people suffer and die. But how do we know when things are going wrong? This week the BMA produced a report on whistleblowers. Of the 384 doctors they surveyed (with a dismal response rate of 12%, we [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3566586 Sat, 15 May 2010 01:27:05 +0100 3566586 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3546832&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F05%2Fwill-a-hung-parliament-undermine-fiscal-discipline%2F Lots of people have been explaining that a hung parliament would be unable to rein in public spending. Do the figures support this idea? I’m sitting in my kitchen with a political data nerd who’s just pulled this gem out of his back pocket. It’s from this document on this page of the Institute for [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3546832 Sat, 08 May 2010 17:31:43 +0100 3546832 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3545408&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F05%2Fthe-real-political-nerds%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 8 May 2010 Data matters. We use it to understand what has already happened in the world, and we use it to make decisions about what to do next. But in among the graphics and electoral cock-ups lies a terrible truth: a small army of amateur enthusiasts are doing a better [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3545408 Sat, 08 May 2010 10:54:42 +0100 3545408 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3542602&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fhealth-and-medicine-scientific-or-miraculous%2F2010.05.06 I was recently listening to an audiobook about diet, written and read by a “famous” doctor who gets people healthy through dietary changes. Since my podcast pushes me a little into the mainstream (more than this blog does), I thought it would be good to hear what the “average” person is reading about health. Plus, I am not exactly the most compliant patient when it comes to diet, so I thought I could possibly get something out of it personally. I did my best to listen with an open mind, ignoring what I thought were gimmicks and trying to glean the valuable information from what this doctor was saying. I had to stop, however, before finishing the book. It wasn’t the content so much that gave me cause to feel the desire to smash my iPod, it was the hype. The author was constantly u... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3542602 Fri, 07 May 2010 01:00:29 +0100 3542602 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3533787&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F05%2Fkeep-evan-harris-in-parliament-oxford-west-and-abingdon%2F It’s the election tomorrow and I want to ask your help to get one MP re-elected for the good of science in the UK. In an era when so many of our elected politicians have acted out of self-interest, dipping their fingers in the till, Evan Harris has stood out by being smart, hard-working and [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3533787 Wed, 05 May 2010 11:38:37 +0100 3533787 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3522606&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F05%2Fevidence-based-smear-campaigns%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 1 May 2010 Elections are a time for smearing, and the Mail’s desperate story about Nick Clegg and the Nazis is my favourite so far. Generally the truth comes out, in time. But how much damage can smears do? A new experiment published this month in the journal “Political Behaviour” sets [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3522606 Fri, 30 Apr 2010 23:01:00 +0100 3522606 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3501492&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F04%2Fevidence-based-voting%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 24 April 2010 What can science and evidence bring to an election? First there are the micro-issues: we can assess the validity of claims made by politicians by seeking out the evidence. David Cameron, for example, claimed that UK cancer services were bad because fewer people die of cancer in [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3501492 Sat, 24 Apr 2010 12:15:30 +0100 3501492 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3475766&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F04%2Flibel-litigants-get-what-they-deserve-and-so-do-the-public%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Friday 15 April 2010 [Full text at guardian.co.uk, abbreviated in the paper] After 2 years of pursuing one man through the courts, at a cost to him of £200,000 and 2 years work, the British Chiropractic Association yesterday dropped their libel case against science writer Simon Singh. The case was over a piece [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3475766 Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:23:41 +0100 3475766 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3471734&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F04%2Fbritish-chiropractic-association-drops-shameful-libel-case-against-science-writer-who-criticised-them%2F The BCA have dropped their case. It has not been good for them. It will now get worse. Singh has made it clear that he will pursue them for his costs: this will cost the BCA dearly, and it is money they can ill afford. I’m off to write about it for the Guardian but [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3471734 Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:30:40 +0100 3471734 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3472070&cid=t_99425_167_f&fid=36994&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnutrition-news.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F04%2Fatkins-still-atkins-says-london.html Atkins-EMEA - New Atkins New YouAtkins has been rebranded with a get out of Jail free cardThe 'new' Atkins diet includes the new line advising* A daily requirement for at least five servings of high-fiber “foundation vegetables”This is the line that will make it acceptable to scientists who were previously warning the Atkins diet was dangerous and could cause kidney problems.But despite the new logo seemingly claiming that the sun shines out of the Atkins International backside it's still a pro meat, anti carbohydrate, high saturated fat, low antioxident, low essential fat diet fad diet says London Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston."The marketing people have just squashed Atkins into a slightly different shaped box - it's still the same beast, it still has unpleasant side effects and i... Healthy Eating and Nutrition News blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3472070 Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:47:00 +0100 3472070 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3471735&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F04%2Frighteous-mischief-from-archie-cochrane%2F Working on an editorial about the importance of evidence based social policy, I re-discovered this moment of genius from Archie Cochrane which I thought I’d share. It’s 1971, he’s part way through a randomised trial comparing Coronary Care Units against home care, and the time has come to share some results with the cardiologists. I am [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3471735 Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:16:55 +0100 3471735 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3456662&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F04%2Flucia-de-berk-a-martyr-to-stupidity%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 10 April 2010 Lucia de Berk is a Dutch nurse who has spent 6 years in jail on a life sentence for murdering 7 people, in a killing spree that never happened. She will hear about her appeal on Wednesday, and there is now little doubt that she will be let [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3456662 Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:40:03 +0100 3456662 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3437663&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F04%2Fi-patent-your-ass-and-your-leg-and-your-nostril%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 2 April 2010 This week the Association for Molecular Pathology, working with the American Civil Liberties Union, won a major victory, overturning just some of the patents owned by a company called Myriad on the BRCA1 gene for breast cancer. There are three reasons why gene patents like these are stupid: [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3437663 Fri, 02 Apr 2010 22:58:44 +0100 3437663 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3411068&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F03%2Ffacebook-causes-syphilis-says-prof-peter-kelly-director-of-public-health-nhs-tees%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 27 March 2010 After the Mail’s definitive headline of last year “How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer” (in the same week as a story about a radioactive paedophile, no less) comes a competitor. “Facebook spreads syphilis” was the front page headline in the Sun on Wednesday: “sex diseases [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3411068 Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:40:00 +0100 3411068 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3385318&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F03%2Fdoing-nothing%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 20 March 2010 I don’t write about stories where someone has a conflict of interest, in general, because there are no interesting scientific ideas in them: such stories are a way for people who don’t understand the technicalities of science to give the illusion of critiquing it. But it’s still disappointing [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3385318 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:55:32 +0100 3385318 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3382766&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F03%2Flast-chance-for-libel-reform-mass-lobby-of-mps-next-tuesday%2F This is your last chance to convince your MP that libel reform is a good idea before parliament dissolves. Politicians can feel like a dispiritingly disengaged shower of till-dippers, but here is one issue that you can care about, and it’s worth one final stab at making them see sense. Our libel laws stifle critical [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3382766 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:05:23 +0100 3382766 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3382767&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F03%2Flib-dem-councillor-caroline-pidgeon-falls-for-bogus-rentokil-story-in-the-london-assembly%2F Briefly. Lib Dem councillor Caroline Pidgeon raised the bogus Rentokil stories in the London Assembly yesterday: and fell for them, hook, line and sinker. People often forget that politicians – as much as anyone else – get their information about how the world works from reading newspapers. I guess this is fairly good evidence that [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3382767 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:51:36 +0100 3382767 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3378407&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F03%2Flib-dem-councillor-caroline-pidgeon-falls-for-bogus-rentokil-story-in-the-london-assembly%2F Briefly. Lib Dem councillor Caroline Pidgeon raised the bogus Rentokil stories in the London Assembly yesterday: and fell for them, hook, line and sinker. People often forget that politicians – as much as anyone else – get their information about how the world works from reading newspapers. I guess this is fairly good evidence that [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3378407 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:51:36 +0100 3378407 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3362362&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F03%2Frentokil%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 13 March 2010 “2,000 bugs taking a ride in every train compartment” said the Daily Mail. “Cockroaches cluster on trains“, scuttled the Telegraph. “Commuters share trains with 1,000 cockroaches, 200 bedbugs and 200 fleas” said the Evening Standard. The figures were all very specific and very frightening. “Rentokil say they also discovered [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3362362 Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:22:16 +0100 3362362 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3338198&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F03%2Fwhen-is-it-okay-to-ignore-people-you-dont-trust%2F Ben goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 6 March 2010 If the media were actuarial about drawing our attention to the causes of avoidable death, your newspapers would be filled with diarrhoea, Aids, and cigarettes every day. In reality we know this is an absurd idea. For those interested in the scale of our fascination with rarity, one [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3338198 Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:35:13 +0100 3338198 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3335271&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34595&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnhsblogdoc.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F03%2Fnhs-priorities-homeopathy.html Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a rare condition of the bone marrow. The bone marrow is, if you like, the factory that makes your blood. In MDS, the production goes haywire. The condition often develops into a full blown leukaemia but even before that the patient may die due to a lack of certain blood cells. The condition can be contained for a while by giving frequent blood transfusions but these still leave the patient feeling weak and debilitated. There is a fairly new treatment available with a drug called axacitidine (Vidaza). The cost of treatment is around £45,000 a year. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence has decided not to make the drug available to NHS patients. Decisions have to be made, lines have to be drawn, and the economy is weak. It is galling, though, to MDS... NHS Blog Doctor blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3335271 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:15:00 +0100 3335271 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3314611&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F02%2Fobvious-quacks-the-tip-of-a-scary-medical-iceberg%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 27 February, 2010 After the Science and Technology committee report this week, and the jaw dropping stupidity of “we bring you both sides” in the media coverage afterwards, you are bored of homeopathy. So am I, but it gives a very simple window into the wider disasters in all of medicine. Homeopathy, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3314611 Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:09:09 +0100 3314611 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3298269&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F02%2Fthe-bbc-have-found-someone-whose-cancer-was-cured-by-homeopathy%2F Ladies and Gentlemen, we have hit the bottom of the barrel. Homeopathy cured my cancer, on BBC News. (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3298269 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:27:58 +0100 3298269 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3294549&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F02%2Fparliamentary-sci-tech-committee-on-homeopathy%2F Here’s the report, press release below. It looks like pretty sensible stuff to me, homeopaths can’t expect special treatment among all forms of medicine, if the evidence actively shows it doesn’t work, then that’s that. I have to say what really frightens me about all this is the MHRA: if regulation is so political that [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3294549 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:02:54 +0100 3294549 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3290783&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F02%2Fhow-do-you-regulate-wu%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 20 February 2010 You might have read the case of Ying Wu this week: a fully qualified traditional chinese medicine doctor operating out of a shop in Chelmsford who for several years prescribed high doses of a dangerous banned substance to treat the acne of senior civil servant Patricia Booth, 58, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3290783 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:01:29 +0100 3290783 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3269666&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F02%2Fguns-dont-kill-people-puppies-do%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 13 February 2010 Often one data point isn’t enough to spot a pattern, or even to say that an event is interesting and exceptional, because numbers are all about context and constraints. At one end there are the simple examples. “Mum beats odds of 50 million-to-one to have 3 babies [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3269666 Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:21:57 +0100 3269666 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3254415&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F02%2Fmoments-of-genius%2F Sorry no column this week, I’ve got some fun stuff in the pipe, as they say, and a lot on. In case you miss me, here’s my shouty contribution to Radio 4’s “Moments Of Genius”, a eulogy to the startlingly new idea of systematic reviews. Other bits and bobs… …I’m on Quote Unquote this week [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3254415 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:35:15 +0100 3254415 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3223214&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F01%2Foh-i-found-you-a-new-job%2F I thought you might be interested in this job advert from the Independent. It’s from the nice people at Maperton Trust. You can go and see them for a diagnosis with their magical machines, although the best product is their Head Lice Repelling Unit or HELRU (right) which various people have emailed me about over the years, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3223214 Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:56:33 +0100 3223214 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3220487&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F01%2Fthe-wakefield-mmr-verdict%2F Here’s a very brief piece I bashed out for the Guardian newsdesk today on the Wakefield finding, the further reading below will be more helpful if you’re interested in the story. Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Thursday 28 January 2009 In medicine, “untoward incident inquiries” tend to look for systems failures, rather than one individual to blame. [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3220487 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:25:14 +0100 3220487 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3200402&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F01%2F12-monkeys-no-8-wait-sorry-i-meant-14%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 23 January 2010 Like many people, you’re possibly afraid to share your views on animal experiments, because you don’t want anyone digging up your grandmother’s grave, or setting fire to your house, or stuff like that. Animal experiments are necessary, they need to be properly regulated, and we have some of [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3200402 Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:07:05 +0100 3200402 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3178746&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F01%2Fvoices-of-the-ancients%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 16 January 2010 Every now and then you have to salute a genius. Both the Daily Mail and the Metro report new research analysing the positions of Britain’s ancient sites, and the results are startling: primitive man had his own form of “sat nav”. Researcher Tom Brooks analysed 1,500 prehistoric monuments, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3178746 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:42:00 +0100 3178746 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3156432&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2010%2F01%2Fif-you-want-to-be-trusted-more-claim-less%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 8 January 2009 “Public sector pay races ahead in a recession” shouted the front page of this week’s Sunday Times. “Public sector workers earn 7% more on average than their peers in the private sector — a pay gulf that has more than doubled since the recession began.” The Telegraph followed [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3156432 Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:05:51 +0100 3156432 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3120410&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F12%2Ftodays-bible-reading%2F On the birthday of Jesus Christ – who was clearly a very nice guy, giant sky wizard issues aside – I can think of no better bible reading than this, Daniel 1:8, a description of the first ever clinical trial. Daniel and his people have been dragged off to the court of king Nebuchadnezzar, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3120410 Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:05:53 +0100 3120410 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3104980&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F12%2Fthe-year-in-nonsense%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 19 December 2009 It’s been a vintage year for dodgy science in government. We saw reports on cocaine that were disappeared, dodgy evidence to justify DNA retention, and some government advisors who estimated the cost of piracy at 10% of GDP, to media applause, and then failed to tell everyone they’d [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3104980 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:01:00 +0100 3104980 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3096804&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F12%2Fmawkish-christmas-cheer%2F Last year I ran into Ariane Sherine. She had found that no charity would publicly take money from a book written by atheists at Christmas, since Christians give so much money for good work, and they didn’t want to annoy them. Luckily the Terence Higgins Trust stepped up to this bizarre challenge, which is [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3096804 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:33:42 +0100 3096804 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3084744&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F12%2Fthe-greatest-show-on-earth%2F Ooh, starting tomorrow is this year’s run of our amazing super-nerd-comedy-musical spectacular Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People. It’s a galaxy of stars, Richard Dawkins, Johnny Ball, Barry Cryer, Chris Addison off the Thick of It, Brian Cox, Richard Herring, Simon Singh, me, and many many more random people. This is variety at its [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3084744 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:50:12 +0100 3084744 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3082378&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F12%2Fcopenhagen-climate-change-blah-blah%2F Sorry, this felt a bit rushed and PollyFillaesque, I hope it’s vaguely interesting… Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 12 December 2009 So as we career towards a mediocre outcome in Copenhagen, why do roughly half the people in this country not believe in man-made climate change, when the vast, overwhelming majority of scientists do? It certainly predates the [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3082378 Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:10:00 +0100 3082378 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3082379&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F12%2Fcriticising-the-gm-industry%2F I just finished recording Any Questions on Radio 4 (you can hear the programme here). Since it was recorded in a pesticides research base, I was hoping for a question on GM, because there’s an interesting dark corner here that needs a bit more attention. Regular readers will know that I’m very critical of [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3082379 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:04:28 +0100 3082379 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3079301&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F12%2Flibel-reform%2F Yesterday morning I helped to launch the libel reform campaign in parliament with Index on Censorship, English PEN and Sense About Science. To be fair, the best line came the day before at the celeb launch from Alexei Sayle, who explained that he was once sued for libel by someone, and it cost over £100,000 [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3079301 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:22:33 +0100 3079301 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3059702&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F12%2Fso-brillliantly-youve-presented-a-really-transgressive-case-through-the-mainstream-media%2F Ben Goldacre, Saturday 5 December 2009, The Guardian Here is a mystery. Rom Houben, a Belgian man, was diagnosed as being in a coma for 23 years, and he has now made a partial recovery. This has been demonstrated with a series of recently developed brain scanning techniques (whose predictive value is not entirely known, but [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3059702 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:12:19 +0100 3059702 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3044700&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F12%2Fby-me-in-the-bmj-the-dodginess-of-drug-company-trials%2F Here’s a piece by me in the British Medical Journal this week, published online already, and in the print edition this Friday. It’s a head to head with Vincent Lawton, who until recently was head of Merck in the UK. Briefly, I set out the quantitative evidence demonstrating the scale of the problem, and he [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3044700 Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:54:32 +0100 3044700 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3015258&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F11%2Foh-that-was-quick%2F Ben Goldacre, Saturday 21 November 2009, The Guardian Once your medicines regulator decides it should change the side effects warnings on the patient information of a drug taken by millions of people, how long do you think it would take for that change to be implemented? In February 2008 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3015258 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:08:00 +0100 3015258 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3044701&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F11%2Fwtf%2F Ben Goldacre, Saturday 14 November 2009, The Guardian It’s always interesting when people take pseudoscience out of its natural habitat – Islington – and off into a place where the stakes are quite high. Like the polio vaccine scare in Nigeria. Or Aids denialism in South Africa. Or detecting bombs in Iraq, where the New York [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3044701 Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:21:20 +0100 3044701 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2992643&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F11%2Fwtf%2F Ben Goldacre, Saturday 14 November 2009, The Guardian It’s always interesting when people take pseudoscience out of its natural habitat – Islington – and off into a place where the stakes are quite high. Like the polio vaccine scare in Nigeria. Or Aids denialism in South Africa. Or detecting bombs in Iraq, where the New York [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2992643 Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:21:20 +0100 2992643 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2970179&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F11%2Fthe-nutt-sack-affair-part-493%2F Ben Goldacre, Saturday 7 November 2009, The Guardian Obviously it’s pleasing to see, in the storm of commentary over Professor Nutt’s sacking, that everyone outside of politics now recognises the importance of scientific evidence in devising laws. But a strange reasoning twitch has appeared, in the arguments of politicians and right wing commentators. Science can tell [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2970179 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:06:00 +0100 2970179 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2946876&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F10%2Fpolitical-woo%2F Ben Goldacre, Saturday 31 October 2009, The Guardian. Every now and then it’s fun to dip into the world of politics and find out what our lords and masters are saying about science. First we find Brooks Newmark, Conservative MP for Braintree, introducing a bill to reduce the age for cervical cancer screening to 20. The [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2946876 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:03:00 +0100 2946876 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2934632&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F10%2Fthis-is-what-the-spectator-sent-when-they-cancelled-their-aids-denialism-extravaganza%2F I’m at a conference (on communicating evidence to patients with… GERD GIGERENZER!!!) in Frankfurt and late for lunch, but I thought it might amuse you to see the language the Spectator are using.   From: Events [mailto:events@pressholdings.com] Sent: 26 October 2009 12:19 Subject: URGENT – [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2934632 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:24:52 +0100 2934632 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2923227&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F10%2Faids-denialism-at-the-spectator%2F Ben Goldacre, Saturday 24 October 2009, The Guardian. A lot of strange stuff can fly in under the claim that you are “simply starting a debate”. You may remember the Aids denialist documentary House Of Numbers from 3 weeks ago. Since then, it has received many glowing outings. The London Raindance film festival explained that they [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2923227 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:01:00 +0100 2923227 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2901605&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F10%2Fbehold-the-jot-of-evidence%2F Ben Goldacre, Saturday 17 October 2009, The Guardian For those with the finances to try to silence their critics, this has been a week of spectacular own goals. Trafigura has loudly advertised the report on the dumping of toxic waste in Africa by taking out a super-injunction through Carter-Ruck. And on Wednesday Simon Singh, the science [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2901605 Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:40:20 +0100 2901605 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2879378&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F10%2Fjabs-as-bad-as-the-cancer%2F Ben Goldacre, Saturday 10 October 2009, The Guardian Last month I had a debate at the Royal Institution with Lord Drayson, the Science Minister, in which he argued that I was too harsh on British science coverage, which is the best in the world. During this event our chairman (bizarrely and excellently Simon Mayo) pulled out [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2879378 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:01:46 +0100 2879378 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2857386&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F10%2Fand-now-nerd-news%2F Ben Goldacre, Saturday 3 October 2009, The Guardian. There are some very obvious problems that never seem to go away. Right now I can see 1,592 articles on Google News about one poor girl who died unexpectedly after receiving the cervical vaccine, and only 363 explaining that the post mortem found a massive and previously undiagnosed [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2857386 Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:20:00 +0100 2857386 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2834236&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F09%2Fhouse-of-numbers%2F Ben Goldacre, 26 September 2009, The Guardian. This week, listening to the Guardian Science podcast, I had a treat. Caspar Melville, editor of New Humanist magazine, leader of something called the Rationalist Association, had been to see two films at the Cambridge Film Festival. One was a dreary creationist movie that famously misrepresented the biologists interviewed [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2834236 Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:51:00 +0100 2834236 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2814375&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F09%2Fprotecting-the-powerful-is-a-feature-not-a-bug%2F Here’s a quick piece about libel that I bashed out on request for CiF, covers ground you’ll have read before but it’s always good to keep libel alive in peoples’ minds. I should also say, I think I was in a bit of a mopey mood when I emailed it from the rail replacement bus [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2814375 Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:43:04 +0100 2814375 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2809651&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F09%2Fcorrection%2F I’m very happy to post a quick correction. In this column: www.badscience.net/2009/06/behind-the-curtains/ 1. I gave the newspaper names incorrectly. It was the Sunday Times, not the Times, and the Sunday Express, not the Express. 2. When The Guardian edited my column, they removed the response from the Sunday Times. However this response was included on the badscience.net version, where [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2809651 Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:06:55 +0100 2809651 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2809652&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F09%2Fblueprint-fail%2F Ben Goldacre, 19 September 2009, The Guardian This week at a debate in the Royal Institute I was told off by the science minister for not praising good science reporting, because journalists – famously kind to their targets – are sensitive to criticism. So before we dismantle this Home Office report on drugs policy, can I [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2809652 Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:01:00 +0100 2809652 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2800317&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F09%2Fdebate-with-lord-drayson-on-rubbish-science-coverage-live-streamed-7pm%2F The debate with Lord Drayson (who assures me he will attend in full “lord” fancy dress) will be streamed live from 7pm at: (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2800317 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:02:36 +0100 2800317 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2788491&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F09%2Fmedical-hypotheses-fails-the-aids-test%2F Ben Goldacre, 12 September 2009, The Guardian This week the peer review system has been in the newspapers, after a survey of scientists suggested it had some problems. This is barely news. Peer review – where articles submitted to an academic journal are reviewed by other scientists from the same field for an opinion on their [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2788491 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:01:00 +0100 2788491 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2768617&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F09%2Fplease-give-us-all-your-money%2F Ben Goldacre, 5 September 2009, The Guardian How do patents affect science? This week in India, US drug company Gilead lost their appeal to stop local companies making cheap copies of their Aids drug Tenofovir. They are not alone: in 2007 Novartis lost a lengthy case trying to force the Indian government into strengthening their weak patent [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2768617 Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:01:00 +0100 2768617 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2744065&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F08%2Fhealth-warning-exercise-makes-you-fat%2F Ben Goldacre, 29 August 2009, The Guardian Why would you listen to a government health message, or your GP practise nurse, when the Sunday Telegraph has much more exciting news? “Health warning: exercise makes you fat” is the kind of full-width headline you want to see across a broadsheet page: it’s affirmative, it’s reassuring, and it [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2744065 Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:06:00 +0100 2744065 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2737730&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F08%2Fben-goldacre-and-science-minister-lord-drayson-debate-16th-sept-royal-institution-tickets-are-free-on-020-7409-2992%2F A couple of months ago the science minister Lord Drayson was saying that British science journalism is fabulous, the lessons from MMR had been learnt, and so on. I disagreed, and after a bit of chat on twitter I’m very pleased to say that the minister’s office have organised a public discussion on the [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2737730 Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:50:42 +0100 2737730 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2734263&cid=t_99425_149_f&fid=35784&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FTheChemBlog%2F%7E3%2FKU3w7QwwrEQ%2F Nothing coming in the way of department reviews (you pussies), but this was pretty f.ing hilarious: The law was intended to reduce the floating debris from abandoned foam coolers in the state’s waterways. But lawmakers, apparently a little rusty with chemistry, barred the wrong plastic. The white foam coolers commonly called “Styrofoam” are made from expanded polystyrene. But the law bars polypropylene. That’s a plastic found in things like dishwasher-safe plastic containers but not usually used to ferry drinks down a river. Source Also, where do stupid people come from?  Other stupid people, of course. (Source: The Chem Blog) The Chem Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2734263 Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:15:49 +0100 2734263 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2702309&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F08%2Fpr-reviewed-data%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, 15 August 2009 You will have noticed – from the fish oil pill saga, and the Herceptin coverage – that journalists can cheerfully make grand claims for a product which would be impossible in any advert. This week the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the Daily Express newspaper repeatedly tried to circumvent [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2702309 Fri, 14 Aug 2009 23:33:00 +0100 2702309 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2702310&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F08%2Fnational-healthcare-a-breeding-ground-for-terrorism%2F Ok. This is seriously next level. (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2702310 Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:01:14 +0100 2702310 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2681890&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F08%2Fhow-myths-are-made%2F Ben Goldacre, Saturday 8 August 2009, The Guardian. Much of what we cover in this column revolves around the idea of a “systematic review”, where the literature is surveyed methodically, following a predetermined protocol, to find all the evidence on a given question. As we saw last week, for example, the Soil Association would rather [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2681890 Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:48:54 +0100 2681890 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2670803&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F08%2Fevidence-check-government-being-good%2F Select committees are pretty much the only place in parliament where MPs do what you’d naively hope they do all the time: sit down, hear a lot of evidence on an important issue, and then have a good hard think about it. In February the Department for Innovations, Universities, Science and Skills asked you what [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2670803 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:46:16 +0100 2670803 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2660727&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F08%2Fcheck-me-out-i-bought-some-posh-chocolate-im-political%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 1 August 2009 This week the Food Standards Agency published 2 review papers showing that organic food is no better than normal food, in terms of composition, or health benefits. The Soil Association’s response has been swift, receiving prominent and blanket right of reply: this is testament to the lobbying power [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2660727 Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:12:26 +0100 2660727 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2657893&cid=t_99425_149_f&fid=35784&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FTheChemBlog%2F%7E3%2F-7TmlA5PfHo%2F The recent and laughable account by Xinbo Wang, Bo Zhang and David Zhigang Wang in JACS that sodium hydride is an oxidant has been challenged by an online cabal of chemists over at TotallySynthetic.  It was further questioned at CBC and has been the scorn of folk in the office. I almost feel compelled to do the reaction, but from the comments section it seems pretty clear:  in the absence of oxygen, sodium hydride does not an oxidant make. It’s a pretty tough reality and a stinging rebuke that people can essentially do basement chemistry and have your shit debunked before it even makes it into print.  This is the nature of the blogosphere, the inernets and the future. Of course, there was no scandal here… it was a bit sensational.  Peer review triumphed again, even if it ha... The Chem Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2657893 Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:32:41 +0100 2657893 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2653702&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F07%2Fone-of-my-t-shirts-is-in-the-in-the-daily-mail%2F So that’s pretty strange. I can also inform you, looking at our deservedly derisory sales figures, that this rather well-dressed young lady is one of 10 people in the universe to own such a t-shirt. Buy one now, and you have a one in ten chance of appearing in the Daily Mail yourself: that’s science. [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2653702 Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:31:40 +0100 2653702 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2653703&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F07%2Fwe-are-more-possible-than-you-can-powerfully-imagine%2F Ben Goldacre The Guardian Wednesday 29 July 2009 Today the Australian magazine Cosmos, along with a vast number of other blogs and publications, reprinted an article by Simon Singh, in slightly tweaked form, in an act of solidarity. The British Chiropractic Association has been suing Singh personally for the past 15 months, over a piece in the Guardian [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2653703 Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:20:26 +0100 2653703 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2613850&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F07%2Fis-this-a-joke%2F Ben Goldacre, 18 July 2009, The Guardian. We’d all like to help the police to do their job well. They, in turn, would like to have a massive database with DNA profiles from everyone who has been arrested, but not convicted of a crime. We worry that this is intrusive, but some of us are willing [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2613850 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:33:00 +0100 2613850 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2613851&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F07%2Frape-a-non-correction-from-the-telegraph%2F The media is a game-like world of blurry truths, where the vague narrative shape of a story matters more than clarity, accuracy and evidence. Three weeks ago the Daily Telegraph published an unpleasant article headlined “Women who dress provocatively more likely to be raped, claim scientists”. It was based on the unpublished and unfinished dissertation [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2613851 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:05:24 +0100 2613851 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2610916&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F07%2Frape-a-non-correction-from-the-telegraph%2F The media is a game-like world of blurry truths, where the vague narrative shape of a story matters more than clarity, accuracy and evidence. Three weeks ago the Daily Telegraph published an unpleasant article headlined “Women who dress provocatively more likely to be raped, claim scientists”. It was based on the unpublished and unfinished dissertation [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2610916 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:05:24 +0100 2610916 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2591445&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F07%2Fevidence-based-revenge%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 11th July 2009 This week I have attempted to engage in meaningful disputes with morons who have misled their readers using untrue facts. I will rise above it, because I am a nice guy. More importantly, I don’t want to end up being diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder, the new [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2591445 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:31:25 +0100 2591445 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2570448&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F07%2Fasking-for-it%2F Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 4 July 2009 There’s nothing like science for giving that objective, white-coat flavoured legitimacy to your prejudices, so it must have been a great day for Telegraph readers when they came across the headline “Women who dress provocatively more likely to be raped, claim scientists”. Ah, scientists. “Women who drink alcohol, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2570448 Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:57:37 +0100 2570448 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2561239&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F07%2Fsteve-connor-is-getting-eggy%2F We’re having a meeting in a pub tonight, it’s free to get in and open to all, we’ll talk about the problems with science journalism. Apparently science journalists won’t tolerate this. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/steve-connor-lofty-medics-should-stick-to-their-day-job-1724485.html Steve Connor: Lofty medics should stick to their day job Science Notebook: Doctors claim media coverage is “lazy, venal and silly” Independent, Tuesday, 30 [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2561239 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:44:34 +0100 2561239 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2522924&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F06%2Fim-doing-a-talk-at-glastonbury-saturday-5pm-green-fields-speakers-tent%2F Walk up the hill towards the Stone Circle, turn right at the homeopathy tent (if it’s in the same place this year), down Healing Broadway, nice big green tent on the right organised (among others) by my mate Shane Collins from t’ Green Party. I’ll be talking at 5pm on Saturday, just after Tony Benn, [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2522924 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:22:17 +0100 2522924 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2522925&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F06%2Fworld-conference-of-science-journalists-troublemakers-fringe-penderels-oak-pub-holborn-1st-july-8pm-midnight%2F Come and see me, Vaughan from Mindhacks.com and Petra from drpetra.co.uk talk in a pub on Wednesday. Next week the World Conference of Science Journalists will be coming to London. A few of us felt they were might not adequately address some of the key problems in their profession, which has deteriorated to the point where [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2522925 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:05:04 +0100 2522925 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2522926&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F06%2Fsteorn-perpetual-motion-co-s-independent-jury-runs-out-of-energy%2F For those who care about follow-ups: http://stjury.ning.com/forum/topics/jury-announcement Jury Announcement In August 2006 the Irish company Steorn published an advertisement in the Economist announcing the development of “a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy”. Qualified experts were sought to form a “jury” to validate these claims. Twenty-two independent scientists and engineers were selected by Steorn to form this [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2522926 Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:42:59 +0100 2522926 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2522927&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F06%2Fbehind-the-curtains%2F Ben Goldacre The Guardian Saturday 20 June 2009 When is a conversation public, an act of performance, and when is it private? This problem rears its head with greater frequency in the age of the internet, as more discussions are publicly accessible without necessarily, in the minds of the participants, being for the public. In everyday [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2522927 Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:10:41 +0100 2522927 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2523757&cid=t_99425_149_f&fid=35784&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FTheChemBlog%2F%7E3%2Ft4nLa7Xutu8%2F As a function of my new post-doc, I found myself in the need of a refillable fountain pen, which could contain organic solvents. It also needed to be refillable by a plunger or cantilever and, once I was done with the science, I wouldn’t mind converting it to a nice pen for my own use.  (You may be wondering, wtf kind of chemistry are you doing where you’d be using a f.ing FOUNTAIN PEN?  To wit:  I am doing awesome chemistry.) In any regard, I have (as most scientist do) an inexplicable compulsion (it has nothing to do with masturbation, just FYI… I know that’s a common one.)  My compulsion happens to be the exclusive use gel pens. I thus figured, if I’m going to get a refillable fountain pen, I might as well inquire into the availability of that gel ink ... The Chem Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2523757 Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:40:57 +0100 2523757 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2473259&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F06%2Fthis-is-my-column-this-is-my-column-on-drugs-any-questions%2F Ben Goldacre Saturday 13 June 2009 The Guardian In areas of moral and political conflict people will always behave badly with evidence, so the war on drugs is a consistent source of entertainment. We have already seen how cannabis being “25 times stronger” was a fantasy, how drugs-related deaths were quietly dropped from the outcome measures for drugs [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2473259 Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:07:40 +0100 2473259 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2458088&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F06%2Fhome-taping-didnt-kill-music%2F Ben Goldacre The Guardian Saturday 6th June 2009 You are killing our creative industries. “Downloading costs billions” said the Sun. “MORE than seven million Brits use illegal downloading sites that cost the economy billions of pounds, Government advisors said today. Researchers found more than a million people using a download site in ONE day and estimated that in [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2458088 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:36:00 +0100 2458088 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441317&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F05%2Fdodgy-academic-pr%2F Ben Goldacre The Guardian Saturday 30 May 2009 Obviously we distrust the media on science: they rewrite commercial press releases from dodgy organisations as if they were health news, they lionise mavericks with poor evidence, and worse. But journalists will often say: what about those scientists with their press releases? Surely we should do something about them, running [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441317 Sat, 30 May 2009 04:20:12 +0100 2441317 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441306&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34595&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnhsblogdoc.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F05%2Fnice-recommends-cure-for-all-known.html Sufferers of chronic mental illness were celebrating today when they heard that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has finally recommended that the Kadir-Buxton method for treating mental illness should be made available immediately by the NHS.Advice issued by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) recommends that the millions of people with mental health problems lasting more than six weeks should receive the Kadir Buxton treatment without delay. Experts praised Nice's first guidance on tackling mental illness as a breakthrough in treating a problem that costs the country an estimated £5.1bn every year, including £1bn of the NHS budget, and leads to the loss of around 5m working days. Mental health issues affect up to one in three adults each year and l... NHS Blog Doctor blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441306 Wed, 27 May 2009 08:01:00 +0100 2441306 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441318&cid=t_99425_87_f&fid=34591&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badscience.net%2F2009%2F05%2Fto-the-battlefield-my-fellow-dweebs%2F Ben Goldacre The Guardian Saturday 23 May, 2009 So last week the papers were filled with more quirky, prejudice-affirming, untrue science news. Here is just one. “Man flu: it really does exist, girls” said the Daily Star. “Man flu is not a myth: Female hormones give women stronger immune systems” said the Daily Mail. The Daily Telegraph palmed [...] (Source: badscience) badscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441318 Sat, 23 May 2009 00:04:25 +0100 2441318