This is the first in a series of posts by R.P. McMurphy, a team manager in a busy community mental health team, about the spread of counterknowledge in Britain’s National Health Service. The Mental Health Trust that I work for recently gained Foundation status. For …
Picture: Kirktoons Regular readers are likely to know of the news released this morning regarding a poll by Ipsos MORI, which shows that “29% of science teachers believe that creationism should be ‘taught’ in schools”. Of course, this still means that 65% do not think …
Kudos to the Scientific Red Cards project, a new registry that allows academics and researchers to look up and report instances of fraud in published scientific papers. From their website: According to a note in Nature, one in three scientists confesses to having misbehaved in …
The conviction of Robert Napper for the murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common is massively embarrassing for Dr Paul Britton, the psychologist whose “criminal profiling” helped convict the innocent Colin Stagg. It was Britton who concluded that Stagg had the same “sexually deviant personality …
Prince Charles’ Duchy Originals is about to add herbal remedies to its line-up of expensive “organic” products. In partnership with Nelsons, a major homeopathic manufacturer, the creams, pills and tinctures will be sold by Boots and Waitrose, with profits going to The Prince’s Foundation. Charles has long been …
From the New York Times: This year […] Dr. Aaron Carroll and Dr. Rachel Vreeman of the Indiana University School of Medicine, offer six new medical myths for the holiday season. The latest set of myths, published this month in BMJ, are commonly believed by the general …
It is quite unusual for scientific journals to investigate political matters, but this week the respected publication Science ran a discussion on the extent of creationist thinking in Islamic countries. As already discussed by our friends over at the Daily Dish, the report by Salman …
“Neverill-Potentate” is “a tonic working on a newly discovered principle to strengthen the immune system, boost energy levels and enhance sexual activity”. Moreover, “the unique properties of Neverill-Potentate… are created by Pathcurve Products using the Pathcurve Vortex Generator.” […] NEVERILL-POTENTATE has been used to help …
Andrew Orlowski at The Register reports that the Government’s new 40p-per-unit alcohol tax is underpinned by junk science from Sheffield University. [O]n close examination, the report appears to be a prime example of “policy-based evidence making” […] for “evidence”, there is no original fieldwork in this Department-commissioned …
Breaking news from the world of alternative medicine: homeopaths are in serious trouble. That, at least, is what current Google Trends statistics seem to suggest. One of Counterknowledge.com’s allies – the excellent Quackometer – has discovered that internet users in the UK are googling homeopathy …