News Front
Jessica Macfarlane (August 1, 2019)
The Cure for Pseudoscience? Clear Thinking
Where: forbes.com
Who: Helen Lee Bouygues
When: 27/05/2019
Skeptic summary: Students took a test to measure their belief in pseudo-scientific ideas before and after a course in critical thinking and a control course. The good news is, the course in critical thinking dramatically reduced participant's belief in pseudoscience! The not so good news is, this course is not currently rolled out at every school in the world, and belief in pseudoscientific ideas seem to be on the rise.
Ladies: check your wrist for a freckle
Where: stuff.co.nz
Who: Emily Brookes
When: 30/05/2019
Skeptic summary: A silly story illustrates our need to find meaning in the world, or the classic ‘I don't know therefore aliens'. It turns out a lot of women have a freckle on their arm in the same place. Unsurprisingly some people jumped on the idea that it couldn't be a coincidence, it must be part of a government conspiracy. One person summed up this idea by simply saying ‘It's where they chip us'.
US energy department rebrands fossil fuels as ‘molecules of freedom'
Where: theguardian.com
Who: Luke O'Neil
When: 29/05/2019
Skeptic summary: Get off the grass. With fossil fuels losing their standing in the popularity stakes to cheaper and cleaner energy options, someone thought a re-branding might help. Perhaps someone thought, how can we take a waste product and turn it into something desirable, something patriotic? I know, add the word ‘freedom'! The most cynical and egregious example of turd polishing I've ever seen.
Amazon removes books promoting dangerous bleach cures for autism and other conditions
Where: nbcnews.com
Who: Brandy Zadrozny
When: 28/05/18
Skeptic summary: Good. MMS or Miracle Mineral Solution is bleach. Someone saw that it could kill things in the lab, and thought, wow, this stuff is amazing, it can cure anything. Unfortunately that is not how science works. It turns out that drinking bleach is very dangerous and can cause permanent harm. It is still being sold as a cure-all and targeted at people with cancer, autism, and a number of other conditions. This story also explains that YouTube has also removed channels and videos promoting the use of MMS.
Study: Want to help the vaccine hesitant become pro-vaccine? Have them meet someone with a vaccine preventable disease
Where: news.byu.edu
Who:
When: 21/05/2019
Skeptic summary: A university study involving students interviewing people who had had a vaccine preventable disease found the experience swayed people's opinions from vaccine hesitant all the way to fully pro-vaccine.
Media reports' toxic side effects
Where: www.rnz.co.nz
Who: Jeremy Rose
When: 02/06/2019
Skeptic summary: Nocebo effect in action.
After switching from a name-brand drug to a generic drug, reports of certain symptoms seem to surge. The media picks up on this and picks up the story, repeatedly questioning those involved looking for reasons behind the decision to change drugs and asking if that was the best course of action. Stepping back, this story looks at the timing of the particular symptoms that experienced an increase in reporting, and noticed they happened to be those that were mentioned by the media themselves. By comparison, rates of unreported symptoms do not increase. Overall, the number of people reporting symptoms as a percentage was one percent, meaning 99% are not reporting or are not experiencing symptoms, making the media's concerned and growing reporting on this seem to be a self-perpetuating over-reaction. The article explains that this is the ‘nocebo' effect in action, where a person is told they will experience a certain side effect then go on to experience it as a result of being told about it.
Anti-vaxx movement for pets is a ‘death sentence', vets warn
Where: nypost.com
Who: Ebony Bowden
When: 22/05/2019
Skeptic summary: Vets explain that some owners are refusing to have their animals vaccinated for fear that they will get an auto-immune disease like autism, or that vets are just encouraging owners to pay for vaccinations to make money for themselves. This is of course not true, and animals that are unvaccinated are at risk of deadly and dangerous diseases like rabies which lives on in the wild population.
Kids can make sceptical parents change their minds on climate change
Where: newscientist.com
Who: Michael Le Page
When: 06/05/2019
Skeptic summary: North Carolina study shows kids can change their parents minds after kids are taught the facts. The biggest change was with parents who described themselves as ‘conservative'.
Kiwis underestimate the seriousness of the flu, says public health professor
Where: stuff.co.nz
Who: Caroline Williams
When: 23/05/2019
Skeptic summary: The kicker: more kiwis killed per year than the road toll. One in four kiwis come down with influenza, and some people in our community are more vulnerable, so it is up to the rest of us to build up our herd immunity and protect those who cannot be vaccinated by getting vaccinated ourselves.
Justice prevails! Cancer quack Colleen Huber loses her defamation suit against me
Where: naturopathicdiaries.com
Who: Britt Hermes
When: 3/06/2019
Skeptic summary: After years of fighting, finally the verdict is in, and reason has prevailed. Read more about Britt's story later in this journal!
Belle Gibson sheds tears in witness box as she faces court over failure to pay $430,000 fine
Where: stuff.co.nz
Who: Adam Cooper and Tom Cowie
When: 20/06/2019
Skeptic summary: The social media star got upset in court talking about people she is apparently being paid to care for.
We wrote about Belle in a previous news front talking about the recipe/wellness book she put out that she claimed helped cure her brain cancer, which it turned out she never suffered from. Belle's finances were looked at and a trip to Bali was discussed in light of the fact that she still hasn't paid the fine. She could face jail time if she doesn't come up with the money.
Four Speeding myths debunked
Where: newsroom.co.nz
Who: Dr Kirsty Wild & Alistair Woodward
When: 10/06/2019
Skeptic summary: Road rules around speeding can be divisive and discussions around speeding and fines might be one of the mainstays of talk back radio. This article takes four myths and lays out the evidence suggesting we need to lay our preconceived notions aside, and think of the greater good.
Christian's bid for Netflix to cancel ‘satanic' show Good Omens suffers hilarious fail
Where: news.com.au
Who: Hannah Frishberg
When: 21/06/2019
Skeptic summary: A petition for Netflix to cancel show Good Omens came out, and over 20,000 Christians signed it, apparently upset that it portrayed the devil as good and God as a tyrant. In doing so, they all displayed their ability to outrage first and fact-check never.
The problem with the petition was, it was protesting the wrong network—Good Omens is not a Netflix show, it's an Amazon Prime one.
When The Guardian published an article about the mistake, Netflix commented on the article in a tweet saying ‘we promise not to make any more'. Cheeky them.
Then Amazon Prime tweeted back saying ‘Hey @Netflix, we'll cancel Stranger Things if you cancel Good Omens'. Stranger Things is of course a very popular Netflix show...silly sausages them. Based on all this nonsense, I might make an effort to look up the controversial show (based on the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman) and find out what all the fuss is about.