Group wants cash to fight ritual abuse Matt Conway A new group set up to counter ritual abuse and satanic worship has applied for almost $40,000 from the Government and the Lottery Grants Board to ... (205 words)

Siouxsie Wiles doesn't find too much humour in a supposedly satirical paper. Twitter exploded recently after Neil Hall, a professor at the University of Liverpool who studies the genomes of the ... (964 words)

The discovery of how the stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori was found to be responsible for gastric ulcers is a classic tale of revolution in scientific understanding. But the full story is far ... (852 words)

Matthew Willey has a series of discussions about big questions. My creationist is a pillar of the community. She is a well-regarded professional in the town where I used to live. She is a deeply ... (1710 words)

Oh, What a Lovely World! Denis Dutton Late in his life, in answer to a question, Freud compared the human condition approximately to the contents of a baby's nappy. When I first heard this story, it ... (406 words)

Alison Campbell looks at the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum. By accident, I came across the curriculum document for Accelerated Christian Education (ACE), which provides teaching and ... (767 words)

Matthew Willey finds Skeptics in the Pub hasn't been as much fun lately This Friday is our Skeptics in the Pub night. I like going, but I do feel inadequate. Keep this to yourself, but I have ... (1281 words)

Alison Campbell learns some interesting facts about water chemistry Following recent events in Hamilton I've found myself involved in several debates on the merits of fluoridated water lately. This ... (712 words)

Siouxsie Wiles takes a look at a new medical journal - available at all good supermarkets. I'm a scientist. I know that the word journal has several meanings, but when I use it I'm referring to a ... (657 words)

Matthew Willey finds it difficult to get into the spirit of the holiday season. It's over now. But Christmas for me is an annual ordeal. I loathe it. But even typing this admission, I hear the intake ... (1366 words)

Alison Campbell reviews Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam, by Pope Brock. Three Rivers Press, New York. Goat glands, greed, and the ... (757 words)

Matthew Willey recalls the days before the internet, and an old friend My friend Maggie had a wasting, incurable illness. If that sounds awfully sad, well, it was. But we had a great friendship and ... (633 words)

Alison Campbell thinks there are better ways to lose weight than one recently touted option. As I've said previously, I find Facebook good for keeping up with friends and family, and profoundly ... (646 words)

In the first of a new series of columns, Matthew Willey catches up with what celebrity medium Kelvin Cruickshank is up to these days. The dead talk to no-one. Kelvin Cruickshank is either ... (1002 words)

Alison Campbell has been spending time on Facebook recently. I quite enjoy Facebook. It's an enjoyable way to catch up with what friends and family are up to, and I follow a number of good science ... (474 words)

… then there's little hope for the world, says Alison Campbell, who attends far too many meetings. Fortunately however, that may not be the case. I attend a lot of meetings; that's the nature of my ... (512 words)

Clairvoyants agree on missing man By CORINNE AMBLER Police Reporter Police will join friends of missing Wellington man Michael Kelly today in a search of an area where clairvoyants think he might be ... (437 words)

A new alternative treatment for Alzheimer's doing the rounds seems to be based on a misunderstanding of the underlying science. The title of this piece is a question posed by the 'health ... (634 words)

Police check pyramid link to gunman Sandra Roberts Police are checking for any link between gunman Brian Schlaepfer's "slightly eccentric" behaviour of meditating in a pyramid and his role in the ... (237 words)

There may indeed be a place for creationism in the science classroom, but not the way the creationists want. This article is based on a presentation to the 2011 NZ Skeptics Conference. We live in a ... (1865 words)

A heartstring-tugging appeal in the NZ Herald doesn't tell the full story. Jesse Bessant is a little boy from Auckland with a very rare brain tumour. He has a ganglioglioma, a tumour that arises from ... (765 words)

Alison Campbell considers the current state of tertiary education. The title for this article is taken from one of the search terms used by people visiting my 'other' blog, Talking Teaching, which I ... (1045 words)

Alison Campbell learns how to fine-tune the universe with a didgeridoo. Recently a commenter on Orac's Respectful Insolence blog ( scienceblogs.com/insolence) mentioned the therapeutic use of ... (575 words)

Spoiler alert: Don't read if you haven't seen the film Contagion (which I highly recommend) but want to. "Recently, I saw the new movie Contagion which is about the rapid spread of a virus and how it ... (949 words)

Alison Campbell investigates alarming reports on what is living in our dishwashers. I don't know what worried me more about an article I read in The Registrar recently ... (790 words)

Proponents of alternative therapies often throw around charges of vested interest when challenged. But often their own interests don't bear scrutiny. As this is the first of what I hope will be a ... (1042 words)

Alison Campbell looks at a new 'resource' for New Zealand schools, helpfully provided by the creationist movement. A little while ago Ken Perrott, who writes the Open Parachute blog, alerted me to an ... (544 words)

The world-wide panic over the MMR vaccine was sparked by the actions of one doctor who breached several standards of scientific practice. This article is based on a presentation to the 2010 NZ ... (1927 words)

Alison Campbell reviews a study of why so many struggle with scientific concepts. One of the topics that comes up for discussion with my Sciblogs colleagues is the issue of 'resistance to science' - ... (880 words)

Alison Campbell finds the creationists are still trying to get into our schools. A friend of mine, who happens to be a biology teacher, recently forwarded me an email. Quite apart from the fact that ... (647 words)

Alison Campbell finds some claims about raw foods hard to swallow. I was reading a couple of articles about 'raw foods' today. This is 'raw foods' as in 'foods that you don't heat above 40°C in ... (572 words)

While in the gym, Alison Campbell considers some health issues. I had another learning experience down at the gym this afternoon. There I was, happily pedalling away on the exercycle (I believe in ... (691 words)

Alison Campbell looks at some words that cause scientific misunderstandings. I suspect that for many of my first-year Biology students, the sheer weight of new terms they come across is perhaps the ... (647 words)

Alison Campbell ponders the evolutionary significance of lolcats. Makes me chuckle when I think about it. Not just because Lolcats (www.icanhascheezburger.com) make me LOL (they do), but also because ... (389 words)

This excerpt from an NZ Skeptic article of 20 years ago reviewed an evening with self-styled New Zealand 'magnetic healer' Colin Lambert. Presumably the pseudonym 'Alpha Beta' was used to minimise ... (475 words)

Alison Campbell considers the evidence for the efficacy of parachutes. Recently a teacher sent me a paper titled: 'Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: ... (437 words)

Waikato University biological sciences lecturer Alison Campbell posts a regular blog on matters biological (sci.waikato.ac.nz/bioblog/). Her aim is to encourage critical thinking among secondary ... (400 words)

Money well spent? Tim Hume (Sunday Star Times June 21) has written a good account of traditional Maori Medicine (Rongoa Maori). The Health Ministry provides $1.9 million annually for this nonsense. ... (1127 words)

In an occasional feature we look back at issues from the early days of NZ Skeptic. Twins, souls and abortion I wonder if scepticism toward pseudoscience has any contribution to make to the abortion ... (233 words)

White-tail spiders: a web of misconceptions Linley Boniface is to be congratulated for her humorous take on the prevailing hysteria around alleged "white-tail spider bites" (Dominion Post 9 March). ... (1126 words)

Bogus chiropractor? I thought they were all bogus! A Motueka man, Michael Dawson, was fined $4000 for describing himself as a chiropractor. This upset Nelson chiropractor Dr John Dawson who was ... (1437 words)

Poison for Profit There is something rotten in the state of China, a country where greedy people are quite happy to poison their own citizens in the name of profit. Milk powder is assayed for protein ... (1154 words)

If students are to pursue careers in science, they need to be able to see themselves in that role. One way to encourage this may be through the telling of stories. This article is based on a ... (3474 words)

Drink your way to good health Don't scoff. A magazine as authoritative as Woman's Day reports a case where a woman treated her breast cancer by drinking her own urine. Following a mammogram and ... (1173 words)

One hand wash for the road? A surgeon claimed that an alcohol-based hand wash had been responsible for a failed evidential breath alcohol test (EBA). He had been operating all day, went home, had ... (1072 words)

Yet another military syndrome I imagine that most people joining the Armed Forces would expect the likelihood of a posting to an area of conflict. I know I did. I spent six months in Iraq between ... (1155 words)

Rudolf Steiner kindergartens look set to cash in on free early childhood education initiatives. The plan of Education Minister Steve Maharey to provide 20 hours of free early childhood education ... (703 words)

Skull manipulation takes a lot of 'training' Cranial osteopathy is based on the notion that the bones of the skull can be manipulated. Even doctors have been taken in by this nonsense. The following ... (1145 words)

A visit to the birthplace of science prompts some thoughts on spatial and temporal patterns in alternative medicine. There is no special reason for skeptics in New Zealand to follow news from ... (817 words)

The Indian Files: Gopal's Ayurvedic Beach Resort and Research Centre I recently spent several weeks motorcycling around southern India and was on the lookout for interesting examples of folk remedies ... (1104 words)

Doctors challenge Alternative Medicine Members of the Royal Society and other eminent doctors have written to every hospital in the UK urging them not to suggest anything but evidence-based medicine ... (1218 words)

In the 21st century, there are still people who believe the Earth is flat. Mad people are among us. Reading letters to the editor and discussing issues at universities can be frustrating exercises ... (779 words)

Debunking debriefing It has become a cliché that whenever something bad happens, a horde of counsellors descend on the survivors to make their lives a misery. It's true. Counselling does make you ... (1122 words)

In George W Bush's America, it's okay to throw human embryos in the trash, but not to use them as a source of stem cells. A political question on the minds of scientists in the United States is: How ... (754 words)

The promotion of critical thinking can seem an uphill struggle, but at least we don't get torn limb from limb for trying. As skeptics, we fight to uphold certain freedoms: freedom of enquiry, ... (773 words)

Liquor still quicker There is little doubt there are criminals who are prepared to drug women in order to sexually assault them. History records the commonest drug used was chloral hydrate in an ... (1204 words)

Dark Eddies in the Mainstream So-called conventional medicine isn't immune to nonsense. I do not confine myself to examining the conduct of alternative medicine. The conventional medical literature ... (1071 words)

Mexican cancer clinics continue to do a roaring trade, despite their poor track record. When civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968, the world lost a voice for decency and ... (744 words)

Silent scientologists and hot cold treatments Pill Popping PHARMAC is the Government drug-purchasing agency. Pharmac's 2005 Annual Review showed that about eight prescription items were issued per ... (914 words)

Checking facts should be part and parcel of academic life, but too often it isn't done. The late David Lange opened his 1990 book Nuclear Free: the New Zealand Way with a remarkable story. He wrote ... (809 words)

Alternative health care - there are better alternatives During my recent overseas trip I had two stopovers in Hong Kong. The South China Morning Post (3 October) reports that demand from patients ... (1081 words)

Raymond Richards The Mormon church: anti-science and pro-repression. Still. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often called the Mormon church, has long been an enemy of science and the ... (823 words)

Body Enhancer's benefits are Bogus Fresh from a visit to Iraq, John Welch is ready to embark on a jihad against quackery... The product Body Enhancer, marketed by the Zenith Corporation, costs $95 ... (1605 words)

New Zealand's tertiary institutions have some strange ways of measuring academic performance The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is gaining a reputation as a Mickey Mouse government organisation ... (789 words)

The Green Party does not have a good record when it comes to scepticism. In 2002, party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons was an ungracious winner of our bent spoon award for her support of "etheralised ... (799 words)

Of feeding tubes and foetuses Now that Terri Schiavo has been allowed to die peacefully there is an opportunity to reflect on the matter free from the hysteria and religious arguments advanced as an ... (1304 words)

Pseudoscientific beliefs can be dangerous when they form the basis of government policy In my last column, I mentioned that conspiracy thinker Phillip Day travels the world (he again toured New ... (775 words)

Agent Orange: Déjà vu all over again? If you don't get the answers you want from a Government inquiry, press for another inquiry. Vietnam war veterans have continued such a campaign and have produced ... (1354 words)

Dioxin "Poisoning" or Hormesis in action? It will be interesting to see how the government handles the latest health scare which is being helped along by the usual sensationalist media reporting. How ... (1215 words)

The Break Free tour will be coming soon to a city near you. The week-long tour of lectures and book selling will start in Christchurch at the end of November and proceed to Wellington, Taupo, ... (792 words)

Vitamin B12-the new placebo? A drug company has been perplexed at a shortage of Vitamin B12 created by a surge in use. A spokesman for the company said "doctors had so far failed to come up with a ... (1155 words)

The Enlightenment -- a period of intellectual progress in Europe and North America during the eighteenth century -- saw superstition, dogma and ignorance lose ground to reason, science and freedom of ... (830 words)

Selenium - Too Much of a Good Thing? New Zealand soils are deficient in selenium and this can cause serious health problems for animals. A 500kg animal needs about 1mg selenium daily. There is no ... (1259 words)

Like scientists, historians use a dependable methodology to ensure their findings are reliable. Assertions of historical fact can properly be based only on empirical evidence. Historians then use ... (791 words)

Cellulite - Just a Euphemism for Fat Cellulite is the term used by women's magazines to describe dimpled fat. It has no scientific or anatomical validity and it is simply ordinary fatty tissue that ... (1333 words)

Government hypocrisy is rife amid the talk of a "knowledge-based economy" Homeopathy does not work. There is no debate about this fact among rational, informed people. Homeopathy is a sham system of ... (769 words)

Confidence Based Medicine This is restricted to surgeons. British homeopath suspended The British General Medical Council (GMC) has found family practitioner Michelle Langdon guilty of serious ... (986 words)

Nervousness based medicine Fear of litigation is a powerful stimulus to over-investigation and over treatment. In an atmosphere of litigation phobia, the only bad test is the test you didn't think of ... (1181 words)

Diffidence based medicine Some doctors see a problem and look for an answer. Others merely see a problem. The diffident doctor may do nothing from sense of despair. This, of course, may be better ... (914 words)

Providence based medicine If the caring practitioner has no idea of what to do next, the decision may be best left in the hands of the Almighty. Too many clinicians, unfortunately, are unable to ... (1523 words)

Yet Another Alternative to Evidence Based Medicine Eloquence based medicine The year round suntan, carnation in the button hole, silk tie, Armani suit and tongue should all be equally smooth. ... (1284 words)

John Riddell learns about some dangerous chemicals From the TV3 News website: CHIPS COULD CAUSE CANCER UPDATED: 05:56PM WEDNESDAY 26 JUNE The World Health Organisation has begun a three-day emergency ... (677 words)

Another Alternative to Evidence Based Medicine Vehemence based medicine: The substitution of volume for evidence is an effective technique for brow-beating your more timorous colleagues and for ... (1058 words)

Alternatives to Evidence Based Medicine I will detail these seven alternatives in forth-coming issues of the magazine. For now here is Eminence based medicine: The more senior the colleague, the less ... (1166 words)

John Riddell learns to his cost that fishermen can be as easy to catch as the creatures they pursue I have a confession to make. I've been taken in by a scam. Normally this shouldn't be cause for ... (1385 words)

Get in Now While the Getting's Good John Welch finds that the sexual abuse industry rolls on unabated. Sexual Abuse Rort ACC (aka "Aggrieved Clamouring Claimants") has thrown the doors wide open for ... (1132 words)

John Riddell reckons he's a sensible bloke. But then, doesn't everybody? A while ago I had to take my wife out for our anniversary, so while we were waiting for our burgers and fries I flicked ... (773 words)

The Women's Weekly and Other Medical Journals Dr John Welch goes eyeball to eyeball with the iridologists, and takes a look at some famous faces Chiropractic Treatment of Infertility During idle ... (917 words)

In which John Riddell conducts an entirely unscientific experiment and saves himself quite a bit of money The first weekend of May each year is the opening of the New Zealand duck shooting season. It ... (843 words)

In which John Riddell reminisces about happy childhood days and reflects on the stories we tell to grown-ups When I was just a young skeptic our family used to go to big Christmas family ... (1013 words)

Re-birthing Finale A Colorado colour therapist was jailed for 16 years after being found guilty of causing the death of a 16 year old girl. It must have been quite traumatic for the jury who watched ... (1072 words)

Recently returned from a posting in Saudi Arabia and now suffering from a cold and a bleeding nose, John Welch continues his column on medical matters. Dilutions of Grandeur As a Fellow of the Royal ... (910 words)

John Riddell Even in a secular age, it's hard to surrender the religious habits of old Back when our ancestors lived in caves, life was frightening. Anything could kill you. Lions, earthquakes or ... (1234 words)

Quack Aids Remedies The Prevalence of HIV disease has continued to increase across the African continent and is a major public health concern due to cultural attitudes to sexuality and a degree of ... (1169 words)

Superstitions, Stars and Pigeons Astronomy is the science of stars and outer space stuff. Not everybody knows this and so astronomers get insulted when they get called astrologers. Astrologers will ... (981 words)

Colon Cleansing Thanks to reader Alan Pickmere for drawing my attention to colon cleansing. In a radio advertisement Alan heard the claim that the average adult has up to 10kg of preservatives and ... (1301 words)

There are plenty of things which are better to drink than distilled water, says John Riddell. But then, most of you probably knew that anyway. Eight is Enough Unless you have been tied up in a cave ... (1118 words)

There has been a considerable easing of international tensions since the dark days of the mid-twentieth century. John Riddell thinks he knows why. Take Two Dictators and Call Me in the Morning AT the ... (702 words)

John Welch started writing for the magazine in Issue 16, but a posting with UNSCOM to Iraq meant he had to relinquish responsibility for the column. He is delighted to once again have the opportunity ... (1233 words)

John Riddell has a few confessions to make. I struggled out of bed this morning on the first day of the two thousandth year since nothing in particular happened. Rather than watch millenium ... (1192 words)

Firstly, I must commend the September 1999 Midland Renal Service Nephrology newsletter. It warned that anyone presenting with unexplained or worsening kidney disease should be questioned about their ... (713 words)

In which John Riddell continues his pub night discussions. Chiropractic and the sin of Onan If you are potentially offendable, and litigious, please do not read this. That said, I was at the pub ... (954 words)

There are three types of people in this country. Those that can count and those that can't. It is common to blame the education system for this. One of the consequences of a poor education is we end ... (1061 words)

Menopausal Madness In the wake of the green-lipped mussel debacle, the Australian Menopause Society (AMS) convened an expert panel of doctors to discuss controversial areas of menopausal medicine. ... (580 words)

John Riddell looks at a costly alternative to glue sniffing. This being an election year, we are going to hear a lot more from the Natural Law Party. I don't know if it is the same here, but in the ... (1116 words)

ONCE again the medical profession has made a mess of its relations with the public, and I'm not talking about Gisborne smear takers. Little Liam's folks have made a right monkey out of the doctors. ... (554 words)

In which we look at another easy way to make money from home. No training or prior experience required! DID YOU hear that the Oxford English Dictionary has removed the word "gullible" from its latest ... (657 words)

Fat Chance I START with another example of chemists' lack of ethics and the gullibility of the public. In November 28 issue of the Listener, the ever suspicious Pamela Stirling did a good expose on ... (713 words)

A lucrative new career option! If you have a look through the TV Guide during any week, you will find nestled tastefully beside ads for X-rated products a whole host of 0900 psychic phone ... (991 words)

Soft Targets Like Noel O'Hare, I attended the September Skeptics' conference. Noel, winner of an NZ Skeptics Bravo Award "for critical analysis and common sense for his health column throughout ... (760 words)

John Riddell finds some creationist claims really are testable, unfortunately for them. A FEW weeks ago a couple of Jehovah's Witness walked down my drive and told me if I wanted to live forever I ... (830 words)

Think Big Hypnotist Lawrence Follas claims he can increase the size of a client's bust by telling her to imagine her breasts are growing (Sunday News 24 May). He says his client's breasts have grown ... (790 words)

Often Overacting Syndrome A ruse by any other name smells just as fishy, and it seems RSI, OOS and OOI are good examples, if a UK surgeon is to be believed. According to Murray Matthewson, the ... (915 words)

John Riddell contemplates how the newspapers would read if psychics really had the powers they claim Missing Persons Department Disbanded (WELLINGTON) In a press conference held this morning Police ... (764 words)

When I was young enough to think Dr Who was scary, I remember thinking it was good to live in times when people didn't believe in superstitions anymore. Recently, US taxpayers coughed up US$350,000 ... (1208 words)

Quack Croaks Perhaps it's a coincidence, but many experts in non-proven schemes fall on their own swords. For example, Hoxsey died of cancer, and recently a Lower Hutt clairvoyant went bankrupt (due ... (1089 words)

Have you ever had a go at water divining? You wander around with a forked stick until it points to water. It's good fun, but you have to watch for passing clouds or you might poke your eye out. Or at ... (1193 words)

Sharma Karma Another "I've seen the light" American quack whizzed through New Zealand recently, spreading his own magical brew of antioxidants, lacto-vegetarian diets, bioFlavonoid herbs, and, wait ... (868 words)

John Riddell spends a lot of time in the pub. Ask his wife. Often, over a pint or two, some bloke or blokess spouts forth some new age dogma which naturally requires correction.. Now a seasoned ... (982 words)

In the first of a new series, Tauranga GP Neil McKenzie comments on recent examples of pseudoscience relating to medicine. BEING a busy GP, running a jazz band, playing hockey and squash, and ... (1227 words)

Joint Manipulation An article in NCAHF reminded me of past activities with respect to joint manipulation. Following a one week course I embarked on a short-lived career in spinal manipulation which ... (2012 words)

Sickness and Psychogenic Illness The Canterbury ME (chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS) are up in arms over proposed tighter controls on patients receiving both invalid and sickness benefits. CFS ... (2070 words)

No Medical Ghetto In the last issue I warned of the dangers of a medical ghetto developing on the Auckland North Shore. Fifty new doctors set up practice in Auckland last year and even more overseas ... (1361 words)

ACC Decisions The recent decision to award compensation to a lawyer who suffered depression because his bank loan was turned down is but one example of increasingly bizarre decisions by the ACC ... (1881 words)

Pull up a chair and hearken to the tale of the Great Drought of '94 "Skeptical?" piped up the old timer. "Of course I'm flaming skeptical, ye addlepated mudfish! "Aye, but it wasn't always so. I was ... (825 words)

NZ Qualifications Authority An editorial in the Christchurch Press (23 Nov 94) was critical of the Universities who are seeking approval from the NZQA and argued that they should continue to set ... (1495 words)

MSG Myth Laid to Rest Another sacred cow from my medical school days has been laid to rest. A letter in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1968 triggered a rash of anecdotal reports about facial ... (1690 words)

A Menu of Dietary Delusions Neither Nutrasweet nor sugar-rich diets produce any change in children's behaviour. (New England Journal of Medicine 330:301-307, 1994) The subjects were tested in a ... (1871 words)

Arthritis and Placebos In Skeptic 30, John Britten outlined the tragic results which can occur when patients fall into the clutches of quacks. In this case, a man with rheumatoid arthritis was not ... (1889 words)

Our intrepid correspondent finds himself suffering from that most fashionable of psychological afflictions, Multiple Personality Disorder! The Jekyll/Hyde character has been used to express duality ... (610 words)

Manipulation of the Colon Some time ago I remember reading a letter in the Listener from a frustrated doctor who accused the public of being medically illiterate. Sometimes I feel this way myself but ... (1589 words)

Are the End Times drawing nigh? Are fires and floods from heaven on the brink of seething down in wrathful purge, damning the damned and raising the faithful? Is God's finger poised on the panic ... (464 words)

The sting Following his own empirical observations that bee "treatments" helped his arthritis, a Levin bee-keeper is claiming that he is being ignored by the medical profession. (Press 3/8/93) Not ... (1336 words)

Skin Lighteners The pop star Michael Jackson has denied that he uses chemicals to lighten his skin and claimed to be suffering from a disorder called "vitiligo," which is a spontaneous loss of skin ... (1528 words)

It may interest skeptics to know that I have solved the world's energy problems. The concept is surprisingly simple... but then works of great brilliance often are. Our methods employ what we call ... (353 words)

Quackery In the last issue I discussed how quackery can be practised by New Zealand doctors with impunity, "if they do so honestly and in good faith." Alaska has a similar clause which only ... (1839 words)

"Mind my left ear." cautioned Mrs X, "there's a needle in it." "A needle?" I said, combing up a section of hair on the side of her head to check it out. "An acupuncture needle," she said. Sure ... (832 words)

More on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome An American study reported in the GP Weekly (2 Sep 1992) found that chronic fatigue syndrome was indistinguishable from depressive disorders. (Refer also Skeptic 21) ... (2202 words)

Sometimes feeling better isn't a good sign at all... Carl Wyant recalls an occasion when faith healing showed itself better at handling symptoms than causes. The following story is true; the names ... (576 words)

Are Skeptics pussy-footing around by not attacking the major source of superstition and pseudoscience -- religion? With the reintroduction of serious Islam in Afghanistan, women are now required by ... (685 words)

It's a mindbending situation, but I guess you'd have to call me a skeptical believer. Like parapsychologist Susan Blackmore, personal experience inclined me towards the idea that supernatural events ... (443 words)

Vitamins One of the techniques used by quacks is to attack conventional medicine as being a conspiracy against the laiety. For example, in an article entitled "GP says vitamins wrongly dismissed as ... (1416 words)