19 December 2022
You would have to have been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks to not have heard about the case of the 4 month old baby at Starship Hospital needing heart surgery and, as part of that, donated blood products.
18 July 2022
There's something about bracelets that seems to attract pseudoscience.
25 April 2022
I've written before about how impressed I've been with the good work The Satanic Temple has been doing in the US and other countries, using the irrational fear of Satanism many Christians hold as a tool to push for secularism, and showing that the ability to do good things is not something that is exclusive to Christianity. Sometimes Christians in the US ignore the idea of the separation of church and state, and start up after-school Christian clubs or offer prayers at the opening of legislative sessions. The Satanic Temple will often counter these breaches by demanding the right to equal treatment - asking to open local government meetings with a Satanist prayer, or applying to run an after school Satanic club for kids.
26 October 2021
I'll preface this by saying that this is a topic I'm certainly not qualified to talk about.
8 June 2021
Sorry to harp on about anti-vaxxers, but there's another story this week that has emerged about prominent American anti-vaxxer Del Bigtree. Bigtree runs ICAN - the Informed Consent Action Network, and has a slickly produced video podcast called The Highwire.
17 March 2021
The AstraZeneca vaccine has made the news recently, as several European countries have halted its rollout temporarily due to reports of blood clots. These issues are real, but it's important to look at how many incidences of this issue there are, and how that compares to other vaccines. It turns out that not only is the incidence of reported clotting similar to that seen with other COVID vaccines, but it's also similar to what you'd expect from a population that haven't received any medical interventions. Both deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism levels for the millions of people who have taken the vaccine are about what would be expected of a random selection of people in their day to day lives. Sadly some people just get blood clots at times, and people can have exacerbating medical conditions that mean they're more susceptible to this issue.
28 January 2018
Frank Hoogerbeets from the Netherlands has predicted a major earthquake of 8 or 9 in the first week of March. His predictions says that "electromagnetic amplifications caused by planetary alignments" will increase seismic activity, and that this will be caused by the alignment of 6 planets.
7 February 2016
"The prime origin and cause of cancerous tissue is the over-acidification of the tissues then the blood due to lifestyle and dietary choices. A cancerous tissue begins with our choices of what we eat, what we drink, what we think and how we live. Cancer is a liquid and this liquid is a toxic acidic waste product of metabolism or energy consumption."
27 September 2015
A blood moon is a new name for a lunar eclipse, where the earth travels between the sun and the moon. The full moon turns red.
1 February 2012
The NZ Herald (10-14 January) must have been having trouble filling its pages during the silly season, looking at its recent series on alternative therapies.
1 November 2007
The Plausibility of Life-resolving Darwin's dilemma, by Marc Kirschner and John Gerhart. Yale University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-300-10865-6. Reviewed by Louette McInnes.
1 August 2006
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 alcoholic drink (Mickey Finn). The modern equivalent is rohypnol, a drug discontinued in New Zealand owing to its abuse potential. However, as Ogden Nash observed "liquor is quicker" and alcohol remains the most likely cause of incapacity leading to unwanted sexual activity.
1 November 1999
New claims that pollen grains on the Shroud of Turin link it to pre-eighth-century Jerusalem were made in August by researchers at the International Botanical Congress in St. Louis. In fact, the claims are based on earlier, scientifically discredited data.
1 November 1991
Hydrogen peroxide — sometime rocket fuel, blonde bleacher and disinfectant — is increasingly being touted as a cure for what ails you.
1 August 1991
The Associated Press recently ran an item with interesting implications. Datelined Washington, the story (Christchurch Star, May 4) told of efforts by a panel of geneticists to obtain for analysis samples of cell material from Abraham Lincoln. Because Lincoln was shot, bits of his brain, with samples of blood and hair, were preserved from the surgeons' attempt to save his life.
1 May 1991
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
1 November 1988
The Treasurer reminds readers that members' subscriptions to NZCSICOP for 1988 are now due. If you receive a renewal notice, please don't put it where it might be forgotten, but deal with it promptly. Your subscriptions are NZCSICOP's blood.
1 February 1988
Evidence of the Shroud. By lan Wilson. Macmillan, 1986. 158 pp. $46.15.
1 February 1987
The Health Department was planning a study of pesticides and other Chemicals which New Zealanders might be consuming In food and water, said the acting departmental press officer, Mr John Boyd, yesterday.