Daniel Ryan reports from the front line of the battle against the anti-fluoridationists. The members of Fluoride Action Network NZ and its spin-off groups are vociferous about the urgent need to ... (1303 words)

Hormone supplements derived from plants are widely promoted as more 'natural' than hormones from horses, but they carry the same risks - and some more of their own. The New Zealand Menopause ... (786 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)

Bad Science, by Ben Goldacre. ISBN 978-0-00-728487-0. Fourth Estate, London. $26.99. Reviewed by Feike de Bock. For those who have not yet heard of Ben Goldacre, his latest book Bad Science is an ... (537 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)

Magnetic fields are no better for your water or your car than they are for your arthritis Powermax magnetic water-treatment conditioners have been controversial since they were introduced in New ... (754 words)

A widely publicised trial which appeared to show prayer was effective in enhancing fertility now appears to have been fraudulent. In 2001 an extraordinary paper, from the highly regarded Columbia ... (908 words)

Given his ratings, only a tiny handful of you probably saw Paul Holmes in his new slot on Prime a few weeks back, talking to Don Maisch, described as an Australian expert on the health effects of ... (484 words)

It is with sadness that I see that the Skeptic is still accepting articles and letters with political bias. I would like to spend much of this letter countering some of Owen McShane's arguments from ... (1521 words)

A couple of months ago we were visiting my brother, and got talking about a friend of his, who had enrolled in a counselling course. It turned out that the course had come to be dominated by some ... (460 words)

Dr Robert R Holcomb was in Wellington in January to announce a technological breakthrough. Before an audience of New Zea-land government, business and environmental leaders, he announced for the ... (261 words)

Owen McShane examines last year's Great Soya Sauce Scare There's a lot of Budget Science going on. Budget Science is not low cost science. It's certainly not amateur science driven solely by the ... (786 words)

MBChB, DipAvMed, MRNZCGP, MRAes Warfare has always been stressful for its participants. Before the psychological impacts of the conflict in Afghanistan became apparent, our regular medical columnist ... (2328 words)

Rebuttal Walter C Clark, Chuck Bird and Nicky McLean criticise Hitting Home for not investigating women's violence towards men, that is, for not being another piece of research altogether. When ... (2122 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)

We have made a big mistake. Hitting Home is careful, thorough, mainstream scientific research. It may be alarming, but it is not, as we said, "alarmist". It is a serious attempt to measure men's ... (1528 words)

This year's Bent Spoon Award has ruffled a few feathers. In a controversial decision, what the Skeptics described as an "alarmist" Justice Department report on domestic violence in New Zealand has ... (729 words)

An abridged version of the Skeptical Enquirer's report of the session dealing with "alien abductions" at the Seattle CSICOP Conference on "The Psychology of Belief" Many of us have been reading ... (474 words)