Swift, named for Jonathan Swift, is the JREF's daily blog, featuring content from James Randi, the JREF staff, and other featured authors.
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Swift
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Written by Tim Farley
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The Amazing Meeting Sunday paper presentations led directly to my involvement in skepticism. They could get you involved too - but only if you submit a proposal.
When I am interviewed about my work as a skeptic, the question sometimes comes up: how did you get started? My personal story revolves around The Amazing Meeting and it's a story that any skeptic could emulate.
Like many Americans growing up in the sixties and seventies, I was exposed to a great deal of pseudoscience, such as stories of UFOs and the Bermuda Triangle. But at the same time I was very interested in real science, particularly astronomy. I started to be skeptical, but never took it further.
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Swift
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Written by Sharon Hill
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Here is a rundown of the paranormal, the pseudoscientific and the wildly weird news from the past week courtesy of Doubtful News.
The biggest news this week was vindicating for MANY in the skeptic community as James McCormick was found guilty of fraud for selling non-working bomb detectors. This has been going on for years and finally, the hammer falls. But that's not all, this verdict has triggered investigation of the devices in Thailand and others may follow.
Speaking of discredited guys, the Wakefield effect is a thing.
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Swift
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Written by Dr. Harriet Hall
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Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo-woo in medicine.
A very special issue of Medical Acupuncture (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/a-very-special-issue-of-medical-acupuncture/ A special issue of an acupuncture journal was devoted to the science behind the therapy. The basic science “evidence” they offer is flawed in many ways: studies are unblinded, are about electroacupuncture instead of plain acupuncture, etc. None of the articles validate acupuncture or provide any compelling evidence for a physiologically plausible mechanism.
Too Much Information! (Harriet Hall) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/too-much-information/ A new service offers seventeen and will eventually offer hundreds or thousands of blood tests by mail from a single drop of blood on a card. Doing all those tests without specific indications is a very bad idea, likely to do more harm than good. Even worse: this lab has not validated the accuracy of its results and does not plan to seek certification.
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Swift
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Written by Jamy Ian Swiss
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In a substantial victory for free speech, freedom of the press, scientific discourse, and skepticism, last Wednesday the British Parliament agreed on a sweeping new defamation bill that significantly reforms that country’s notoriously plaintiff-friendly libel laws.
Following a three-and-a-half year effort, the law now only awaits formal assent by the Queen, which is expected shortly. The campaign to bring the law in line with libel legalities in the United States and most of Western Europe began with the case launched by the British Chiropractic Association against the noted science journalist and author, Simon Singh, in a typical example of bringing suit in order to chill free speech.
In 2008, following the release of his book, “Trick or Treat: Alternative Medicine on Trial” (written with Edzard Ernst), a scathing and thoroughly researched critique of alternative medicine, Singh wrote an opinion piece for “The Guardian” on the occasion of Chiropractic Awareness Week. Therein, Singh called out The British Chiropractic Association for its “claims that their members can help treat children with colic, sleeping and feeding problems, frequent ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying, even though there is not a jot of evidence. This organisation is the respectable face of the chiropractic profession and yet it happily promotes bogus treatments.”
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Swift
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Written by Dr. Steven Novella
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The growing acceptance of acupuncture is occurring despite a complete lack of compelling scientific evidence that acupuncture works for anything. In fact the evidence, if anything, shows that acupuncture does not work. Proponents of acupuncture have largely achieved this by misrepresenting the evidence.
We could take any of the many uses for which acupuncture is promoted as an example – for example, Bell’s Palsy (BP). BP is paralysis usually of one side of the face caused by inflammation of the facial nerve where is passes through a long bony canal to exist the skull. Within this bony pathway the nerve has no room to expand, and so the swelling caused by the inflammation compresses and damages the nerve, causing facial weakness.
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