From the category archives:

skepticism

Try Reason, Not “Everything”

March 5, 2010
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Last week Time magazine published “The Autism Debate: Who’s Afraid of Jenny McCarthy?” As much as I’d like to rant about her, as I’ve done before, instead I’ll call your attention to this paragraph, buried halfway into the article:
There are dark murmurings from scientists and doctors asking, Was her son ever really autistic? Evan’s [...]

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Irresponsible and Dishonest

February 2, 2010
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Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote about Andrew Wakefield’s falsification of data linking vaccines and autism, calling his behavior “irresponsible and criminal.” Last week the General Medical Council, the British medical licensing body, arrived at the same conclusion:
In reaching its decision, the Panel notes that the project reported in the Lancet paper was [...]

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Chocolate, or Shinola?

October 21, 2009
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Taza Chocolate sent me an email today announcing the availability of this year’s Special Edition Stone Ground Chiapan Chocolate. I’ve tasted last year’s edition (is “edition” really the appropriate description for a short-run foodstuff?), it’s definitely good chocolate, but the stuff costs $9.50 for a three-ounce bar. I’ll buy a bar or two this year [...]

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Science and the Deity

October 20, 2009
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Not the Deity, Mr. Deity. If you haven’t heard of him, visit his web site and get caught up on his doings.
Recently he’s been looking for a science advisor, and may have found one in PZ Meyers, biologist and writer of the blog Pharyngula: “Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal.”
Meyers seems [...]

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Mahlon Hoagland: 1921-2009

September 25, 2009
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He worked with James Watson and Francis Crick. He discovered transfer RNA and amino acid activation. He was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize. His name was Mahlon Hoagland, he passed away last week, and you have never heard of him. I had never heard of him until a series of unlikely circumstances brought us [...]

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