Skepticism

By Jo Marchant One of the largest-ever clinical trials into whether acupuncture can relieve pain in cancer patients has reignited a debate over the role of this contested technique in cancer care. Oncologists who conducted a trial of real and sham acupuncture in 226 women at 11 different cancer centres across the United States say their …

By Ross Pomeroy In 2006, an ominous term entered the public lexicon: colony collapse disorder. The mysterious, somewhat vague word describes instances where entire colonies of honeybees abruptly disappear, leaving behind their queens. Colony collapse disorder (CCD) has since fueled claims of an ongoing “bee apocalypse,” which summarizes the perilous plight of our pollinator pals. But despite panicked …

By Roni Dengler Celebrity socialite Kim Kardashian West says it boosted her energy level. Mad Men’s January Jones touts it as a cure for postpartum depression. But does eating one’s placenta after birth—an apparently growing practice around the globe—actually confer any health benefits? Not really, according to the first in-depth analyses of the practice. In two …

By Aaron Wherry Gov. Gen. Julie Payette said a few interesting things on Wednesday night. And if that’s interesting it’s because governors general generally tend to avoid saying particularly interesting things. Addressing a science conference in Ottawa, Payette argued for the need for greater public acceptance and knowledge of science. In doing so, she made dismissive references to astrology, the notion …

Anne McElvoy and Jan Piotrowski ask one of the world’s best-known evolutionary biologists whether science can guide us through a turbulent world of post-truth. Can there really be an objective truth, or will our existing biases win out?

By Sara G. Miller Medical marijuana may help with several health conditions, but it’s certainly not a cure for cancer. Now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is cracking down on companies that claim their cannabis products can get rid of cancer. The FDA issued warning letters to four companies that sell products containing …

By Stephanie Pappas Bad luck comes in twos in 2017. This year features a duo of Friday the 13ths, the second of which occurs today (Oct. 13). The first myth-mired Friday fell on Jan. 13 this year. Today, it’s taken for granted that Friday the 13th is an inauspicious day, but that wasn’t always the case. Until …

(JJS) CFI : Avec plaisir. CFI (Center For Inquiry) et RDFRS (Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science) m’ont demandé de les représenter au 7ème Congrès de l’AILP à Paris. Ancien diplomate français, j’ai servi en alternance à l’administration centrale du Ministère des affaires étrangères (à Paris), et à l’étranger (Singapour, Tokyo 2 fois, Bruxelles, …

By Usha Lee McFarling LOS ANGELES — When billionaires Susan and Henry Samueli this week announced a $200 million donation to the University of California, Irvine to launch a new health program dedicated to integrative medicine, they drew a standing ovation and glowing coverage. But for those who have been watching the steady creep of unproven …

By Jessica Hamzelou We can’t help but be more welcoming of information that confirms our biases than facts that challenge them. Now an experiment has shown that we do this even when it means losing out financially. Most research on confirmation bias has focused on stereotypes that people believe to be true, says Stefano Palminteri at École …

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By Philip J. Senter Mainstream geologists and biologists accept the abundant physical evidence that the Earth is billions of years old; that all organisms are evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor; and that non-avian dinosaurs became extinct sixty-five million years ago (e.g., Gradstein et al. 2004; Prothero 2007). In contrast, young-Earth creationist (YEC) authors have long …