In the Age of Information, differentiating between real science and pseudoscience seems to be simultaneously easier and harder. How can we separate the two and acknowledge a grey area in between? […]
New alternative medicines called “release active drugs” (RAD) are hitting Russian markets. Dr. Steven Novella discusses what RADs are and why medical regulation is important. […]
Which hand drying method is the best, air or paper towel? The answer is more complicated than you might think – but do wash your hands. […]
We are often asked “What’s the harm?” when it comes to benign placebo. “If people feel better, who cares if it’s pseudoscience?” Dr. Novella answers why a seemingly harmless action lowers the standards for all medical practitioners. […]
Dr. Steven Novella discusses the rise of essential oils. He states, “Aromatherapy with essential oils is pseudoscience, backed only with low-quality studies guaranteed to show a placebo effect. Their growing popularity warns that better science education is needed.” […]
New Study Finds that Statins Prevent Cardiovascular Deaths. A new meta-analysis shows that statin drugs are effective at preventing cardiovascular events and death, especially in patients with a baseline LDL cholesterol >100. […]
One question that comes up is whether organic produce is more nutritious than conventionally farmed produce? An organic label does not say anything directly about the final product, only about the production method. So, does that mean it is inherently healthier for us? […]
Pseudoscience goes beyond just making a few errors or a few sloppy practices—the methods are so flawed that the entire endeavor is suspect. They have the patina of legitimate science, but something has gone terribly wrong. […]
There is always some minutia about important events that we don’t know, and this opens the door to conspiracy thinking. We fill the gaps in our knowledge with notions that comfort us by offering the illusion of certainty. Like superstitious thinking, we fulfill a basic psychological need with an illusion of control. […]
There are several tricks we use to help us confirm or reaffirm a potential possibility when we can’t know all the facts. […]
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