/oss/taxonomy/term/515/all en /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/your-hairdresser-will-heal-you-now <p>My hairdresser brings me to an isolated room. On the sparsely decorated walls, a framed drawing of the head meridians and a yin-yang symbol representing the Chinese body clock, in which different organs are claimed to be at their peak activity at different times of the day.</p> Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:56:29 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10082 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/what-media-gets-wrong-about-cam <p>There must be a template for this.</p> <p>Time and time again, I have seen journalists cover so-called complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in a way that is so similar, it’s making me think they must teach that template in journalism school.</p> <p>It’s a story structure that sounds good at first. It aims to be balanced in giving voice to both patients and practitioners, as well as proponents and skeptics. It uses storytelling to grab the reader’s attention. All the ingredients are seemingly there to cover the topic responsibly.</p> Thu, 12 Sep 2024 18:17:51 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10076 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/if-it-sounds-too-good-be-true-it <p>There is hardly a week that passes without someone asking my opinion about some video purporting to have found a remedy for some terrible ailment that “Big Pharma doesn’t want you to know about.” Why? Because as we are told, these companies are more interested in selling expensive, ineffective treatments to make sure that profits keep rolling in, profits that would be lost if a cure were made available.</p> Wed, 28 Aug 2024 19:37:16 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10049 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/doc-detox-tries-rewrite-all-medicine <p>If you are desperate enough, there is someone out there willing to rewrite all of medicine and relieve you of your savings. A former nurse with multiple sclerosis lost over $10,000 in this way, according to a CBC Marketplace investigation. To whom did she give this money, you may wonder? To Darrell Wolfe, who calls himself Doc of Detox.</p> Fri, 09 Aug 2024 02:14:41 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10021 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience-history/will-graphology-become-extinct <p>Can a pseudoscience ever truly disappear? Over the course of human history, we have made many attempts at explaining the world around us, and while some of these guesses were eventually confirmed through rigorous scientific experimentation, many of our hypotheses were shown to be wrong, yet some survived. They became belief systems with a patina of scientific credibility applied on top. It still surprises me that astrology, a clear pseudoscience which has been firmly supplanted by both astronomy and human psychology, remains popular today.</p> Fri, 19 Jul 2024 12:02:15 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10004 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/so-you-want-grow-hair <p>If you want to make a lot of money, all you have to do is come up with an effective treatment for androgenic alopecia. That’s male pattern baldness. Actually, even a minimally effective product will do.</p> Wed, 29 May 2024 05:22:28 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9961 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/dim-science-neuroglow <p>The cosmetics industry sells hope by mixing a little chemistry with a hefty dose of hype. Novelty, whether in “actives,” or in packaging, or just fresh flim-flam is what opens wallets. Since consumers are becoming blasé about over-used terms like moisturizing, anti-aging, rejuvenating, nurturing, hydrating, revolutionary and natural, marketers are pressed to come up with new ploys. Throwing in sciency terms like “psychodermatology” and “neurocosmetics,” can invigorate sales. Neurocosmetics are said to forge a link between the mind and skin care. Who says so? Psychodermatologists.</p> Wed, 22 May 2024 02:16:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9951 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/no-eating-french-fries-not-same-smoking-cigarettes <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-no-eating-french-fries-is-not-the-same-as-smoking-cigarettes">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 10 May 2024 15:46:56 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9944 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/crank-magnetism-weston-price-foundation <p>In June 2007, Mark Hoofnagle and Chris Hoofnagle published an article on ScienceBlogs entitled <a href="https://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2007/06/28/crank-magnetism-1">“Crank Magnetism.”</a> As far as I can tell, this is the first appearance of this phrase online.</p> Fri, 12 Apr 2024 14:10:33 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9908 at /oss /oss/article/medical-pseudoscience/donors-organ-donors-personality-lets-approach-sensibly <p>It’s a story that would make the publishers of the <i>Kama Sutra </i>blush with envy. A 25-year-old graduate student’s sex drive suddenly surged and his technique apparently improved overnight. “I make love like I know exactly how the woman’s body feels and responds,” he told researchers, “almost as if it is my body.” His girlfriend concurred: “He’s a much better lover now.” She also noticed other changes. Her boyfriend was now a hugger, and he loved to go shopping, and he carried a purse with him. And going to museums? “He would never, absolutely never do that,” she said.</p> Fri, 01 Mar 2024 16:03:16 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9853 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/naprapathy-stretches-credulity <p>Buried in <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/5443677/49/ragsdale-v-central-dupage-hospital/">a court document</a> mentioning Joe Mercola was the first reference to naprapathy I had ever seen. Joe Mercola has made a fortune selling dietary supplements and publishing health misinformation over the past few decades. The court case did not involve Mercola but rather a woman he had treated. In her lawsuit against a life insurance company, the plaintiff is described as having been bitten by a tick and contracting Lyme disease.</p> Fri, 02 Feb 2024 12:41:47 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9821 at /oss /oss/article/medical-pseudoscience/homeopathy-scientifically-implausible <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-homeopathy-is-scientifically-implausible">Montreal Gazette</a>.</em></p> Fri, 12 Jan 2024 18:23:31 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9801 at /oss /oss/article/pseudoscience-general-science/claptrap <p>Our brain controls the production of certain hormones and neurotransmitters such as melatonin, serotonin and dopamine. Simplistically, one can say that “rest and repair” hormones are activated by a lack of light, while “coping with stress” hormones are produced when light is abundant. But the situation is actually more complicated. Hormonal activity is governed by messages sent from the eye in response to specific wavelengths and problems arise if there is exposure to an unnatural mix of wavelengths, termed the “unnatural wavelength effect” (UWE).</p> Fri, 01 Dec 2023 20:02:43 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9748 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience-technology/gadget-scam <p>Anyone who owns a car and who lives in snowy climes will be tempted by this. What if you could buy a small device that you left in your car and that magically melted the snow off of it and prevented your car from freezing? You may think this is the sort of thing you would see on <i>Star Trek</i>, yet I can point you to <a href="https://fivfivgo.com/products/pro-electromagnetic-molecular-interference-antifreeze-snow-removal-instrument">a website</a> where you can acquire this incredible device today for only USD 26.97.</p> Fri, 24 Nov 2023 11:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9739 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/magnesium-supplements-sleep-may-not-work-dream <p>Everywhere I turn these days, an influencer is trying to sell me magnesium supplements. Apparently, all of us who find it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep all night are missing the boat. The answer is a simple mineral available as a dietary supplement: the all-mighty magnesium.</p> Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:09:25 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9649 at /oss