One product has really got skeptics worked up recently: the Power Balance bracelet. In case you are not familiar with it, the Power Balance bracelet is merely a silicone bracelet with a hologram in it. The makers claim that the hologram “work’s with your body’s natural energy field” and is “designed to resonate with and … [Read more…]
I’ve recently read Richard Dawkin’s The Greatest Show on Earth (the Evidence for Evolution) and it pointed me in the direction of the family Ichneumonidae, a family of parasitic wasps. Most reproduce by injecting their eggs into their hosts (usually caterpillars). An example is Cotesia glomerata, subject of the National Geographic program In the Womb: … [Read more…]
Public science is pretty strong in Liverpool, with regular talks from the Merseyside Skeptics Society, Scibar and Cafe Scientifique. Liverpool Cafe Scientifique have started their new year with a new website, which now includes a blog and videos relating to future meetings. Their next meeting will be on Tuesday January 11th, and the speaker will … [Read more…]
First off, sorry for the lack of posts, I’ve been off for Xmas in Norfolk and London. Thanks to everyone who looked after me over the festive period, normal service will resume soon! Happy New Year! Hope 2011 is good for everyone (except the woos of course) and hopefully I’ll see you at qedcon, which … [Read more…]
Homeopathy, is there nothing it can’t cure? Now, Neuro-Med, a company in Washington, USA, are selling a homeopathic treatment for autism: Respen-A, only available on prescription. Of course, I’m skeptical that a homeopathic treatment for anything can exist, let alone for autism, so I’m keen to find out more about this product. For starters, the … [Read more…]
Last week, NASA announced a press conference that was hyped to the extreme. Some believed NASA would announce an alien life form, or perhaps an organism that used something other than DNA to store it’s genetic information. Sadly, what they announced was neither of these, but instead an interesting little quirk of biology. Writing in … [Read more…]
In the latest move in their campaign against the quackery of homeopathy, 10:23 have announced their plans for next year: a global “overdose” of homeopathic products, scheduled for February. This will follow up the original overdose event from last year, which saw around 400 people take part in a somewhat spontaneous worldwide ‘overdose’, intended to … [Read more…]
Today was a fantastic day to be a Norwich City fan. It saw Norwich host local rivals Ipswich Town (affectionately referred to as “the scum” by Norwich fans) in the East Anglian derby (daftly referred to as the “Old Farm” by outsiders). The BBC were generous enough to show it, which was great news for … [Read more…]
At the moment, all eyes are on “celebrity nutritionist” Gillian McKeith as she struggles in the Australian jungle, but I’d like to talk about a celebrity who is a keen advocate of homeopathy: Nadia Sawalha. I might as well say from the off that I find Nadia Sawalha on TV to be very annoying. Her … [Read more…]