08 May 2012 by Sara E. Mayhew
Browsing the aisle of a local retailer, recently, started me thinking about beauty products and how skeptical I am of some their claims. The shelves are stocked with dozens of different facial moisturizers alone, ranging in brand, size, and price. Actually, it’s surprising how wide the range of pricing is–from products that cost $5 for a large [...]
Posted in Featured, Pseudoscience, Skepticism3 Comments
26 April 2012 by Michael Kruse
I sometimes answer friends requests for analysis, such as I can offer, on Facebook and such. Today this article was forwarded to me: Study: Whooping cough outbreak linked to vaccinated children Go read it. It is short. The conclusion it draws have also been picked up by the Natural News Now that that is done, [...]
Posted in Skepticism0 Comments
10 April 2012 by Scott Gavura
This is the first of a series of posts adapting a presentation made at The Ontario Public Health Convention in April, 2011. The presentation, “Fighting in the Trenches: Countering Anti-Vaccine Sentiment with Social Media” was a panel discussion from Skeptic North contributors Scott Gavura and Kimberly Hébert: One of the best parts of the infectious [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Featured, Health, Skepticism, Vaccines6 Comments
10 April 2012 by Iain Martel
The following is a guest post contributed by Iain Martel of the Centre for Inquiry Canada’s Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism (CASS). “Homeopathy: There’s Nothing in it” is the slogan for the 10:23 campaign, a British-based global campaign to educate the public to the fact that homeopathic preparations are typically so dilute that [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Canada, Featured, Medicinal Advertising, Skepticism37 Comments
09 April 2012 by Dianne Sousa
In their toolbox homeopaths have sugar, water, and oodles of imagination. They tell us they have some science in there too, and they root around in there quite a bit looking for it. Personally, I’ve yet to see a homeopath wield that tool with any competency at all. Oh, and one more thing. They have [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Featured, Skepticism3 Comments
23 March 2012 by Dianne Sousa
Visit the Advertising Standards Canada website and take a few minutes to read through the adjudicated consumer complaints for the last quarter of 2011. You’ll come across this curious report: What could this mysterious, overall-wellness promoting medical device be? I happen to know, because I’m the complainant in this case. The report that appears on [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Canada, Medicinal Advertising, Skepticism5 Comments
29 February 2012 by Michael Kruse
This week, the Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism at the Centre for Inquiry Canada released a damning report of climate change denial that has found a home at Carleton University in Ottawa. The 98-page report details every aspect of the pseudoscientific and incorrect conclusions drawn by Tom Harris in the course “Climate Change: An [...]
Posted in Skepticism23 Comments
27 February 2012 by Erik Davis
As many of you know, I have a little fun on The Twitters at Deepak Chopra’s expense. I started my alter-ego @DBagChopra last fall to shine a light on the quantum mysticism and overall new-age gooiness he peddles. My hope was that, through humour, I might cause a few people to realize just how [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Health, Skepticism36 Comments
15 February 2012 by Ethan Clow
Recently I was watching the History Channel when a commercial for Brad Meltzer’s Decoded came on. At first I found the commercial enraging and further eroded my lingering embers of hope that the History Channel had a legitimate interested in promoting actual history and not bunk dressed up to look like a Dan Brown book. [...]
Posted in Conspiracy Theories, Critical Thinking, History, Media, Reviews, Skepticism, Social Sciences3 Comments
01 February 2012 by Erik Davis
As longtime readers may know, I have a relative that’s a holistic nutritionist, and she sometimes touts the supposed benefits of certain foods to members of our family. One of these is coconut oil, which, so we’ve been told, is one of the healthiest things we can eat. Now I try to stay out of [...]
Posted in Skepticism82 Comments
