Homeopathy effective for 0 out of 68 illnesses, study finds

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Homeopathy

Last year professor Paul Glasziou from Bond University in Australia headed up a team that wrote a systematic review of systematic reviews on homeopathy as part of a report for Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

2 min read, 369 words. Continue Reading...

Sea monster washes up in Australia

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Cryptozoology

Yet another sea monster has been found, this time in Swansea, NSW, Australia. Ethan Tipper posted the photo on Facebook, asking "What the f*** is this?".

1 min read, 80 words. Continue Reading...

Texas Board of Education hopeful believes Obama was a homosexual prostitute

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Conspiracy, Obama

In the United States, the Texas board of education is very important because the state is so large. This means that the board has a large sway over which textbooks are used nationwide in schools. Historically Texas has been a battleground for creationism, with efforts to get as many fundamentalist Christians onto the board of education as possible.

2 min read, 333 words. Continue Reading...

Justice Scalia murder conspiracy

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Conspiracy, Murder

Antonin Scalia, a conservative Supreme Court judge in the US, died this week at age 79. Scalia took some strange legal views in his time, such as this one on evolution:

2 min read, 381 words. Continue Reading...

Shane Warne believes alien experiments turned monkeys into humans

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Conspiracy, Aliens

Shane Warne is currently appearing on Australia's version of I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!. He announced on the show that he thinks aliens created the pyramids in Egypt, and that they also engineered humans:

1 min read, 139 words. Continue Reading...

Fast food Fakery

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, FastFood

A couple of stories about fast food that set off my skeptical alarm bells this week.

2 min read, 285 words. Continue Reading...

Whakatane flip-flops on fluoride

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Fluoride

Bags with coins in spotted at Muriwai Cafe

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Coins

Hang bags of water around to keep flies away. Coins or bits of tin foil can be used inside the bags.

2 min read, 266 words. Continue Reading...

David Icke Coming to New Zealand

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Conspiracy, Icke

David Icke was last in NZ in 2011. He'll talk in Auckland about his new book (surprise, surprise!), lizards, the illuminati and many other nonsense subjects.

1 min read, 87 words. Continue Reading...

New video of 'Yeti' at ski resort sparks Internet debate

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Cryptozoology

There is a one second shaky video of a Yeti, along with a higher resolution picture.

1 min read, 188 words. Continue Reading...

Are antioxidant-rich products good for us?

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Antioxidants

Research is coming to light that antioxidants in food and drinks are not useful to aid health, and may actually be damaging to us.

1 min read, 170 words. Continue Reading...

KFC wins payout over China mutant chicken rumours

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, FastFood

(Although we all know that fast food is not generally a great nutritional choice, there's a lot of nonsense out there about how bad fast food is. The most pernicious is about how fast food doesn't rot, and people have shown this by keeping McDonalds burgers for years, with only minimal breakdown of the food. Of course, it's been shown that in the same conditions where McDonalds burgers don't rot, organic home-made burgers don't rot either)

2 min read, 235 words. Continue Reading...

Sandy Hook truther to face jury

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Conspiracy, Shooting

Matthew Mills believes that the Sandy Hook school massacre in the US didn't happen. Unfortunately he's taken his belief to an extreme, publicly harassing the sister of one of the victims, a school teacher called Victoria Soto. Victoria has been hailed as a hero for her efforts to protect the children under her care, and lost her life in the process. Matthew believes that Victoria never existed, and has been harassing her sister in an effort to get her to admit this.

1 min read, 158 words. Continue Reading...

Split verdict for 'pH Miracle' author

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Alkaline

Robert Young is an alternative medicine practitioner who believes that disease is caused by a pH imbalance in the blood. He's written books about his beliefs, and runs a retreat where for $2,000 a day he can treat you by balancing your blood pH to treat cancer, lupus and diabetes, amongst others.

3 min read, 450 words. Continue Reading...

Jonathan Sarfati's New Zealand Visit

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Religion, Creationism

I went to see Creation Ministries International speaker Jonathan Sarfati give a couple of talks in Wellington last week. Jonathan was brought up in New Zealand, and was once the national chess champion.

2 min read, 262 words. Continue Reading...

Donald Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Politics, Trump

Someone has put Mr Trump forward for this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Supporters said in the submission that Mr. Trump deserved the prize for:

1 min read, 142 words. Continue Reading...

NZ gets its first Flying Spaghetti Monster marriage celebrant

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Religion, FSM

After the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster successfully applied for the ability to register marriage celebrants last year, their first celebrant has now been approved. Karen Martyn is willing to travel to anywhere in the country to perform a pastafarian wedding ceremony.

2 min read, 229 words. Continue Reading...

Sydney IV.ME clinic closed after client hospitalised

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, IV

A new trend started recently, when IV "hydration" clinics opened in Australia late last year, called iv.me and the Hangover Clinic. The clinics offer customers a range of treatments, consisting of IV drips with various mixes of saline, vitamins, painkillers and oxygen.

1 min read, 129 words. Continue Reading...

Acupuncture Works! (Not really)

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Acupuncture

On Thursday I went to Cafe Scientifique, a regular meeting in Wellington where talks are given about a scientific topic.

2 min read, 267 words. Continue Reading...

NZ Natural Health Products Bill

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Naturpoathy

Submissions are closing next week for the Natural Health and Supplementary Products bill, which seeks to regulate alternative medicine. Although there are several issues, such as the use of "historical evidence" being allowed, the bill in general is positive. People are encouraged to read the bill and make a submission.

1 min read, 98 words. Continue Reading...

Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay more than AU$100 million in suit linking talcum powder to ovarian cancer

Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Talc

Jacqueline Fox, who died last year, had used Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder for 35 years on her genitals.

1 min read, 146 words. Continue Reading...