This is getting a bit repetitive but further evidence on the complete absence of any link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been presented in a Polish study lead by Dr. Dorota Mrozek-Budzyn

Finally some good news on the front of freedom of information: Prof. Colquhoun has achieved an important victory in this domain! For years now (literally!) he has been asking the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) to provide their teaching material for their infamous BSc degree in homeopathy under the Freedom of Information Act.

In the last episode of House I watched (which is still from season 1), there is Harvey, a patient that visited the clinic because for some months now he has been grinding his teeth (!) The fun part begins when a doctor asks Harvey (and his friend) if he had had any treatments for his condition. Here is the woo dialogue…

It seems the battle to get rid of pseudo-scientific treatments from the public health and education arena (such as the NHS and various universities offering dubious “science” degrees) is never really going to end. There might have been some progress in fighting homeopathy out of some universities, and raising awareness of its absurdity, but now an MP (!) David Tredinnick calls for more research and public funding of… medical astronomy and remote healing!!

Following the World Health Organization’s (WHO) condemnation of homeopathy as a cure for all sorts of dangerous ailments, prominent homeopaths complained that the WHO did not take into consideration the “growing evidence-base” of their favorite pet “therapy”! Now, we are all well aware that the evidence base ranges from inconclusive meta-analyses, to damning systematic reviews, so how this is a “growing evidence-base” FOR homeopathy is beyond me…

This was due a long time now: the World Health Organization (WHO) denounced homeopathy and labelled it ineffective and not suitable as a cure for ailments such as cancer, malaria, AIDS, and even diarrhoea -a favorite among homeopaths. As the BBC reported:…

Long time no see. The “Stuff from the Science Blogosphere” series returns for the new season, after a longer than average break. And this time we have the usual alternative medicine crap, ranging from homeopathy (our favorite) to Chinese herbs and natural remedies. University courses that really should be more in touch with reality. And some antivaccinationist propaganda to close off this instalment a bit more seriously. Here we go…

The only applications [of the gravitational law] I could think of were, first, in some geophysical prospecting, in predicting the tides; nowadays, more modernly, in working out the motions of the satellites and the planet probes, and so on, that we send up– and also, modernly, to calculate the predictions of the planet’s position, which have great utility for astrologers to publish their predictions and horoscopes in the magazines.