When Carl Sagan died in 1996 at the age of 62, the world lost a very special person, a teacher who had so much, much, more to say to us. For the last four years, there have been annual get-togethers – all over the United States – of those who want to see official recognition of Carl’s efforts, and I’m privileged to not only have attended and participated in those meetings, but also to personally know Jeanette Madea, the one who heads up the South Florida group and beats the drum for the creation of a Carl Sagan Day.

It all started in November of 2009, with speakers Phil Plait, D.J. Grothe, Russell Romanella from NASA, myself, and an interactive video discussion with David Morrison from NASA, a former student of Dr. Sagan's. Every year since, the program has grown to include not only a set of distinguished scientists and skeptics, but workshops for local K-12 teachers, displays, poster contests for school kids, rocket launches, planetarium shows, event t-shirts and more. Last year, students had a chance to visit "Carl's Garage" where they were encouraged to use skeptical thinking in addressing the provocative claim of the invisible dragon alleged to live there.

This year, November 10, 2012, is the 4th annual Sagan Day event. The celebration started with the idea in our south Florida skeptic and secular community that just as Charles Darwin is celebrated because of the great impact his contributions have had on modern biology, Sagan should be recognized – not just for his contributions  to astronomy – but for the way in which he made real science accessible to so many by his lectures, books, television appearances, and his impassioned leadership and influence in the skeptical community.

If you’re a regular reader of the blog on Randi.org, you’ve probably already heard about Dr. Andrew Weil. He is yet another Dr. Oz, Dr. Chopra, or Dr. Mercola, and he has often earned himself a dishonorable mention on Science-Based Medicine. If you still don’t know him, these book titles may give you an idea of his leanings: Spontaneous Healing, Spontaneous Happiness, Life is Your Best Medicine, Eight Weeks to Optimum Health and, Breathing: The Master Key to Self-Healing.

Weil is a proponent of “Integrative Medicine”, which is reminiscent of the push to rebrand “Creationism” as “Intelligent Design”; “Integrative” is a clear move away from the stigmatized “Alternative” and “Complementary”. Weil is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. His institute offers courses to medical students in Ayurvedic medicine, naturopathy, homeopathy, reflexology, traditional Chinese medicine and osteopathy.¹ Weil reports that the Center has already graduated over 1000 students.

Here is a rundown of the top stories in pseudoscience and anomalies news from the past week courtesy of Doubtful News.

Lots of big news this week. Some of these subjects were surprising to those hearing about them for the first time regarding the unexpected dangers they harbor.

Several stories came out about chiropractic and stroke.

A Canadian woman settles a suit with a chiropractor after neck manipulation was followed by a stroke.

Using that case as evidence, Manitobans ask for a ban on neck manipulation.

Another man suffered a stroke after the same procedure. This topic has seen some focused attention this week. See these links for addition information on why the connection between stroke and chiropractic is not well-known, but SHOULD be.

Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo in medicine.  

Antivaccine versus anti-GMO: Different goals, same methods (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/antivaccine-versus-anti-gmo-different-goals-same-methods/ Activists fighting genetically modified organisms (GMOs) use the same tactics as those fighting vaccines, from misinformation to bad science; and both groups fetishize the naturalistic fallacy. A recent study of GMOs and tumors in rats doesn’t mean what the activists think it means. It is about as bad as studies get, and it doesn’t constitute evidence for harm from GMOs in rats, much less in humans.  

Mouse “avatars”: New predictors of response to chemotherapy? (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/mouse-avatars-new-predictors-of-response-to-chemotherapy/ Researchers are implanting pieces of patients’ tumors into mice so they can test the tumor’s response to various treatments. Companies are prematurely marketing the method to patients. Used in association with genomic testing, the method offers promise for individualized cancer treatment; but there are caveats and it is not ready for prime time.