Mobile Phone Stalkers – Ignorance is the opposite of bliss

January 28th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, phone stalking | 77 Comments »

Ben Goldacre
Saturday January 28, 2006
The Guardian

I spend a lot of my time wondering: why are people so afraid of science, when it has given us so much? To my mind there are two answers: firstly, the everyday science that you learned at school is no longer enough to understand the world around you. Fifty years ago, a fairly well educated person could Read the rest of this entry »

Stalkers

January 27th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, onanism, phone stalking | 11 Comments »

Here’s a scary story. You can track anybody’s movements through their mobile phone, all you need is five minutes access to their phone. You receive Read the rest of this entry »

Animal Writes

January 24th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science | 36 Comments »

I don’t want to distract anyone from the fabulous rabble-rousing that’s happening here, but I thought some of you might Read the rest of this entry »

The Mystery Of The Steaming Turd

January 20th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, bbc, ITV, media, postmodernist bollocks, references, roland kapferer, statistics, telegraph, times | 88 Comments »

Ben Goldacre
Saturday January 21, 2006
The Guardian

I seem to have opened up a whole new front of bad science by looking into the high end hi-fi industry: but that will have to wait for next week. “Scientists claimed yesterday that they have solved the mystery behind the success of Agatha Christie’s novels,” says the Telegraph. “Novelist Agatha Christie used words that invoked a chemical response in Read the rest of this entry »

I Think We’ve Got A Lead…

January 14th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in adverts, bad science, Hi-Fi, references, statistics, very basic science | 113 Comments »

Ben Goldacre
Saturday January 14, 2006
The Guardian

Ok, hold on to your girlfriends, because this time we get seriously geeky. Last week we were talking about hi-fi company Russ Andrews, and their £30 power cable, which they reckon will improve the sound of your Read the rest of this entry »

Kettle Lead

January 9th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in adverts, bad science, Hi-Fi | 78 Comments »

Ben Goldacre
Saturday January 7, 2006
The Guardian

My new year resolution is to have more Johnny Ball home science experiment moments. Which brings me on to reader David Stafford. “Today, I received a catalogue from a UK hi fi company called Russ Andrews,” he begins. You can find their web site at www.russandrews.com. On the front page is a power cable that costs £29.95. “If anyone buys this,” he says, “they will need Read the rest of this entry »

Homeopathy: someone should tell the government that there’s nothing in it

January 5th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in adverts, alternative medicine, bad science, homeopathy, references, statistics | 75 Comments »

Homeopathy: someone should tell the government that there’s nothing in it

Ben Goldacre
Saturday December 31, 2005
The Guardian

My first new year’s resolution is to write less about homeopaths, partly because teasing them is starting to bore me, and partly because we’ve won. Yes. Won. I’m talking about huge meta-analyses, summing together vast numbers of little trials, adding all Read the rest of this entry »