In search of a better bang

July 29th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, brainiac | 68 Comments »

Ben Goldacre
Saturday July 29, 2006
The Guardian

Like many other ex-RAF old duffers with handlebar moustaches in their early thirties who read the Daily Mail, I’ve often imagined that school science these days is rather boring and staid – not enough explosions – as a result of an obsession with health and safety, and perhaps other forms of political correctness that has “gone mad”. The teachers I meet, on the other hand, tell me that the increasingly feral nature of children is a greater cause for concern.

So imagine my delight at being sent this fabulous instructional video made with CLEAPSS, the body that advises schools on health and safety in science (qurl.com/pop). A few minutes in, you get to see the bloke from CLEAPSS bung some Read the rest of this entry »

Brainiac “Fraud” “Slammed” In The Evening Standard And The Independent

July 28th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, brainiac, evening standard, independent | 23 Comments »

And some of you have been quoted. Nice. If any of you are here from the Evening Standard looking for more on the Brainiac fake experiments nonsense then click here (or, er, buy the Guardian):

www.badscience.net/?cat=58

There’s lots of other quackbusting action on the site, listed by topic down the right hand side of the page, and there’s much more on the Brainiac fake experiments thing in tomorrow’s Bad Science column which I’ll Read the rest of this entry »

Thalidomide and Conspiracies

July 27th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, MMR | 29 Comments »

i was speaking at an investigative journalism course last weekend and someone on the course (someone a bit rabid as it happens, especially about MMR, Read the rest of this entry »

Better Than Brainiac

July 27th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, brainiac | 12 Comments »

Now this is what I’m talking about: real kids, exploring real science. Observe the illusion of “centrifugal” force.

My Mother, My Manager, And God…

July 24th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, onanism | 45 Comments »

I thought some of you might like to know that Don’t Dumb Me Down has, rather improbably in some respects, won “Best Feature” at the Science Writers Awards (£2,000 and I got to meet Read the rest of this entry »

Who’s The Daddy?

July 22nd, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, brainiac, very basic science | 22 Comments »

Ben Goldacre
Saturday July 22, 2006
The Guardian

Like any other reactionary old fart in his early thirties there’s nothing I find more life affirming than internet scare stories, ideally involving terrorists and paedophiles using Napster to destroy the British music industry, which is why I am so pleased to have one of my own: Theodore Gray, the man who managed to score over a kilo and a half of pure sodium metal off Ebay.

Now at school you probably dropped a crumb of sodium into some water, or rather, you watched your chemistry teacher do it, Read the rest of this entry »

Ka-Boom! Science! COOL!!?!

July 14th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, brainiac, very basic science | 50 Comments »

Ben Goldacre
Saturday July 22, 2006
The Guardian

The new series of Sky’s explosion-laden hit science program “Brainiac” starts tomorrow, and there’s just one question on everyone’s lips: will they be faking the science as much in this series as they have previously? Read the rest of this entry »

Homeopathy Spokesperson Has Eccentric Views On Malaria Shocker

July 14th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, homeopathy | 23 Comments »

Just very briefly, I wouldn’t want you to miss Melanie Oxley, spokesperson from the Society of Homeopaths, making her deeply worrying noises about the benefits of homeopathy for malaria at Read the rest of this entry »

The Red Baron

July 8th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in alternative medicine, bad science, mirror, nutritionists, PhDs, doctors, and qualifications, references | 29 Comments »

The Nutrition Society was founded in 1941 by Lord Boyd Orr. He was described in his obituary – rather fabulously – as “Baron and Nutritional Physiologist”, and in 1949 he casually picked up a Nobel Peace Prize. Since his time, the Nutrition Society seems to have gone rather badly downhill.

Here is a website, for example, run by two of the Nutrition Society’s “Registered Nutritionists” (www.nutrition-advice.com). They are Read the rest of this entry »

Test

July 3rd, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science | 2 Comments »