Category Archives: News
Who to Blame?
With the recent and tragic events in Japan, we look back to 2004 when the world saw another terrible tsunami, that time in the Indian Ocean. Shortly after, the former editor of The Skeptic, Barry Williams, penned the following editorial. We feel Barry’s sentiments apply just as well in 2011. Who to Blame? Few people could have remained unaffected by the … Read on »
QANTAS’s flights of fantasy
Australia’s national airline, QANTAS, seems to have entered the new age of woo, offering highly dubious (shall we say, useless) trinkets for sale in its in-flight duty free magazine catalogue, In Sky Shopping. On two pages in the magazine it was touting the benefits of “negative ion” necklaces, bracelets and bangles. Supplemented by a short pitch on “A … Read on »
The Australian Government needs to wise up about Homeopathy
Tweet Apparently this week has been MedicineWise Week in Australia. I didn’t know this until out of curiosity I went to a website which has been heavily advertised over the last week on Australian television – the NPS website. I knew of this Australian government organisation since I follow them on Twitter but only after visiting the website did I … Read on »
Power Balance on trial — literally
Tweet Online US news and gossip website TMZ, which specialises in current court cases, reports that a class action lawsuit has been filed against the suppliers of Power Balance wristbands. According to TMZ, the suit “filed this week in the LA Country Superior court, alleges consumers were duped into believing the hologram-embedded band was scientifically proven to enhance … Read on »
BMJ says Wakefield’s MMR-autism claims “falsified”
Tweet The prime instigator of claims that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is linked to autism has been accused of falsifying his research. In an editorial published in the British Medical Journal on January 7, 2011, BMJ editor in chief Fiona Godlee says that “Clear evidence of falsification of data should now close the door on this damaging vaccine scare.” “Few … Read on »
The TGA calls for increased transparency, but won’t reveal recalled products.
Tweet In the same week that the TGA has removed over 400 alternative medicine products from the Australian Register, they are calling for submissions into how they can better improve their transparency. In a spot check on about 400 products, 9 out of 10 — or 26 per cent of newly listed medicines last financial year — were found to … Read on »
The Amazing Meeting Australia
Tweet The Amazing Meeting Australia (known to thousands on Twitter as #TAMoz) has been called a huge success by delegates and speakers alike. Although official events did not kick off until the evening of the 25th of November, the week leading up to TAM was abuzz with delegates from all over the world arriving in Sydney and … Read on »
Skeptics’ 2010 awards
Tweet Each year the Australian Skeptics, at its annual convention, makes a number of awards to recognise excellence in the face of pseudoscience and the paranormal. It also issues the Bent Spoon “dishonourable” award for an individual or organisation which, in our opinion, through their philosophy or actions, support and/or perpetuate pseudoscience or the paranormal. At a ceremony … Read on »
2010 Bent Spoon Award — interim statement
On November 27, the Australian Skeptics announced at the TAM Australia convention that it had awarded its Bent Spoon award for 2010 to the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (ACARA) for its draft science curriculum. Since then, however, comment has arisen from some bloggers as to the validity of issuing the award re ACARA’s activities. The grounds for the … Read on »
TGA calls on Power Balance to withdraw claims and advertising
The promoters of Power Balance wrist bands are in trouble again. This time the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has ruled against them. In part the decision says: In reaching this conclusion, the Panel noted that the claims made in the advertisements were extraordinary to such a degree that no reasonable retailer could publish them on the … Read on »
Subscribe to the world’s second oldest skeptical magazine! Released quarterly and packed with fascinating stories of a skeptical bent.
