(Originally posted on Activating TOK) Is it obvious that medical conclusions ought to be based on evidence and science? What are the alternatives? For a smile along with the serious point, I recommend this satirical list by two doctors: “Seven alternatives to evidence based medicine” . Vehemence-based medicine? Eminence-based medicine? The list predates the recent book on celebrity-based medicine with the splendid title Is Gwyneth Paltrow […]
Read more (Originally posted on Activating TOK) Did you know that green coffee bean extract can help you lose weight? No? Me neither! Today, I’d like to propose a class discussion on thinking critically about media knowledge claims for products that yield fabulous (literally) medical benefits. The discussion is given a caffeine lift by a bite-sized example from a year […]
Read more (Originally posted on Activating TOK) When we depend on language to mediate scientific knowledge, the field is ripe for misunderstanding and abuse. And when life and death are involved, as they often are in medical science, getting it right is important. Hence the attempts of prominent figures who straddle both fields — medical science and communication (e.g. David Gorski, Stephen […]
Read more (Originally posted on Activating TOK) The statistics are horrifying. Every minute, a child dies from malaria. In 2013, 90% of the world’s malaria deaths occurred in Africa and over 430,000 African children died before their fifth birthdays. And there are plenty more statistics where these came from : In 2013, there were about 198 million malaria cases (with an uncertainty […]
Read more (Originally posted on Activating TOK) “The mythical stories we tell about our heroes are always more romantic and often more palatable than the truth. But in science, at least, they are destructive, in that they promote false conceptions of the evolution of scientific thought.” So writes Leonard Mlodinowmay in an article in the New York Times forwarded to me by my co-author and friend […]
Read more (Originally posted on Activating TOK ) How do scientists know so much (and so little) about galaxies far, far away? As we fly at high levels of general overview, surveying and comparing the methodologies of the areas of knowledge, we need stories to bring our discussions to life — stories of people on the ground actively engaged in the process of […]
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