Bogus Science

Friday, April 20

Controversy over the alleged gold standard of forensic evidence.


Monday, March 26
/ / Mar 2012

How the CIA, under a program called MK-ULTRA, used a San Francisco apartment to dose johns with LSD.


Thursday, March 22

An investigation into Erin Brockovich and the lawsuits that made her famous.


Saturday, April 9

The story of dog-scent lineup innovator Keith Pikett and the not-so-scientific science behind forensics.


Friday, February 25
via via @elongreen

Henry Heimlich saved untold choking victimes when he invented his maneuver in 1974. Since then, he’s searched in vain for another miracle treatment—pushing ethical boundaries along the way. Now at the end of his career, Heimlich has hired an investigator to find an anonymous critic working full-time to destroy his legacy.


Thursday, February 24

The American medical establishment has gone to extraordinary lengths—some of which read like conspiracy theory—to discredit the notion (and its most visible promoter, Dr. Atkins) that carbohydrates, not fat, are the cause of obesity. It looks like they were wrong.


Wednesday, January 12

On the expanding community of American parents who believe, despite abundant evidence to the contrary, that there is a link between routine vaccinations and autism.


Tuesday, January 11
/ / Jan 2005

How to kick heroin in 24 hours.


Monday, January 10
/ / Apr 2009

Mattathias Rath made a fortune selling cure-all vitamins in Europe before moving his business to South Africa, where he launched a massive campaign against retroviral AIDS medications and in favor of his own vitamin cocktails. When scientists, AIDS non-profits, and even Medecins San Frontieres objected, he sued.


Wednesday, January 5

From the 1940s through the early 70s, incoming freshman at Harvard, Yale, Vassar, Wellesley, and several other top schools were photographed nude in the name of science–bogus science, as it turned out. Most of the photos were destroyed, but not all.


Wednesday, December 8

A trip to the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles.


Tuesday, August 31
/ / Jul 2009

The cozy relationship between “the internet newspaper” and bogus medicine.