Wow! Friends of Science in Medicine certainly got lots of people Googling for more information. FSM really should get their own website explaining their principles, so everyone who’s looking for information isn’t getting it from second-hand sources, such as the news, blogs, and their opponents. Plus then the public could go there to vent their… [Read more…]
January 24, 2012
I previously posted examples of the horrific proliferation of Australian universities teaching accredited and Federally funded science degrees in mumbo-jumbo and hogwash. Around Christmas there was a letter to the editor in The Advertiser from Rob Morrison saying that a group calling themselves “Friends of Science in Medicine” were starting up to combat exactly this sort… [Read more…]
November 28, 2011
I read the good news on the ABC that parents are being encouraged to vaccinate by only getting the government child bonus payment if they’ve had their vaccinations. The following morning I read The Advertiser over breakfast (having been lulled into a sense of science security by Clare Peddie’s return from holidays) and read this… [Read more…]
November 10, 2011
I was reading about problems with universities endorsing ‘science’ degrees in homeopathy and other complementary medicine “gobbledygook“. I briefly thought that this was in the UK and hopefully it wasn’t happening here in Australia. Then the niggling voice of cynicism said I was probably being far too optimistic. So I Googled “homeopathy site:.edu.au” hoping that I wouldn’t… [Read more…]
November 9, 2011
This story annoyed me, I guess because I unfairly to expect better of ABC news than everyone else. And, no, it wasn’t anything to do with the politics or politicians involved. My highlighting should give away the problem: Labor gains ground, Abbott loses sheen Dissatisfaction with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott hit a record high as… [Read more…]
November 6, 2011
We’d had a pair of Eastern Rosellas in and out of our bird box, and were waiting for a first sighting of our latest baby bird. Some of our baby birds in previous years. The first year we put the FauNature bird box in we had Adelaide Rosellas, and it’s alternated between them and Eastern Rosellas… [Read more…]
October 15, 2011
An article in this morning’s paper has raised the issue of alternative therapies being covered by private health insurance, such as iridology, homeopathy etc. Alternative therapies are those that have either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work. If anyone needs reminding that alternative therapies that have been demonstrated to work… [Read more…]
September 29, 2011
The Advertiser front page today: Retrovirus threatens Kangaroo Island koalas The survival of Kangaroo Island’s koalas in is grave danger because of an AIDS-like virus affecting 40% of the population. Experts say the disease has the potential to impact koalas in a similar way to how mouth cancer is wiping out Tasmanian devils. The Environment… [Read more…]
August 7, 2011
Here’s a fascinating and confronting article about forced marriages in England. It’s summer school holidays in the UK now, which means for schoolgirls it’s high-risk forced marriage season. They could be sent on holidays back to their parents’ country of origin and married off. Because the average victims are girls aged 14 to 19, she says… [Read more…]
July 17, 2011
I’d missed the news that Australia government is halfway through voting on legislation to have palm oil included on food ingredient labels. While googling for my last post I looked up palm oil and orangutans. I think my first real exposure to this issue was this eye-opening episode of Foreign Correspondent back in 2006, which is still… [Read more…]
June 15, 2011
I’d always assumed it was true that if you see a tree that’s deciduous and loses its leaves in winter then it’s not an Australian native. Like around the Mt Lofty lake - obviously the trees losing their leaves in the foreground must be non-native vagrants, while the evergreen gums in the background must be… [Read more…]
June 5, 2011
So this is what the ‘debate’ has degenerated to – even here in Australia climate scientists are receiving death threats. Death threat campaigns against scientists are something I naively tend to associate with other countries, such as the letter bombs sent by animal rights extremists in the UK. More than 30 Australian researchers have reported… [Read more…]
April 19, 2011
While the $400 million destruction of medical research funding is the number one priority now, there’s another issue that perennially looms large – the funding system that makes embarking on a research career more like playing Russian roulette. Job insecurity is rated as the biggest factor in the low attractiveness of research as a career. I think it’s the biggest… [Read more…]
April 11, 2011
Tomorrow the activists of the world of medical research will be crowding the steps of Parliament House to protest government funding cuts. There are rumours that the next Federal budget will cut funding to medical research by up to 400 million dollars. The rally will be from 12:30 - 13:30 on the steps of Parliament House, North Terrace.… [Read more…]
February 5, 2012
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