Your Brain Is Fine
I've had a cellphone for over two decades, and in every one of those years, I've read an alarmist story warning that, because we hold the devices up to our heads, we were all going to get brain cancer. There has never been peer-reviewed confirmation of those claims,...
Steven Novella on the Arthritic Goat’s Milk AIDS Cure
Earlier this week, I wrote about how disappointed I was in Bill Maher's softball interview with Dr. Samir Chachoua, who claims he developed an AIDS cure from the milk of arthritic goats and administered it to Charlie Sheen. To follow up, I called upon Dr. Steven...
I Gave Bill Maher A Chance And He Blew It
It has been a year since I wrote a piece called "I Won't Watch Bill Maher Again." The tipping point was Maher's continued anti-vaccination stance, which is dangerous. But a year later, I decided to give Maher another chance on Friday night, hoping to see some clever...
George Hrab Explains Skepticism
George Hrab, who has emceed the last few Amazing Meetings for the James Randi Educational Foundation, gave a TED Talk in which he explains skepticism and encourages you to become an evidence-based thinker: Previously on Harris Online... My speech on Why We Need More...
Best Thing I’ve Read Today
Julia Belluz on the FDA cracking down on companies that sell bogus dietary supplements. These pills have not been scientifically proven to work -- in fact, they cause harm, because they're not tested as rigorously as they should be. Before USPLabs agreed to pull...
Future Of The JREF
After attending this summer's Amazing Meeting, I mentioned that this was probably the last annual event presented by the James Randi Educational Foundation. Now comes this announcement: Since James Randi's retirement earlier this year, the Board has considered how to...
Murdered For Being Rational
Two years ago, I wrote of my tremendous respect for Sanal Edamaruku, the Indian rationalist who was forced to leave his country under a death threat from the Catholic Church because he had exposed the fakery behind one of its iconic religious statues. Not long after,...
John Oliver on Televangelists
John Oliver has taken on some serious subjects on his HBO "Last Week Tonight" show, from net neutrality to payday loans to gay rights in Uganda to Dr. Oz's ridiculous science-free endorsements of nutritional supplements. Oliver infuses them with just enough comedy to...