A Rough Guide To Spotting Bad Science

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I know I’ve written about this before on the blog, but today I came across two infographics which are worth sharing on how to spot medical quackery. Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science, classifies science reporting as falling into three categories – wacky stories, scare stories and “breakthrough” stories, the last of which he views as “a more subtly destructive category of science story”.

While the first of these infographics will meet with near-universal approval; the second may not, if the popularity of celebrity doctors and natural medicine are anything to go by! When you are seriously ill, you are vulnerable. We must be wary of so-called miracle cures and doctors. I hope these two guides will help you separate medical truth from fiction.