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Speakers Upcoming Events "Snake Oil Science" - Friday March 21, 2008 7:00 PM "The SkepDoc" Harriet Hall, MD Science Building 1 - Room 107 Portland State University Portland, OR PSU Campus Map - PSU Campus Map (PDF format) Driving Directions Snake Oil Science: The Evidence for Alternative Medicine" Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are new names for old fringe medical treatments that are gaining in popularity. Advocates of CAM realize that science matters and are trying to find scientific justification for things that were once accepted on the basis of testimonials and opinions. They are finding evidence, but that evidence is not always what it seems. Believe it or not, published studies are actually more likely to be wrong than right. Why? Hall will address: What can go wrong in research? How can we judge the quality of a study? When can we believe a study? When should we withhold judgment? What is "Tooth Fairy science"? What is the placebo effect? CAM clearly "works" but placebos "work" too. Does CAM work better than placebo? Is all the research published to date compatible with the hypothesis that no CAM method is superior to placebo? And finally, if placebos "work" is there anything wrong with using them to get that effect? ABOUT HARRIET A. HALL, MD - "The SkepDoc" Harriet A. Hall, MD, also known as "The SkepDoc," is a retired family physician/Air Force flight surgeon who writes about alternative medicine and pseudoscience. Hall is one of 5 MD authors of the acclaimed new blog "Science-Based Medicine" http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/. She is medical advisor to the "Quackwatch" website, is an editor of "The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine," and is a contributing editor to "Skeptic" magazine, where she writes a regular column entitled 'The SkepDoc.' Her articles have also appeared in many other publications including "Skeptical Inquirer," "Pensar," and the "Quackwatch" website. Past Speakers University of Oregon nanotechnology / scanning electron microscope lab - November 15, 2007. John Lombard - Saving the Willamette Valley, October 20, 2007 Cold Reading Workshop - Ray Hyman, Ph.D. January 13, 2007 "Parapsychology: How To Make Something Out of Nothing" - Ray Hyman, Ph.D. November 3, 2006, 7:30 PM Natural Medicines - "The SkepDoc" Harriet Hall, MD - May 6, 2006 A Scientific Critique of Chiropractic - "The SkepDoc" Harriet Hall, MD - May 5, 2006 You "Gotta" be Smarter Than the Drugs You Take - Phil Levine, Ph.D - November 4, 2005 Fads and Fallacies in Autism - Jim Laidler, MD - June 23, 2005 Charles Darwin: The Devil's Chaplain? - February 15, 2005 Jim Pace, Magician - January 28, 2005 Natural Medicines: A Skeptical View - Harriet Hall, MD - October 29, 2004 UFO Sightings: The Evidence - Robert Sheaffer - October 13/15, 2004 The Molecular Basis of Life: Evidence for Evolution or ID? - Mitchell Cruzan - February 13, 2004 Trish Randal, stand-up comic - January 23, 2004 Debunking Audio Myths - Thomas Kite - November 21, 2003 Frauds and Fallacies in Autism - James Laidler, MD - June 27, 2003 Paleontology before Darwin: Suitible for Young Audiences? - William Thwaites - February 15, 2003 Crop Circles: Man-made or What? - Ted Clay - October 3/25, 2002 Pseudo-Technology in the New Millennium - James "The Amazing" Randi - July 18, 2002 Earth is Ancient (Despite What Some Creationists Say) - Dr. Brent Dalrymple - January 17, 2002 Science Toys Night (Annual meeting) - November 30, 2001 Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction - Charles Wynn - August 20, 2001 Houdini: A Magician Among the Spirits - Massimo Polidoro - August 15, 2001 A Skeptical Examiniation of Theraputic Touch - Bela Scheiber - May 18/19, 2001 What's up with Genetically Engineered Food? - Terri Lomax - February 23, 2001 Secrets of the Psychics - Massimo Polidoro - August 21, 2000 Mad Cows, Mad Corn, Mad Communities - Melissa Finucane - December 7, 2000 Keys to Critical Thinking - Ray Hyman - April 6, 2000 Creationism, Evolution, Science and Science Education - Eugenie Scott - November 2/3, 1999 Did You Mean What You Meant? - William Hoth - 1999 Science and the Media - Richard Hill - March 5, 1999 Crop Circles: Graffiti of the Gods - Ted Clay - November 13, 1998 Error and Misinterpretations in Alternative Medicine Research - Wallace Sampson, MD - August 24, 1998 Kooks and the Kook Tradition - Donna Kossy - April 24, 1998 Won't the Creationists Ever Give Up? - William Thwaites - January 23, 1998 How Brain Damage Affects Critial Thinking - Joel Alexander - October 24, 1997 Neurology of the Wierd - Barry Beyerstein - May 16, 1997 Junk Science in the Courtroom - William Masters - March 7, 1997 Suing the Devil - Michael Dwyer with Loren Pankratz - November 11, 1996 Wenatchee: What Went Wrong? - Kathryn Lyon - May 20, 1996 Teaching Independent Thinking - Paul Nickel - April 4/6, 1996 The Politics of Health Fraud - Joe Schnabel - March 8, 1996 How We Perceive Reality - Jerry Andrus - November 10, 1995 Palentology vs. Creationism - Richard Thoms - April 28, 1995 Evaluating Eyewitness Testimony - Loren Pankratz - January 27, 1995 Psychics & Scientists - Ray Hyman - October 21, 1994