Astrology

– with an interview with Ralf Neugebauer!

This week in Pontus’ absence we lament overt the possible future of Twitter and the stupidity behind the Reichsbürger movement before being joint by Ralf Neugebauer who enlightens us about the legal situation of homeopathic remedies in Germany with special regard to Meditonsin.

We commemorate the birthday of the late British star astrologer (pun intended) Jonathan Cainer before moving on to the news:

SWITZERLAND/UK: Springer publishes Edzard Ernst’s new book that lists 202 modalities of SCAM.
FRANCE: A large chunk of Didier Raoult’s scientific work marked with expression of concern by the publisher PLOS.
INTERNATIONAL: Fact-checkers in USA, UK, Germany and Australia under scrutiny over assessing climate-related claims.
EU: Terrible mess around vaccination schedules and how health ministers and the WHO try to solve the problem.
AUSTRIA: Survey shows osteopaths don’t seem to be bothered by legal and ethical considerations.
EU: Dengue vaccine approved for use by European Commission.

This week’s Really Wrong prize goes to the Reichsbürger movement for trying to overthrow the German government and trying to instate a king.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview with Ralf Neugebauer; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote & Farewell; Outro

0:00:25 INTRO

0:00:50 GREETINGS

• Twitter – people seem to flee the platform. But not the ones that should
  • https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/dec/02/climate-change-denialism-flooding-twitter-scientists

0:08:47 INTERVIEW with Ralf Neugebauer

GWUP on Meditonsin

• • https://blog.gwup.net/2022/11/14/urteil-meditonsin-darf-nicht-mit-falschen-gesundheitsversprechen-beworben-werden/

0:20:32 TWISH – THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICAL HISTORY

• 18th December 1957 – British astrologer Jonathan Cainer was born
  • https://www.cainer.com/features/about-jonathan.html

0:27:05 NEWS

• SWITZERLAND/UK: Edzard Ernst has a new (well, updated) book out
  • Edzard Ernst: https://edzardernst.com/2022/12/an-evidence-based-assessment-of-202-alternative-treatments-and-diagnostic-techniques/
• FRANCE: Large chunk of Didier Raoult’s scientific work being marked with expression of concern
  • Retraction Watch: https://retractionwatch.com/2022/12/13/plos-flags-nearly-50-papers-by-controversial-french-covid-researcher-for-ethics-concerns/
• INTERNATIONAL: Fact-checkers from USA, AU, DE and UK under scrutiny over assessing climate claims
  • Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/12/221212140623.htm
• INTERNATIONAL: The terrible mess around vaccination schedules
  • The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/measles-why-the-world-health-organization-has-declared-it-an-imminent-global-threat-195499
  • Vaccines Today: https://www.vaccinestoday.eu/stories/new-study-most-europeans-trust-vaccines/
  • Vaccines Today: https://www.vaccinestoday.eu/stories/eu-health-ministers-aim-to-improve-vaccination-at-all-ages/
• AUSTRIA: Osteopaths don’t seem to be bothered by legal and ethical considerations
  • PLOS One: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0278041
• EU: Dengue vaccine approved for use in European Union 
  • Outbreak News Today: http://outbreaknewstoday.com/dengue-vaccine-qdenga-approved-for-use-in-european-union-87246/

0:47:36 REALLY WRONG

• The Reichsbürger movement for trying to overthrow German government and instate a king
  • The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-reichsburger-movement-accused-of-trying-to-overthrow-the-german-government-196233

0:53:24 QUOTE & FAREWELL

“The value and utility of any experiment are determined by the fitness of the material to the purpose for which it is used, and thus in the case before us it cannot be immaterial what plants are subjected to experiment and in what manner such experiment is conducted.”

/ Gregor Mendel, 1822-1884, Austrian (now Czech Republic) friar and biologist, discovered hereditary traits in peas, now referred to as laws of Mendelian inheritance /

0:56:22 OUTRO