/oss/taxonomy/term/207/all en /oss/article/technology-history-quackery/ideas-reanimate-dead-are-dead-wrong <p><span>Reviving the dead using stem cells and electrical impulses sounds more like a plot for a Hollywood sci-fi movie than a process grounded in reality.</span><span> And yet, that is exactly what a Philadelphia bio-tech company is suggesting with “ReAnima”, a proposed neuro-regenerative treatment where clinically declared brain-dead patients could be “brought back to life” by growing and stimulating new neurons. How are they suggesting this be done?</span></p> Tue, 20 Jun 2017 13:28:25 +0000 Cassandra Lee – OSS Intern 2553 at /oss /oss/article/general-science-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-11-randomized-controlled-and-double-blind-studies <p>The gold standard in science is the randomized, controlled, double-blind trial. If you want to know whether Garcinia cambogia causes weight loss, or whether glucosamine helps with arthritic pain, there is only one way to find out. You have an experimental group that is given the substance and a control group that is given a placebo, with every other variable being held constant. These are difficult, expensive studies to carry out because you need a large enough group of subjects for statistical weight, you have to ensure compliance and you have to monitor what is going on.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 22:03:14 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1463 at /oss