Our 'Good Thinking Investigates' video series investigates pseudoscientific ideas and those who sell them.
Sep 24 2015
Over the last six months, we have been investigating ‘faith healer’ Peter Popoff and his highly-lucrative current business of promising to heal sickness and cancel debts in exchange for ‘seed faith’, in other words: cash donations. In May of this year we attended Popoff’s event at The Troxy Theatre, London, to covertly record his miraculous claims and supposed acts …
Jul 31 2015
In our previous readings with a palm reader, our volunteers from the Merseyside Skeptics Society were given advice they felt was misleading and irresponsible. Perhaps even worse, each of our readings began to sound eerily familiar, as demonstrated by this compilation of our clips from the three visits to the same psychic by different investigators… …
Jul 29 2015
In our last investigation, we visited a palmist in Blackpool, and were disappointed with the accuracy and the high cost of the reading that we received. Having visited our chosen palmist once, we partnered with the Merseyside Skeptics Society to find out how the palm reader would deal with clients in a genuinely serious situation. Our investigator Alice …
Jul 27 2015
Palm readers have operated in seaside towns across the country for many years. Many people put their trust (and hand over considerable amounts of money) to psychics – especially in times of need. In the absence of any proof that palmists have any ability to accurately advise on the future, we wanted to find out …
Jun 03 2015
Freemans homeopathic pharmacy in Glasgow stocks over 3,400 remedies… including Homeopathic ‘Horned Owl’. We decided to find out what homeopathic owl should be used for… Other homeopathic remedies on sale include Asbestos, E. Coli, Uranium and a range of vaccines. Freeman’s currently provide homeopathic treatments to NHS Bristol and NHS Glasgow, costing tens of thousands …
Apr 08 2015
Many osteopaths claim to treat colic with cranial osteopathy – a therapy with no evidence of effectiveness. Following our recent investigation into similar claims made by chiropractors, we decided to find out what an osteopath would tell a distressed parent seeking advice… While this conversation has been edited for length, we have taken care to retain …
Feb 10 2015
In 2008, the British Chiropractic Association unsuccessfully sued science writer Simon Singh for highlighting that there is no reliable evidence that chiropractic can treat colic. Six years later, we wanted to find out whether chiropractors would still treat babies suffering from colic. While this conversation has been edited for length, we have taken care to retain …
Jan 15 2015
Sosatec Bionics Ltd sell pendants and products (“Wellbalancers”) to protect against what they claim is harmful radiation emitted by mobile phones and WiFi – claims which are highly questionable. They claim their products, which sell for £30-£44, are “made of high grade electronic silica programmed with natural botanical frequencies”. The scaremongering around mobile phone radiation …
