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Brian’s Bullshit-Free Zone

Separating Reality from Bullshit, Information from Misinformation: UFOs, conspiracy theories, alternative medicine scams, and all the other crap out there we must be wary of

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What is "Gain-of-Function" research, and why hadn't you heard of it before 2021?

In mid-2021, the world was in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the US was gripped in a battle of disinformation.

We Didn't All Die Yesterday

What luck! The Internet says we were supposed to.

Here's how much value a "haunted" property loses.

Who wants a creepy ghost for a roommate? Not very many people, it turns out — especially in Japan.

The Evidence for Aliens, and Carl Sagan's Dragon in the Garage

What's the difference between evidence that is claimed to exist but never shown, and no evidence at all?

Talking Aliens with David Brin

The award-winning sci-fi author has many thoughts about alien visitation...

Why the Doomsday Argument is wrong

Does a simple statistical analysis really show that humanity is near the end of its existence? It's not quite so simple.

History's worst FDA advisors recommend filling pharmacies with their own unsafe, untested crap

RFK Jr's advisory panel of profoundly conflicted supplement sellers are recommending that you buy their supplements. Shocker!

Alien Echoes: Report from the Front Lines

I am off on the second flyaway trip shooting "Alien Echoes"

Do not inject fluid into your testicles.

I place this high on the list of "Things we shouldn't even have to say."

Scientists Are Incredibly Easy to Fool

What do blood testing, cold fusion, Uri Geller, and the space shuttle Challenger have in common?

Can the Roma "culturally appropriate" the Gypsies?

Efforts to "reclaim" the name usually considered a pejorative.

Anti-science is a weapon of mass destruction

When those who reject basic facts are put in charge, people die.

Mush-and-milk journalism gives me the fan-tods

“Now that is the way to write — peppery and to the point.

The speed reading scam was missing just one thing: the word "quantum"

Quantum Speed Reading is an obvious scam, yet people believe it. Why? And, more importantly, how can we protect them from this and countless similar scams?

First movie production Zoom update!

Here's what we did at last night's Zoom for donors to Alien Echoes.

Backrooms, Obsession, and Bill Nye the Science Guy

As the rising generations' consumption of media evolves, those hoping to teach scientific literacy — or anything — need to evolve even faster. And we're not.

Borley Rectory: When fiction becomes immoral

We all love a good story based in folklore. But when you dishonestly pitch it as real, you've crossed a line.

How to drink disgusting yellow colostrum

"What's old is new again" — wellness influencers resuscitate yet another worthless fad

What are the chances of the Knicks' comeback win over the Spurs?

Once they took the lead, were they really almost certain to win the game?

I'm off to CSICon!

A week of wonders, wit, wisdom, woo, wonks, and wows