AUTHOR
Alice Howarth
29 Articles
Dr Alice Howarth is a research academic working in pharmacology and therapeutics at the University of Liverpool. She is vice president of the Merseyside Skeptics Society, has written for The Guardian, Breast Cancer Now and is co-host of the skeptical podcast Skeptics with a K. In August 2020 Alice took on the role of deputy editor for The Skeptic.
This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating skeptical writers who are women
For International Women's Day, we share articles from three of the writers who choose to share their skeptical insight with our readers
The benefits of mindfulness are often oversold, but that doesn’t mean that it is useless
Mindfuness isn't going to cure any health issues, but you might feel like you have a better understanding of your own body, which can be useful when struggling with ill health.
Correlation does not equal causation – the depression and serotonin edition
Media reports on serotonin and depression risk causing patients to quit their antidepressants - even though we know antidepressants do work for some people
The Mail Online declared arsenic a “miracle cure for cancer” – I’ll wait to see some evidence
We should be wary of claims that arsenic is a miracle cure for cancer - especially when those claims are made by a private biotech companies with skin in the game
The Dangerous Dogs Act, with its emphasis on how a dog looks, is wholly unscientific
The Dangerous Dogs Act was brought in to protect people from dangerous dog breeds, based on aesthetics rather than genetics - and it does more harm than good
Say cheese: we shouldn’t listen to scaremongering about oestrogen and dairy
Despite much scaremongering, there's no truth to the claims that cheese contains harmful levels of oestrogen or other hormones
Dread not chilli peppers: dispelling spicy food myths and misconceptions
Lovers of spicy food will almost certainly have been subjected to some of these myths about the humble chili pepper
There’s nothing to claims that Covid vaccines cause HIV – but that won’t stop them spreading
The latest viral conspiracy theory about COVID-19 vaccines are that they cause HIV infection - based on misreading scientific articles from two years ago