Ben Goldacre: Battling Bad Science

http://www.ted.com Every day there are news reports of new health advice, but how can you know if they're right? Doctor and epidemiologist Ben Goldacre shows us, at high speed, the ways evidence can be distorted, from the blindingly obvious nutrition claims to the very subtle tricks of the pharmaceutical industry.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• TED
• TEDTalks
• TEDGlobal
• Ben Goldacre
• Illness
• Illusion
• Medicine
• Science
• health
• doctor
• epidemiologist
• epidemiology
• pharmaceutical
• pharmaceutical companies
• science
• bad science

[scottclowe]

0 people dislike this video. (Data from some trials may have been withheld.)

[TheTimatheus]

lol top notch. I have a hard time trusting data for this very reason! swell job!

[Tekime]

@fappingfrenzy Because many of us don't believe in things that don't exist.

[Tekime]

Everyone in the world needs to watch this, and understand what he's saying. It's easy to forget that everyone has a motive, and 99% of the time that motive is money. Question everything!

[teewilson333]

For anyone with bad Acid Reflux eat a apple. Don't buy nexium or prilosec OTC for those outrageous prices to aid pharmacy corporations in making money off misery.. My father claims it helps his indigestion as well but i assure you it relieves acid reflux even better than milk. Like the industrial designer Jacque Fresco said "When a doctor says you need your kidney removed you don't know if he has to pay off his car or you need your kidney removed"

[fappingfrenzy]

@tibidkk What about after you die?? medicine might save you from bacteria but it will only prolong your life by a few months. That is insignificant compared to the thousands of years you will spend in heaven.

[tibidkk]

the 28 people that disliked this video are probably christians believing that god will save them and not medicine. Grow the fuck up !

[wkiran]

standing ovation

[TheMerinight]

I just read the book "Bad Science", one of the best things I've ever done in my life. And I study Performing Arts, so don't fear learning science with this guy.

[ShootMyMonkey]

@finefilth Wow. That was eminently well-thought out and very clearly the product of a level-headed person. You even exposed the fact that I moonlight in a second job as part of the evil FARBEN PARASITES MASS MURDER syndicate as... a mathematician... where I kill people Monte Carlo style swinging my Markov chains at them.

The secret is out, and I am utterly defeated by your brilliance that shows that anything science says that you don't understand or agree w/ is proof of mass murder

[finefilth]

@ShootMyMonkey GUISED AS FRIENDS OF HUMAN BEINGS ,, THEY ARE OUR WORST NIGHTMARE AND YOU WORK FOR THEM YOU SUCKER OF FASCIST COCK

 THEY LIE LIKE HELL.. MASS MURDERING ig FARBEN PARASITES DIS

[ridewave444]

The situation with pharmaceutical companies is even worse than I thought. Amazing that they aren't regulated more and prosecuted harshly for these practices or shut down. This is scary and disgusting. I know these scummy motherfuckers have bought off the selfish politicians though.