How Bogus Science Fooled Me

Across academic fields (social sciences, psychology, natural sciences, medicine) research results have become impossible to reproduce. This is the “replication crisis,” which runs the gamut from honest differences in interpreting statistics to straight up misconduct. The most glaring problems exist in biomedical research. In oncology, for example, scientists evaluating the state of affairs were able to confirm conclusions from only 11% of the original studies.

Bogus science is so widespread that in May 2024, scientific journal publisher Wiley announced that it was closing 19 journals. In the past two years, Wiley retracted more than 11,300 papers and previously closed four journals.

The upshot of all this is that we laypeople sit opposite a firehose of bullshit. In response, one pundit on Twitter urged his followers to reconcile themselves to the overwhelming pace and volume of propaganda, and to avoid dwelling on the scams that got you. If you’re beating yourself up over the last con, you will be unprepared to defend yourself against the next one.

In the spirit of letting go, I want to share three times I got duped.

Propecia

A couple decades ago, my co-workers would walk up behind me while I was sitting at my computer and comment that my hair was thinning on the top of my head. Since Propecia (the brand name for finasteride) was known to re-grow hair specifically on the crown, a once-per-day pill seemed like an easy solution. The hair restoration doctor was happy to prescribe it to me at $80/month.

Propecia works by suppressing your body’s production of the hormone DHT. The drug’s manufacturer, Merck, was eager to trivialize DHT as required for only puberty. Otherwise, Merck told the medical community, DHT should be eliminated to reduce the incidence of prostate conditions and hair loss.

In reality, DHT is a potent androgen derived from testosterone. The side effects of low DHT can include loss of masculine behavioral traits, depression, anxiety, reduced muscle mass and strength, increased body fat, and all manner of sexual dysfunction and shrinkage. Finasteride support groups exist for men living with these conditions; sometimes the changes persist even after discontinuing the medication. 

Modern medicine believes that the human body comes with superfluous parts and bioregulators — gallbladders, tonsils, foreskin, cholesterol, DHT. While I think I avoided the side effects of finasteride, I have no way to know if nearly 20 years of use put a ceiling on my potential.

Sleep Number bed

My king size Sleep Number bed is a cool concept. Each side of the bed can be adjusted to the preferred level of firmness. The bed also has sensors that communicate sleep data to an app. All this technology is powered by an electric box, which includes an air pump, that sits on the floor under the bed. For eight hours a night, my head is separated from these electronics by the distance of one box spring, the mattress, and a pillow.

After reading The Body Electric and Dirty Electricity, I now know that all electric devices generate an electromagnetic field, and that there is a strong correlation between long-term EMF exposure and rates of cancer. There are also theories to explain causation:

• According to Dr. Samuel Milham, studies that exposed rats to RF microwaves showed significant elevations of the rats’ immune system T and B cells; this indicated that the rats were mounting an immune response to electromagnetic energy. Dr. Milham theorized that chronic immune stimulation causes the immune system to fatigue and fail, allowing cancers to occur.
• Dr. Robert Becker says that electromagnetic fields stimulate DNA synthesis, meaning that electromagnetic energy speeds up cell division. Cell systems that are already rapidly dividing are sped up the most. Susceptible processes include healing, embryonic growth, and cancer.

After four years of enjoying my Sleep Number bed, I’ve started to unplug it at night.

Plastic vs. glass

I used to consume most everything out of plastic containers. I thought I was being healthy by drinking water from store-bought gallon jugs rather than from municipal sources. When I would do batch meal prep of my obsessively-healthy food, I would store it all in Tupperware.

Although only specialized corners of the internet discuss the dangers of microplastics, they do real harm:

• Increased oxidative stress damages cells, proteins, and DNA, which leads to various health issues.  
• Mitochondria damage disrupts the way your body produces energy.
• Cytotoxic damage (the harmful effects that toxic substances have on cells) causes cell death through the same mechanism as chemotherapy drugs.
• Abnormal cell signaling from microplastics causes: cancer, due to overactive cell division; autoimmune diseases from the body attacking its own cells; neurodegenerative diseases due to the disruption of communication between neurons.

I sprung for the $75 to replace all my Tupperware with glass containers. I’ve also started buying my spring water in 1L glass bottles only.