Discerning fact from fiction is always important and especially so around an election when those bidding to take power are after your vote. I investigated a claim by the Conservative [...]

No matter how exciting or compelling a new piece of scientific or medical research is, you should always ask: Is it peer reviewed? And if not, why not? Journals have [...]

This is a collection of factsheets covering a wide selection of dementia-related topics [...]

Journalists often use anecdotes or personal stories to make their stories seem more relevant to people’s lives or emphasise why a piece of scientific research matters. They are usually presented [...]

Animal studies are a useful way of modelling what happens in the human body, so they are central to the development of new medicines and cures, and to understanding human [...]

This is a guest blog by Dr Jon Otter, research fellow at the Centre for Clinical Infection and Diagnostics Research at King’s College London. I have recently been looking at [...]

This page will help you work out if something is based on scientific research or not.  It could be useful if you’ve received a response having asked for evidence, or [...]

When I saw the Ask for Evidence ambassador advert calling for applications, my first thought was that it sounded like an amazing opportunity. I had already been following Sense about [...]

How often are your bins collected? How many do you have, and what kind of waste goes into each one? What happens to the waste and recycling once it’s been [...]

This is a full index of asthma and allergy-related materials, mostly focusing on what the disease is and treatment options: http://www.asthma.org.uk/knowledge-bank [...]

The Independent reported that “Grammar schools contribute to social inequality and lead to a widening of the income gap between rich and poor,” and that “in areas with a grammar school [...]

I recently came across an article describing ‘the 4-7-8’ method’: a breathing technique which, it was claimed, could enable insomniacs to get to sleep in less than a minute. It [...]

The British Dietetic Association has produced Food Fact Sheets to help you learn the best ways to eat and drink to keep your body fit and healthy. [...]

A recent article in the Daily Mail claimed that Protexo, a machine that filters out allergens in the air, could improve the quality of life of asthma sufferers by 15%. [...]

The menopause typically begins to affect women around the age of 50 and may be accompanied by a range of symptoms, including hot flushes, vaginal dryness, anxiety and depression. A [...]

There are numerous diets around today, some of which provide dodgy and dangerous nutritional claims and sometimes involve consumers buying expensive and unnecessary products – just see the VoYS spoof [...]

Ridiculous remedies for baldness, snoring and everyday ailments are met with much eye-rolling here at NHS Choices, with the latest vaginal steaming as a cure for many ills really taking [...]

A friend pointed out to me an article in The Sun that linked a number of foods as being effective at treating cancer, gout, stress and other health issues [...]

Drugs or treatments will pass through several stages of clinical trial before they are approved for widespread use. This is because the best way to find out whether a treatment [...]

This is an overview of clinical trials, including testimonies of people taking part in clinical trials [...]

Is the study relevant? Just because you’ve seen or been sent a reputable scientific paper, you shouldn’t assume the research actually supports the claim, even if someone has said it [...]

After spotting a piece on the BBC news website which made claims about how cycling can improve your sense of well being I contacted one of the researchers behind the [...]

The multi million pound detox industry sells products with little evidence to support their use. These products trade on claims about the body which are often wrong and can be [...]

“Marry before having kids and you’re less likely to split.” That’s the advice given as a result of a new report by the Marriage Foundation and covered in the Daily Mail and [...]

I read an article in the Independent about a DNA dating website, Genepartner.com, selling a genetic compatibility test (for $US249) based on the claims that genetic compatibility results in a [...]