Cool new skeptical blog

Steven Novella has just put together a promising-looking new group blog: Science Based Medicine ("Exploring issues and controversies in the relationship between science and medicine".) The contributors are all physicians and are a rather impressive bunch: there is Novella himself, Wallace Sampson (who was interviewed on Point of Inquiry a while back) Harriet Hall, and David Gorski. Apparently, more contributors will be added later on. The aim of the blog is simple:

The mission of this blog is to scientifically examine medical and health topics of interest to the public. This includes reviewing newly published studies, examining dubious products and claims, providing much needed scientific balance to the often credulous health reporting, and exploring issues related to the regulation of scientific quality in medicine.

Since science is routinely misunderstood by the public and by the media (as Ben Goldacre catalogs in a fantastic recent Bad Science entry) , and since health is such a key component of people's quality of life, there is a pressing need for rational, scientific voices to speak up in the field of medicine. Science bloggers, and sites such as Quackwatch, are already fighting the good fight against superstition, quackery and pseudoscience and it looks like Science Based Medicine will prove a welcome ally in this fight.