Specific Claims and Broad Concerns
Every issue of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER presents an eclectic mix of detailed investigations of specific claims or mysteries and scientific and scholarly examinations of broader problems and issues. The former addresses our intense curiosities, the latter our concerns about issues that affect us all. With both, we try to provide the best possible scientific and scholarly evidence and the most knowledgeable and experienced critical insights and perspectives, all aimed to get as close as possible to the truth. Our goal is not to tantalize but to explain, not to provoke but to understand.
This issue of SI is no exception. Specific investigations include Joe Nickell’s search for the Australian Yowie, Massimo Polidoro’s consideration of Mary Magdalene, Robert Sheaffer’s report on the many recent UFO sightings due to aerial pyrotechnics by the world’s space programs, and Ben Radford’s wry consideration of how global warming might affect any possible cryptids living out there. And we report relevant news: Steven Salzberg’s special report on long-needed legal actions against the supplements industry and news of what a Greek “sea monster” seen by many really was (hint: it was never alive).