skepticalinquirer.org

Effective Science Activism and Three Thanks

We have published several recent articles arguing that to be

TEAM SCIENCE Building Better Science Activists

with Insights from Disney, Marketing, and Psychological Research

Conspiring for the Common Good

Why have conspiracy theories become more prevalent in our political discourse than at any other time in recent history? According to opinion polls, conspiracy theories on the whole are very popular in the United States, and social scientists are trying to understand why

A Stegosaur Carving on the Ruins of Ta Prohm? Think Again

An ancient Khmer carving has been interpreted as a stegosaur, leading some to conclude that dinosaurs and humans lived together. An investigation of the claim and other carvings suggest otherwise

Teaching College Students Critical Thinking Skills by Posing as a ‘Registered Psychic’

When college students who signed up for a class called Critical Thinking about the Paranormal were introduced to a guest speaker who claimed “psychic ability, they were taken in by his cold reading abilities

Confessions of an American Opium-Prescriber

Thousands of Americans have died from opioid overdoses after receiving medical treatment for pain or addiction. However, new clinical dilemmas often confront prescribers who try to protect patients through reducing doses or substituting safer medicines

The Curse

In the first in this series, we found that creationists believe God red-shifted the light from the stars to make a young universe look like an old one. In this episode, we will discover that creationists believe God corrupted his own perfect and beautiful world

Space Exploration: Robots vs. Humans

What should be the roles of humans and robots in

Lorraine Warren Dead at Ninety-Two

Lorraine Warren—who with her late husband “investigated” alleged demon-possessed houses—died

[ FROM THE EDITOR

Other terms that have been updated, including the use of

Premonition! Foreseeing What Cannot Be Seen

Joe Nickell, PhD, is CSI’s senior research fellow and author of some forty books

Science Envy in Alternative Medicine

Harriet Hall, MD, also known as “The SkepDoc,” is a

Who Are More Biased: Liberals or Conservatives?

Stuart Vyse is a psychologist and author of Believing in

DNA Is Not Destiny: Challenging the Hype over Genetic Testing

Matthew C. Nisbet is professor of communication at Northeastern University

Anomaly Hunting with Satellite Images

Benjamin Radford is a research fellow at the Committee for

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Craig Foster (“Respectful Skepticism,” March/April 2019) makes the serious linguistic

When Athletes Fall for Bogus Gimmicks

The more desperate people are to achieve some goal, the

[NEW AND NOTABLE

Listing does not preclude future review

A Friendly Guide Showing How Ghost Hunters Go Wrong

Investigating Ghosts: The Scientific Search for Spirits. By Benjamin Radford

Massless Is Not Nonmaterial

Pseudoscientists and Eastern mystagogues have been propagating the myth that

Why Parapsychological Claims Cannot Be True

The claims of parapsychology violate causality, time’s arrow, thermodynamics, and the inverse square law. They cannot be true

The Not So Divine Acts of Medium ‘John of God’

John of God (João de Deus, real name João Teixeira