Unintelligent Design

DNA Misconceptions and Investigating E-Cat

Carl Zimmer is an award-winning science journalist whose insightful reporting

The History Channel Mangles Project Blue Book, Mixing Fact and Fiction

On January 8, 2019, the much-awaited Project Blue Book premiered

Canadian Psychic Charged with ‘Witchcraft,’ Media Get the Message Wrong

In October 2018, Dorie Stevenson of Milton, Ontario, who goes

The Rise and Fall of the ‘Momo Challenge’ Online Suicide Game Conspiracy

In February 2019, kids and their parents around the world

Engagement with Fake News Extremely Concentrated, New Study Finds

Ever since the 2016 presidential election, fake news has become

Michael Mann Wins $200,000 Tyler Prize for His Courageous Advocacy of Climate Science

Climate scientist and CSI Fellow Michael E. Mann is one

Hall, Hermes, Loftus, Frazier Named GWUP Fellows

Harriet Hall, Britt Marie Hermes, Elizabeth Loftus, and Kendrick Frazier

Skeptics’ Sting Delivers High-Profile Hit to Psychic Credibility

The credibility of psychics took a huge hit in February

Remembering Martin Gardner

On February 28, 2019, the University of Oklahoma held a

The Trapped Miners’ Holy Visions: Investigating the Sheppton ‘Miracle’

Joe Nickell, PhD, is CSI’s senior research fellow and author

The Mind of Leonardo da Vinci, Part 2

Massimo Polidoro is an investigator of the paranormal, lecturer, and

Too Many Medical Tests

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

National Down Syndrome Society Promotes Communication Pseudoscience

Stuart Vyse is a psychologist and author of Believing in

Fatima Miracle Claims All Wet

Benjamin Radford is a research fellow at the Committee for

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Reading the article “Cold Fusion: Thirty Years Later” (January/February 2019)

Skepticism and the Persuasive Power of Conversion Stories

Those of us in the skeptical community have our work

Flat-Earth School Board Presentation Intelligently Designed

The turf war over science education recently took a new

Seven Big Misconceptions about Heredity

Many people have misconceptions about heredity—how we are connected to our ancestors and how our inheritance from them shapes us. Rather than dispelling those misconceptions, our growing fascination with testing our DNA may only intensify them

Rossi’s E-Cat: Exposé of a Claimed Cold Fusion Device

Andrea Rossi’s E-Cat “fusion” device has attracted large investments. This investigation by the Australian Skeptics’ chief investigator critiques the claims—including endorsements from some scientists—and reveals the likely deception used to make investors think it works

Further Comments on E-Cat Claims

Editor’s Note: Tom Casten founded and led multiple companies over

Dragon Hoaxes: Piltdown Men of Creationism

Young-earth creationist authors often fall for hoaxes perpetrated centuries ago: taxidermic fakes that were billed as dragons. The fakes don’t even resemble the very animals the creationist authors claim they are (dinosaurs and pterosaurs)

Creationist Funhouse, Episode One: The Red Shift

Many people assume that young-earth creationism is based solely on the Bible. This is not so. To reconcile their literalistic interpretation of the Bible with the facts of science, creationists have to make up many miracles that are not recorded in the Bible. Their idea that God created the red shift to trick observers is one of those miracles

The Sunday Sessions and the Heartbreak of Gay Conversion Therapy

The Sunday Sessions. Produced and directed by Richard Yeagley. Dickie

Scrutinizing the ‘Bad Clown’ Idea

Bad Clowns. By Benjamin Radford. Albuquerque, NM: University of New