The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
The mission of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry is to promote scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims.
Now Online: Skeptical Inquirer Volume 37.1
January/February 2013
Selected articles by:
Latest Articles
Miracle Dirt of Chimayó
by Joe Nickell
Skeptical Inquirer · Investigative Files · Volume 37.1
El Santuariò de Chimayó in New Mexico is a place of pilgrimages. Scores visit the little adobe church daily, while thousands walk miles to worship there on Good Friday. Many come seeking a cure for their afflictions, scooping from a small pit in the church floor a reddish soil that they rub on afflicted areas of their bodies or even sprinkle on their food or brew in tea.
Wikapediatrician Susan Gerbic discusses her Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia project
by Susan Gerbic
Special Articles
March 8, 2013
The Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) project was started in May 2010 as an effort to unite editors to become more skilled at adding skeptical content to the fifth most popular Internet site in the world. I discovered that there are people in our community that have been looking for a way to become more involved but need more structure, support, and training.
Hitler’s South Pole Hideaway
by Massimo Polidoro
Skeptical Inquirer · Notes on a Strange World · Volume 37.1
“Searching for Hitler’s DNA in Antarctica.” This is the bizarre headline that made the news a few months ago, launched by Russian news agency Ria Novosti and picked up by the world media after scientists were able to successfully drill into Antarctica’s Lake Vostok.
Pretentious Whit
by Robert Sheaffer
Skeptical Inquirer · Book Review · Volume 37.1
A review of Solving the Communion Enigma: What Is to Come by Whitley Strieber.
Burning the Mean and Disparaging Skeptic Straw Man
by Sharon Hill
Special Articles · Sounds Sciencey
March 1, 2013
Does “skeptic” equal nasty, obnoxious and shouty? No? Then why do we get automatically tagged with those characteristics even when we are not? The word carries some connotations. But that ought not bar an exchange between skeptics and believers. We have some bridges to build.
Bad Pharma – Interview with Ben Goldacre
by Kylie Sturgess
Special Articles · Curiouser and Curiouser
February 27, 2013
Dr. Ben Goldacre is a best-selling author, broadcaster, medical doctor and academic who specialises in unpicking dodgy scientific claims from drug companies, newspapers, government reports, PR people and quacks. For this interview, we discuss the extent of the problems that face the medical establishment and what we can do to solve these problems.
