Skeptical Inquirer Electronic Digest 8-24-99

SkeptInq@aol.com
Thu, 2 Sep 1999 15:55:22 EDT 

Due to events beyond our control the following SI Digest intended for last
week is being e-mail out today.

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 Skeptical Inquirer Electronic Digest 8-24-99

 Visit the CSICOP and Skeptical Inquirer Magazine website at
http://www.csicop.org. Receiving over 200,000 hits per year, the CSICOP site
was recently rated one of the top ten science sites by HOMEPC magazine.


 In this Week's SI DIGEST:
 -TIME Magazine Covers The Evolution Controversy with Cover Story and Gould
Essay
 -Gould Debates Falwell on CNN's Crossfire
 -NY TIMES Features the Quest for Profit Among Medical Journals
 -Philip Morrison Reviews New Sagan Bios in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
 -SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Features Science and Religion
 -"Sixth Sense" Dominates the Box Office/Fox News On-Line Investigates
 "Scary Movies"
 -SI DIGEST Editor Gets New E-Mail Address
 --TIME MAGAZINE COVERS THE EVOLUTION CONTROVERSY WITH COVER STORY AND ESSAY
BY GOULD

 TIME goes with the timely issue of evolution for their August 23 cover
story.  Read the article at:
http://www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,29513,00.html


 In the same issue, Stephen Jay Gould contributes an essay "Dorothy, It's
Really Oz
 A pro-creationist decision in Kansas is more than a blow against Darwin"

 You can read it at:
 http://www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,29479,00.html

 --STEPHEN JAY GOULD DEBATES FALWELL ON CROSSFIRE

 On August 17, Stephen Jay Gould appeared on CNN's Crossfire to debate Jerry
Falwell. A transcript of the program can be found at:
 http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/9908/17/cf.00.html

 Aired August 17, 1999 - 7:30 p.m. ET
 BILL PRESS, CO-HOST: Did our earliest ancestors pick apples from trees or
 swing from them? Tonight, creationism versus evolution: Which should our
 children be taught in public schools?

 ANNOUNCER: From Washington, CROSSFIRE. On the left, Bill Press; on the
 right, Mary Matalin. In the CROSSFIRE, in Boston, Harvard Professor
 Stephen Jay Gould, author of "Rocks of Ages," and in Lynchburg, Virginia,
 Reverend Jerry Falwell, chancellor of Liberty University.

 --NY TIMES FEATURES THE QUEST FOR PROFIT AMONG MEDICAL JOURNALS

 For the full article from the Tuesday, August 24 Science Times go to:
 http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/082499hth-doctors.html

 THE DOCTOR'S WORLD

 Inside Medical Journals, a Rising Quest for Profits
 By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D.

 A generation ago, leading medical journals measured their profits in the
 tens of thousands of dollars. They were scholarly publications meant to help
doctors keep abreast of scientific advances and share information for new
remedies.

 The mission has not changed, but the journals have increasingly become cash
cows for the medical societies and companies that own them, with annual
profits in the tens of millions of dollars, largely from drug company
advertisements. And the imperative to sustain and build those profits is
changing how the journals do business -- and how the public learns about
medicine -- in ways their founders could scarcely have envisioned.

 --PHILIP MORRISON REVIEWS NEW SAGAN BIOS IN SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

 As SIDIGEST has highlighted over the last several weeks, two bios on
astronomer Carl Sagan are due out this fall.

 Philip Morrison reviews the new books in the lastest issue of Scientific
 American.  Go to http://www.sciam.com/1999/0999issue/0999reviews1.html.

 ONE LIFE, TWO TAKES

 Review by Philip Morrison
 Carl Sagan: A Life
 BY KEAY DAVIDSON
 John Wiley & Sons, 1999 ($30)

 Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos
 BY WILLIAM POUNDSTONE
 Henry Holt and Company, 1999 ($30)

 --SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FEATURES SCIENCE AND RELIGION
 The September issue of Scientific American has an excellent article on the
science and religion debate.  A description follows:

 Scientists and Religion in America
 Edward J. Larson and Larry Witham
 A flurry of recent conferences and news stories suggests a growing
 rapprochement between science and religion‹but does this reflect a shift
 in scientists' beliefs? Are scientists more or less inclined to believe
 in a personal God than the general public is? The authors recently surveyed
 American scientists to see whether their religious faith has changed.

 One of the six items listed in "Further Reading" is:

 "SKEPTICAL INQUIRER: SPECIAL ISSUE: SCIENCE & RELIGION, Vol 23. No.4;
 July/August 1999."  If you don't subscribe to Skeptical Inquirer, or haven't
picked the issue up at the news stand, you can read several of the articles
from the recent special issue at http://www.csicop.org/si.

 --"SIXTH SENSE" DOMINATES THE BOX OFFICE/FOX NEWS ON-LINE INVESTIGATES SCARY
MOVIES

 "Sixth Sense", a psychological thriller that involves the spirit
communication ability of a young boy, continues to rule the box office.  The
movie earned $24 million last week, for a three week gross of 107.5 million.
Despite its grand depiction of spirit mediumship, no doubt inspired by the
success of James Van Praagh, John Edward and others, the movie is immensely
entertaining and very well done.  It goes beyond
 Poltergeist in sophistication, and is much better than the ordinary
paranormal shlock that Hollywood has been producing.
 --MN

 Prompted in part by a recent press release from Skeptical Inquirer detailing
the autumn's large roster of paranormal-themed films (see
http://www.csicop.org/articles/19990722-hollywood/), Fox News On-Line
recently ran a feature on "scary movies".  Check it out at:


http://www.foxnews.com/js_index.sml?content=/entertainment/081699/scarymovies.
sml

 -EDITOR'S NOTE
 For those seeking to comment, send suggestions, or news information to
 SIDIGEST, you can reach Matt Nisbet at mcn23@cornell.edu.  I will be
 spending the next two fall and spring semesters at Cornell University
working on my masters in Communication.   Anyone living in Ithaca, drop me a
line.

 ___________________________


 SI Electronic Digest is the biweekly e-mail news update of the Committee
 for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP.)


 Visit http://www.csicop.org/.

 Rated one of the Top Ten Science sites on the Web by HOMEPC magazine.

 The Digest is written and edited by Matthew Nisbet and Barry Karr. SI Digest
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 CSICOP publishes the bimonthly SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, The Magazine for
 Science and Reason.  The special July/August 1999 issue is devoted to the
topic
 of science and religion and contains articles by Stephen Jay Gould, Steven
Pinker, Richard Dawkins, and Steve Allen.

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