Home : Skeptical Inquirer magazine

Volume 27, Number 2
March/April 2003

• Buy this back issue
• Acupuncture, Magic, and Make-Believe
• 'Taken' Off
• Bone (Box) of Contention: The James Ossuary
• Lessons of the 'Fake Moon Flight' Myth

Articles

The Blank Slate
The Modern Denial of Human Nature

Many intellectuals and social critics have still not moved beyond the simplistic dichotomy between heredity and environment to acknowledge that all behavior comes out of an interaction between the two. The author explores why the extreme position (that culture is everything) is so often seen as moderate, and the moderate position is seen as extreme.

Steven Pinker

Omission Neglect
The Importance of Missing Information

Although missing information is often important, people are surprisingly insensitive to omissions (or unmentioned options, features, issues, or possibilities). This can have serious consequences for decision making.

Frank R. Kardes and David M. Sanbonmatsu

Acupuncture, Magic, and Make-Believe

Traditional Chinese acupuncture is an archaic procedure of inserting needles through the skin over imaginary channels in accord with rules developed from pre-scientific superstition and numerological beliefs. New research offers a scientifically based alternative to the previous metaphysical theories and magical rituals.

George A. Ulett

Walt Whitman
When Science and Mysticism Collide

Whitman was the first important American poet to celebrate science. He rejected the Romantic notion that science despoils the virgin purity of nature and preys on the poetic imagination. But Whitman was a false paladin. He violated the spirit of science the better to gratify his cosmic affirmations and mystical worldview. Despite his putative defense of science, Whitman was imbued with a Romantic mentality.

Gary Sloan

Special Reports

'Taken’ Off

Timothy Ferris

Bait and Switch on 'Roswell: The Smoking Gun’

David E. Thomas

Bone (Box) of Contention: The James Ossuary

Joe Nickell

Columns

Editor’s Note

News and Comment

• AAAS Board Urges Opposing 'Intelligent Design’ Theory in Science Classes
• Death, Taxes, and Failed Psychic Predictions: Tabloid Psychics Fail Again In 2002
• Bigfoot Hoaxer Dies; Legacy Lives On
• 'Miss Cleo’ Settles with the Federal Trade Commission
• South Park TV Satire Skewers John Edward Psychic Pretensions
• Clone Claims Result in Publicity But No Proof
• Dean, Krauss, Stenger, Wilson Elected CSICOP Fellows

COMMENTARY

Lessons of the 'Fake Moon Flight’ Myth

James Oberg

INVESTIGATIVE FILES

Germany: Monsters, Myths, and Mysteries

Joe Nickell

Thinking About Science

The Strange Case of Cathode Rays and What Counts for Evidence

Massimo Pigliucci

Psychic Vibrations

Levity with Lifters

Robert Sheaffer

NOTES ON A STRANGE WORLD

William S. Marriott’s Gambols with the Ghosts

Massimo Polidoro

New Books

Science Best Sellers

Forum

Cobb County Clowns Stage Another Pi Fight

William J. Hoyt, Jr.

The Inconsolations of Philosophy

Ralph Estling

Letters to the Editor

Reviews

Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed

Patricia Cornwell

Joe Nickell

[Buy this book]

Bible Code II: The Countdown

Michael Drosnin

David E. Thomas

[Buy this book]