Home : Skeptical Inquirer magazine

Volume 28, Number 3
May/June 2004

• Buy this back issue
• Darkness, Tunnels, and Light
• The Cold War's Classified Skyhook Program
• Bridging the Chasm between Two Cultures
• Belgium Skeptics Commit Mass Suicide

Articles

Darkness, Tunnels, and Light

Stories of darkness, tunnels, and bright light told by those who report near-death experiences actually have a basis in the structure and functioning of the eyes, the brain, and other sense organs that operate during these experiences.

G.M. Woerlee

Nurturing Suspicion

What College Students Learn About Science

Skeptics complain about postmodern attacks on science in college "science and society" classes but don't address the reasons these criticisms are so persuasive. When college students don't learn about the complexities and social dimensions of scientific inquiry, they are vulnerable to the egalitarian appeal of postmodern relativism. Skeptics must confront this problem.

Phil Mole

The Cold War's Classified Skyhook Program

A Participant's Revelations

Classified high-altitude, long-duration flights of huge Skyhook balloons, which often returned their secret payloads to the surface, began in 1947 and continued for several decades. This secret Cold War program was the likely progenitor of many key aspects of UFO mythology.

B.D. Gildenberg

The Strange Odyssey of Brenda Dunne

Criticism of parapsychological methodology has caused researchers to adopt more scientifically valid means of conducting their studies. There are those in the field, however, who still reject scientific protocol.

Douglas M. Stokes

Bridging the Chasm between Two Cultures

A former leader in the New Age culture-author of nine titles on auras, chakras, "energy," and so on-chronicles her difficult and painful transition to skepticism. She thanks the skeptical community and agonizes over how the messages of scientific and critical thinking could be made more effective in communicating with her former New Age colleagues.

Karla McLaren

Research Review

I Am Freud's Brain

Maryanne Garry and Elizabeth F. Loftus

Special Reports

'Visions' Behind The Passion

Joe Nickell

Belgium Skeptics Commit Mass Suicide

Luc Bonneux

Columns

Editor's Note

Explaining Puzzling Experiences, Observations

News and Comment

• Reports: Policy, Not Science, Drives Bush Administration
• Is Georgia Out of Her Mind?
• President Carter Defends Evolution in Biology Classes
• Jury Verdict a Pain in the Neck for Chiropractors Saddam: Not Even Remotely Viewed
• Community College Biologists Oppose Alternative Medicine
• Position of the Empire State Association of Two-Year College Biologists On Alternative Medicine
• Noted Researcher, Melvin Harris, Dies
• Cold, Icy Sedna Newest and Farthest Member of Solar System
• San Francisco Legislator Pushes Feng Shui Building Codes

Investigative Files

Psychic Sleuth without a Clue

Joe Nickell

Thinking About Science

Philosophy of Science

Massimo Pigliucci

Psychic Vibrations

Crashed Saucers and Saucer Conferences

Robert Sheaffer

Notes on a Strange World

Satan in a Sicilian Fridge

Massimo Polidoro

New Books

Science Best Sellers

Forum

Let's Beat Them at Their Own Game

Paul Giles

Letters to the Editor

Book Reviews

The Da Vinci Code

By Dan Brown

Joseph P. Szimhart

Preposterous Propositions: From the Genetics of Homosexuality to the Benefits of Global Warming

By Robert Ehrlich

Peter Lamal

The Sandwalk Adventures

By Jay Hosler

Jerry Kurlandski