Skeptical Inquirer
Skeptical Inquirer is the official journal of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Six times per year Skeptical Inquirer publishes critical scientific evaluations of all manner of controversial and extraordinary claims, including but not limited to paranormal and fringe-science matters, and informed discussion of all relevant issues. In addition to news, articles, book reviews, and investigations on a wide variety of topics, Skeptical Inquirer has a stellar stable of regular columnists including Joe Nickell (“Investigative Files”), Massimo Polidoro (“Notes on a Strange World”), Massimo Pigluicci (“Thinking About Science”), Robert Sheaffer (“Psychic Vibrations”), and SI managing editor Benjamin Radford's reader-driven (“The Skeptical Inquiree”). Yale University neurologist Steven Novella, M.D., founder of the New England Skeptical Society and executive editor of the Science-Based Medicine blog, contributes a new "The Science of Medicine" column, and contributing editor Kenneth W. Krause adds a regular science column, "ScienceWatch."
‘Getting People to Think More Deeply’
by Sharon Hill
Volume 35.6, November/December 2011
Interview
An Interview with Miracle Detectives Scientist Indre Viskontas
Disputing ‘Seven Deadly Medical Hypotheses’
by David H. Gorski, Mark Crislip, Avrum Z. Bluming, Carol Tavris, Harriet Hall, and Reynold Spector
Volume 35.6, November/December 2011
Follow-up
This collection of letters was previously posted as an Online Extra. Read it in CSI's Special Articles section »
Psychic Connections: Investigating in Hungary
by Joe Nickell
Volume 35.6, November/December 2011
Investigative Files
While in Hungary from September 16–22, 2010—initially to participate in the fourteenth European Skeptics Congress (held in Budapest September 17–19)—I found time for some interesting investigations.
Have You Had Your Antioxidants Today?
by Steven Novella
Volume 35.6, November/December 2011
The Science of Medicine
If you believe the hype, then you want them in your food; you want to take them as pills; and you want the maximum most powerful antioxidants that can be found in nature. Unfortunately, the evidence does not support the claim that there are any health benefits to taking antioxidants.
Civilizations Lost and Found: Fabricating History - Part One: An Alternate Reality
by Kenneth Feder, Bradley T. Lepper, Terry A. Barnhart, and Deborah A. Bolnick
Volume 35.5, September/October 2011
Article
The Lost Civilizations of North America documentary is one in a long line of failed attempts to populate America’s ancient past with the denizens of lost tribes, lost cities, and, as its title indicates, lost civilizations.
The Haunted Brain
by Richard Wiseman
Volume 35.5, September/October 2011
Article
Reports of alleged ghostly activity tell us a great deal about the innermost workings of our brains.
The Perpetual Quest
by Dimitry Rotstein
Volume 35.5, September/October 2011
Article
How to make a perpetual motion device and live to tell about it.
The Life and Death of ‘Living God’ Sathya Sai Baba
by Ryan Shaffer
Volume 35.5, September/October 2011
Special Report
Sathya Sai Baba, a living god for nearly forty million people, died in April. He had a nine-billion-dollar organization and religious centers throughout the world. Who was Baba? Why was he thought to be a god?
In Search of the Emerald Grail
by Joe Nickell
Volume 35.5, September/October 2011
Investigative Files
Il Sacro Catino, “The Holy Basin,” is one of the most famous embodiments of the legendary “Holy Grail,” and I was able to study both it and its legend there in the fall of 2009, attempting to resolve some of the mysteries and controversies concerning it.
Selling Stem Cell Hype
by Steven Novella
Volume 35.5, September/October 2011
The Science of Medicine
Stem cells have tremendous potential, and they will likely be playing an increasing role in medical therapies over the next twenty years. But reality has yet to catch up with the hype.
