Skeptical Inquirer —
Mann Bites Dog: Why ‘Climategate’ Was Newsworthy
by Mark Boslough
Volume 34.2, March / April 2010
Feature
“When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.”
2012: Not a Complete Disaster
by Ben Radford
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Online Extra
One might be excused for wondering what, exactly, German director Roland Emmerich has against the United States...
Assessing the Credibility of CFI’s Credibility Project
by Gary Posner
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
The September/October 2009 Skeptical Inquirer carried the commentary piece "Can a Reasonable Skeptic Support Climate Change Legislation?" by...
Belgian Miracles
by Joe Nickell
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Investigative Files
A member of the European Union, Belgium is located between the Netherlands, Germany, and France. The country takes its name from its first recorded...
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Coral Castle: Fact and Folklore
by Karen Stollznow
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
How a diminutive, frail, uneducated, unskilled man built Coral Castle without modern machinery has supposedly "baffled scientists, engineers, and scholars."
Court Vindicates Doctor Who Questioned Fertility Study
by The Editors
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Online Extra
A study was published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine claiming that prayers from the USA, Canada, and Australia...
Creation: A Cinematic Look at Charles Darwin
by Ben Radford
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Online Extra
The new film Creation, which opens January 22, tells the true story of the circumstances surrounding Charles Darwin's crowning creation...
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Cryptozoology Museum Opens in Maine
by Ben Radford
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
News & Comment
Fans of Bigfoot, Ogopopo, the chupacabra, and other "mystery creatures" will finally have a place to see their favorite beasts—albeit in absentia.
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CSI’s ‘UFOs: The Space-Age Mythology’
by Dave Thomas
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Conference Report
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry held a workshop titled "UFOs: The Space-Age Mythology" in Tuscon, Arizona, October 9-11, 2009.
Edmund (Pseudo) Scientific Sells ‘Ghost Detectors’
by Matt Lowry
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Online Extra
Edmund Scientific is actively marketing and selling paranormal woo-woo on their Web site.
‘Heads I Win, Tails You Lose’: How Parapsychologists Nullify Null Results
by Richard Wiseman
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
Parapsychologists have tended to view positive results as supportive of the psi hypothesis while ensuring that null results don't count as evidence against it.
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Hyperbaric Therapy for Autism: Airy Promises
by Ben Radford
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Skeptical Inquiree
With the recent news that autism cases are on the rise, I'm sure the number of dubious "treatments" are increasing as well...
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Is There a Difference between Basic and Applied Science?
by Massimo Pigliucci
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Thinking About Science
Humans like to classify things into discrete boxes. It helps us make sense of our complex and often chaotic world. A classic problem in philosophy is whether...
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Latest Texas ‘Chupacabra’ Exhibited in Creationist Museum
by Ben Radford
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
News & Comment
In August 2009 a man in the small town of Blanco, Texas, heard something attacking chickens in his cousin's barn.
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Letters to the Editor
by The Editors
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Letters to the Editor
Responses to Issue 33.5, Power Line Panic and Cell Phone Mania
NASA Tries to Bomb Star Visitors
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Psychic Vibrations
NASA may have most people convinced that its purpose in crashing the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) into the Moon on October 9, 2009...
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‘Noetic Science’ in The Lost Symbol
by Joe Nickell
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Book Review
Review of The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Norm Levitt: An Obituary
by Jay M. Pasachoff
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
News & Comment
Norman Levitt, a major figure in combating pseudoscience and pseudoknowledge, died at the age of 66 on October 24.
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Notes on the News: Deception, Notoriety, and Credulity in Our Infotainment Age
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
News & Comment
The media frenzy about a homemade balloon launch supposedly carrying a Fort Collins, Colorado, family's six-year old son into the sky and the resulting...
The One True Cause of All Disease
by Harriet Hall
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
Alternative practitioners constantly claim that conventional medicine treats only symptoms while they treat underlying causes. They’ve got it backwards.
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Religious Fundamentalism and Same-Sex Marriage
by Anthony Layng
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
Americans' attitudes toward same-sex marriage have rapidly changed, defining it now as a civil-rights issue. Nearly all the remaining determined opposition...
Response to ‘Assessing the Credibility of CFI’s Credibility Project’
by Stuart D. Jordan
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Follow-up
This issue presents contributions by Gary Posner and Robert Sheaffer...
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The Scourge of Cancer
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Editor's Note
I doubt there are many families not affected in some way by the subject of our cover article—cancer.
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The Shroud of Turin Duplicated
by Massimo Polidoro
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Notes on a Strange World
The Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CICAP) celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a special three-day conference...
Stephen Fry—Last Chance to Think
by Kylie Sturgess
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Interview
Stephen Fry is an English actor, comedian, author, television presenter, director—and skeptic...
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Thomas Gold: Is the Origin of Oil Nonbiological?
by Martin Gardner
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Notes of a Fringe-Watcher
Thomas Gold was born in Vienna in 1920 and died in Ithaca, New York, in 2004 at age eighty-four. Few scientists since Kepler have combined such brilliant...
The War on Cancer A Progress Report for Skeptics
by Reynold Spector
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
Although there has been some progress in the war on cancer initiated by President Nixon in 1971, the gains have been limited.
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Wedge Strategy Update: Intelligent Design Creationism Since the Dover Trial
by Barbara Forrest
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
The creationist havens of Louisiana and Texas are doing all they can--which is considerable--to flout the law and inject intelligent design into public schools.
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When Does a Person Become a Human Subject?
by Mary M. Livingston and Jerome J. Tobacyk
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Follow-up
Sensitivity to human subjects issues is important and praiseworthy, but there is some confusion regarding the formal definition of human subjects research.
Alternate Cover
by csicop.org
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Online Extra
Alternate Cover for Issue 33.6, November / December 2009
Ask the Outlaw Skeptic
by csicop.org
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Online Extra
What is a "skeptoid" anyway?
Bill Maher: Crank and Comic
by Martin Gardner
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Notes of a Fringe-Watcher
Well-known stand-up comic Bill Maher has joined the ranks of the Big-D atheists, Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett...
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CSI Launches New Web Site
by Timothy Binga
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) is proud to announce a new design and enhancements to its Web site, www.csicop.org.
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Dinosaur Adventure Land Facing Possible IRS Seizure
by Greg Martinez
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
Flamboyant creationist Kent Hovind's seventeen-year dispute with the Internal Revenue Service is finally reaching its end...
Editor’s Note
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Online Extra
There are, of course, dozens more skeptics out there whose names may be slightly less familiar but whose contributions...
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Eusapia Palladino, Queen of the Cabinet, Part 4
by Massimo Polidoro
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Notes on a Strange World
How is it possible that well-trained and respected scientists and investigators could be deceived by a clever...
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Introducing Skepticism 2.0
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Editor's Note
There's nothing new about skepticism. People who think critically and analytically have been around since ancient times.
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The Invisible Disorder
by Mark Durm
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Book Review
Review of The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives. By Leonard Mlodinow.
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John A. Keel, Mothman Writer, Paranormalist Trickster (1930-2009)
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
Noted paranormalist author John Alva Keel, best known to the public for his Mothman writings, died of a heart condition...
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Letters to the Editor
by The Editors
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Letters to the Editor
Responses to the July / August 2008 Skeptical Inquirer, The Hobbit Discovery.
Messages to ‘Ask an Astrobiologist,’ May 2009
by David Morrison
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Featurette
Sidebar to Morrison's update on the Niburu 2012 doomsday
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Moon Hoax Resolved: New Lunar Orbiter Images Show Moon Landers, Astronauts’ Tracks
by David Morrison
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
Did NASA fake the landings on the Moon? This has been one of the most consistent (and outrageous) conspiracy myths of our day.
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The Moral Duty of a Skeptic
by Massimo Pigliucci
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Thinking About Science
I assume that most readers of the Skeptical Inquirer think that skepticism is a good thing...
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The Myth of the Walking Tree
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Skeptical Inquiree
While on a tour of the rainforest during a recent vacation, our guide showed us a tree with a very unusual root system.
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Nigerian Scam Mastermind Sentenced in Australia
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
We've all seen the e-mails from Nigeria insisting wealth can be ours if we help the writer get his money out of the country.
The Paradoxical Future of Skepticism
by Daniel Loxton
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
Like many skeptics, I'm preoccupied by one question: "How do we take this thing to the next level?" I have an answer to propose.
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Pew/AAAS Poll: Public Likes Science but Still Disagrees with Scientists on Controversial Issues
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
The public continues to like science and value scientists, but a new poll shows considerable gaps between how scientists...
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Psychic Exploits Horrific Abduction Case
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
In 1991, a young girl named Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped on her way to school. No one knew the girl's fate for eighteen years...
The Real Secrets of Fatima
by Joe Nickell
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Investigative Files
Among the intriguing mysteries of modern Catholocism are the "miracles" and "secrets" supposedly imparted by the Virgin Mary...
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Reinventing the Skeptic Conference
by Reed Esau
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
SkeptiCamps are informal, community-organized events borne of a desire to share and learn in an open environment.
Skeptical Parenting: Raising Young Critical Thinkers
by Heidi Anderson
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
There comes a moment in every parent's life when your child asks you the question you most feared hearing from your dear one...
Skeptical Programs for Generation Y and Beyond
by Barry Karr
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Special Report
CSI has many long-standing programs to encourage critical thinking in children and young people--the world's future skeptics.
Skepticism 2.0
by D.J. Grothe
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
When Carl Sagan, James Randi, Paul Kurtz, Martin Gardner, Ray Hyman, and others came together in the mid-1970s to form CSICOP...
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Skepticism and Blogging
by Karen Stollznow
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
Blogs first appeared in the late 1990s as "web logs," In the form of journals or diaries. Blog has become a generic...
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Skepticism: New Paths Ahead
by Jeff Wagg
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
I just returned from Dragon*Con, the "convention of conventions" that is held over Labor Day weekend each year in Atlanta.
Skepticism via YouTube
by Tim Farley
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
In the summer of 2008, Georgians Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer claimed to have found a Bigfoot carcass...
A Skeptic’s Guide to Podcasts
by D.J. Grothe
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
As most of the readers of the Skeptical Inquirer probably know, podcasts are audio shows...
State-Sponsored Quackery: Feng Shui and Snake Oil for California Nurses
by Owen Hammer and James Underdown
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
The Independent Investigations Group investigates pseudoscience particularly therapeutic touch in professional nursing.
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Surfing for Skeptics
by Blake Smith
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
Whether you are looking for data on a particular type of questionable claim, trying to find some like-minded friends...
Talking Skepticism to Generation Y
by Justin Trottier
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
If anyone ever wonders just what impression a skeptic's words, stories, explanations, and arguments have, there's no better...
Update on the Nibiru 2012 ‘Doomsday’
by David Morrison
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Follow-up
Special preview from the November / December 2009 Skeptical Inquirer
Skeptical Books for Children and Young Adults
by Timothy Binga
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
I was asked to write a bibliography of youth-oriented skeptical books not only because I am the director of libraries at CFI...
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Ask The Outlaw Skeptic
by The Editors
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
While at the local mall, I stopped inside a health-food store to check out the wares...
Bobby Fischer: Genius and Idiot
by Martin Gardner
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Notes of a Fringe-Watcher
Is it possible for someone to be extremely intelligent and creative in a certain field and at the same time...
Can a Reasonable Skeptic Support Climate Change Legislation?
by Stuart D. Jordan
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Commentary
CFI vets list of 687 'dissenting scientists' in Senate minority report; 80% haven't published peer-reviewed climate research.
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Cell Phones, Power Lines, Video Games…and Much Else
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Editor's Note
This issue demonstrates not only the variety of topics we tackle in the Skeptical Inquirer, but also...
Comments on NDE Experiment: Ethical Concerns
by Christopher C. French
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Commentary
"I think this article raises an interesting issue, but ultimately I find the arguments unconvincing for a number of reasons..."
Comments on NDE Experiment: Ethical Concerns
by Susan Blackmore
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Commentary
"If Parnia does the experiments properly, and his patients really can see those images, then I will change my mind about..."
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Does Subliminal Persuasion Work? It Depends on Your Motivation and Awareness.
by Brandon Randolph-Seng and Robert D. Mather
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
Recent psychological research provides more answers about why and when subliminal information can influence...
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Eusapia Palladino, Queen of the Cabinet, Part 3
by Massimo Polidoro
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Notes on a Strange World
There suddenly came a wild, yelling scream. It was such a scream as I have never heard before in my life, not even in...
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Exercising the Brain Gym
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Skeptical Inquiree
What can you tell me about the Brain Gym? It seems to make all sorts of amazing claims and is apparently very popular...
A Growing Hysteria
by Lorne Trottier
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
Angry citizens' groups in hundreds of different communities across the United States protest against the location of new...
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Hidden Messages
by Dave Thomas
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Puzzle— A simple substitution cipher.
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The Last Laugh
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Humor
Eight Weird Psychic Comments Overheard at a Singles Bar
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Leadership Changes at the Center for Inquiry
by The Editors
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
Changes in the leadership at the Center for Inquiry, including the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, were announced at the end...
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Letters to the Editor
by The Editors
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Letters to the Editor
Responses to the May / June 2009 issue of Skeptical Inquirer.
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Logophobia
by Massimo Pigliucci
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Thinking About Science
Logophobics have developed strategies to obfuscate clear thinking, which they deploy whenever pressed by a skeptic.
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Modern-Day DaVinci’s ROM: Range of Motion or Rip Off Machine?
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
A supposedly revolutionary (and remarkably expensive) exercise machine called the ROM makes amazing claims in advertisements.
NDE Experiment: Ethical Concerns
by Sebastian Dieguez
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
Anecdotal reports of people having paranormal perceptions during near-death experiences are widespread, and it has been...
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New Champ Lake Monster Video Surfaces
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
In May, new video footage of Champ, the monster said to inhabit Vermont's Lake Champlain, was release on YouTube...
‘None of This Is True’: Do Disclaimers about the Paranormal Really Work?
by Richard wiseman, Chris French, and Caroline Watt
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Commentary
The last few years have seen substantial growth in the number of television programs claiming to contain paranormal phenomena.
Pirates’ Ghosts: Aar-r-gh!
by Joe Nickell
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Investigative Files
They embody legend: romantic, swashbuckling, heroic figures--enchanting rogues whose ghosts eternally guard their buried...
Power Line Panic and Mobile Mania
by S.T. Lakshmikumar
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
What is the physics that underlies any possible linkage between mobile phones, power lines, and cancer?
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The Questionable Research of Hans Holzer, Dean of Ghost Hunters (1920-2009)
by Joe Nickell
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
During the second half of the twentieth "Dr." Hans Holzer, a self-styled parapsychologist who died April 2, 2009, at the age...
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Skeptic’s Web Site Becomes Advertising for Psychic Business
by Ryan Shaffer
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
In October, a Hollywood-based Web site selling psychic consultations and other products acquired a notable skeptic's Web site...
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The Pseudoscience of Anti-Anti-UFOlogy
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Psychic Vibrations
Stanton Friedman critiques Joe Nickell's article "Return to Roswell" by noting that Nickell is a former magician...
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Third Annual IIG Awards: Mythbusters and Nickell Honored, Ben Stein Lampooned.
by Owen Hammer
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
On May 18, 2009, the Independent Investigations Group--the premier paranormal investigations teram on the West Coast...
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The Varied Concepts of ‘Epidemic’ and Our Varied Reactions
by Peter Lamal
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Book Review
Review of Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu by Philip Alcabes.
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Violent Video Games: Dogma, Fear, and Pseudoscience
by Christopher J. Ferguson
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
Video games are at the center of a modern media-based moral panic. Too often, social scientists have fueled the flames...
Viral Video Cell-Phone Scare
by Tracy King
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Featurette
In June 2009 a new urban legend was born—that the power generated by cell phones can cook popcorn.
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What’s New? Observations on Science and Fringe Science from Bob Park
by Robert L. Park
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
Recap of recent news items by the author.
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An Apologia with a Transparent Strategy
by Peter Lamal
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Book Review
Review of The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right. by Jon A. Shields.
Bigelow’s Aerospace and Saucer Emporium
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Psychic Vibrations
Perhaps you've seen news stories about Bigelow Aerospace, founded by Las Vegas real estate millionaire Robert Bigelow.
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Big Scientific Controversy over Little Hobbit People of Flores
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Editor's Note
Five years ago a stunning discovery on the Indonesian island of Flores rocked the field of paleoanthropology...
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Borneo’s River Monster Photo: Living Legend or Hoax?
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
News & Comment
In February, two photographs of a huge snake-like creature allegedly taken in Borneo made international news.
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Careful Phrasing: A Matter of Life and Death
by Danny Helman
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Feature
Many people believe one is more likely to die from a shark attack than from falling airplane parts. This finding has been...
CFI World Congress: More Highlights
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Special Report
Longtime CSI Fellow and Skeptical Inquirer contributor Elizabeth Loftus presented a talk about...
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Chiropractic Neck Manipulation and Informed Consent
by Samuel Homola
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Feature
Although there is evidence to indicate that neck manipulation can cause stroke by damaging vertebral or carotid arteries...
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Crystal Balls in Chains
by Donna Danford
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
News & Comment
Fortune teller Janet Adams preyed on the fears of an elderly San Mateo, California woman to the tune of more than $80,000.
CSI’s Balles Prize Goes to Physicist/Author Leonard Mlodinow
by Barry Karr
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
News & Comment
CSI has awarded its Annual Prize to Mlodinow for his book The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives.
Mann Bites Dog: Why ‘Climategate’ Was Newsworthy
by Mark Boslough
Volume 34.2, March / April 2010
Feature
“When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.”
2012: Not a Complete Disaster
by Ben Radford
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Online Extra
One might be excused for wondering what, exactly, German director Roland Emmerich has against the United States...
Assessing the Credibility of CFI’s Credibility Project
by Gary Posner
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
The September/October 2009 Skeptical Inquirer carried the commentary piece "Can a Reasonable Skeptic Support Climate Change Legislation?" by...
Belgian Miracles
by Joe Nickell
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Investigative Files
A member of the European Union, Belgium is located between the Netherlands, Germany, and France. The country takes its name from its first recorded...
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Coral Castle: Fact and Folklore
by Karen Stollznow
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
How a diminutive, frail, uneducated, unskilled man built Coral Castle without modern machinery has supposedly "baffled scientists, engineers, and scholars."
Court Vindicates Doctor Who Questioned Fertility Study
by The Editors
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Online Extra
A study was published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine claiming that prayers from the USA, Canada, and Australia...
Creation: A Cinematic Look at Charles Darwin
by Ben Radford
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Online Extra
The new film Creation, which opens January 22, tells the true story of the circumstances surrounding Charles Darwin's crowning creation...
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Cryptozoology Museum Opens in Maine
by Ben Radford
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
News & Comment
Fans of Bigfoot, Ogopopo, the chupacabra, and other "mystery creatures" will finally have a place to see their favorite beasts—albeit in absentia.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
CSI’s ‘UFOs: The Space-Age Mythology’
by Dave Thomas
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Conference Report
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry held a workshop titled "UFOs: The Space-Age Mythology" in Tuscon, Arizona, October 9-11, 2009.
Edmund (Pseudo) Scientific Sells ‘Ghost Detectors’
by Matt Lowry
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Online Extra
Edmund Scientific is actively marketing and selling paranormal woo-woo on their Web site.
‘Heads I Win, Tails You Lose’: How Parapsychologists Nullify Null Results
by Richard Wiseman
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
Parapsychologists have tended to view positive results as supportive of the psi hypothesis while ensuring that null results don't count as evidence against it.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Hyperbaric Therapy for Autism: Airy Promises
by Ben Radford
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Skeptical Inquiree
With the recent news that autism cases are on the rise, I'm sure the number of dubious "treatments" are increasing as well...
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Is There a Difference between Basic and Applied Science?
by Massimo Pigliucci
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Thinking About Science
Humans like to classify things into discrete boxes. It helps us make sense of our complex and often chaotic world. A classic problem in philosophy is whether...
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Latest Texas ‘Chupacabra’ Exhibited in Creationist Museum
by Ben Radford
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
News & Comment
In August 2009 a man in the small town of Blanco, Texas, heard something attacking chickens in his cousin's barn.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Letters to the Editor
by The Editors
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Letters to the Editor
Responses to Issue 33.5, Power Line Panic and Cell Phone Mania
NASA Tries to Bomb Star Visitors
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Psychic Vibrations
NASA may have most people convinced that its purpose in crashing the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) into the Moon on October 9, 2009...
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
‘Noetic Science’ in The Lost Symbol
by Joe Nickell
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Book Review
Review of The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Norm Levitt: An Obituary
by Jay M. Pasachoff
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
News & Comment
Norman Levitt, a major figure in combating pseudoscience and pseudoknowledge, died at the age of 66 on October 24.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Notes on the News: Deception, Notoriety, and Credulity in Our Infotainment Age
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
News & Comment
The media frenzy about a homemade balloon launch supposedly carrying a Fort Collins, Colorado, family's six-year old son into the sky and the resulting...
The One True Cause of All Disease
by Harriet Hall
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
Alternative practitioners constantly claim that conventional medicine treats only symptoms while they treat underlying causes. They’ve got it backwards.
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Religious Fundamentalism and Same-Sex Marriage
by Anthony Layng
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
Americans' attitudes toward same-sex marriage have rapidly changed, defining it now as a civil-rights issue. Nearly all the remaining determined opposition...
Response to ‘Assessing the Credibility of CFI’s Credibility Project’
by Stuart D. Jordan
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Follow-up
This issue presents contributions by Gary Posner and Robert Sheaffer...
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The Scourge of Cancer
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Editor's Note
I doubt there are many families not affected in some way by the subject of our cover article—cancer.
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The Shroud of Turin Duplicated
by Massimo Polidoro
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Notes on a Strange World
The Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CICAP) celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a special three-day conference...
Stephen Fry—Last Chance to Think
by Kylie Sturgess
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Interview
Stephen Fry is an English actor, comedian, author, television presenter, director—and skeptic...
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Thomas Gold: Is the Origin of Oil Nonbiological?
by Martin Gardner
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Notes of a Fringe-Watcher
Thomas Gold was born in Vienna in 1920 and died in Ithaca, New York, in 2004 at age eighty-four. Few scientists since Kepler have combined such brilliant...
The War on Cancer A Progress Report for Skeptics
by Reynold Spector
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
Although there has been some progress in the war on cancer initiated by President Nixon in 1971, the gains have been limited.
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Wedge Strategy Update: Intelligent Design Creationism Since the Dover Trial
by Barbara Forrest
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Feature
The creationist havens of Louisiana and Texas are doing all they can--which is considerable--to flout the law and inject intelligent design into public schools.
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When Does a Person Become a Human Subject?
by Mary M. Livingston and Jerome J. Tobacyk
Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Follow-up
Sensitivity to human subjects issues is important and praiseworthy, but there is some confusion regarding the formal definition of human subjects research.
Alternate Cover
by csicop.org
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Online Extra
Alternate Cover for Issue 33.6, November / December 2009
Ask the Outlaw Skeptic
by csicop.org
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Online Extra
What is a "skeptoid" anyway?
Bill Maher: Crank and Comic
by Martin Gardner
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Notes of a Fringe-Watcher
Well-known stand-up comic Bill Maher has joined the ranks of the Big-D atheists, Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett...
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CSI Launches New Web Site
by Timothy Binga
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) is proud to announce a new design and enhancements to its Web site, www.csicop.org.
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Dinosaur Adventure Land Facing Possible IRS Seizure
by Greg Martinez
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
Flamboyant creationist Kent Hovind's seventeen-year dispute with the Internal Revenue Service is finally reaching its end...
Editor’s Note
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Online Extra
There are, of course, dozens more skeptics out there whose names may be slightly less familiar but whose contributions...
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Eusapia Palladino, Queen of the Cabinet, Part 4
by Massimo Polidoro
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Notes on a Strange World
How is it possible that well-trained and respected scientists and investigators could be deceived by a clever...
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Introducing Skepticism 2.0
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Editor's Note
There's nothing new about skepticism. People who think critically and analytically have been around since ancient times.
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The Invisible Disorder
by Mark Durm
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Book Review
Review of The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives. By Leonard Mlodinow.
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John A. Keel, Mothman Writer, Paranormalist Trickster (1930-2009)
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
Noted paranormalist author John Alva Keel, best known to the public for his Mothman writings, died of a heart condition...
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Letters to the Editor
by The Editors
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Letters to the Editor
Responses to the July / August 2008 Skeptical Inquirer, The Hobbit Discovery.
Messages to ‘Ask an Astrobiologist,’ May 2009
by David Morrison
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Featurette
Sidebar to Morrison's update on the Niburu 2012 doomsday
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Moon Hoax Resolved: New Lunar Orbiter Images Show Moon Landers, Astronauts’ Tracks
by David Morrison
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
Did NASA fake the landings on the Moon? This has been one of the most consistent (and outrageous) conspiracy myths of our day.
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The Moral Duty of a Skeptic
by Massimo Pigliucci
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Thinking About Science
I assume that most readers of the Skeptical Inquirer think that skepticism is a good thing...
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The Myth of the Walking Tree
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Skeptical Inquiree
While on a tour of the rainforest during a recent vacation, our guide showed us a tree with a very unusual root system.
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Nigerian Scam Mastermind Sentenced in Australia
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
We've all seen the e-mails from Nigeria insisting wealth can be ours if we help the writer get his money out of the country.
The Paradoxical Future of Skepticism
by Daniel Loxton
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
Like many skeptics, I'm preoccupied by one question: "How do we take this thing to the next level?" I have an answer to propose.
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Pew/AAAS Poll: Public Likes Science but Still Disagrees with Scientists on Controversial Issues
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
The public continues to like science and value scientists, but a new poll shows considerable gaps between how scientists...
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Psychic Exploits Horrific Abduction Case
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
News & Comment
In 1991, a young girl named Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped on her way to school. No one knew the girl's fate for eighteen years...
The Real Secrets of Fatima
by Joe Nickell
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Investigative Files
Among the intriguing mysteries of modern Catholocism are the "miracles" and "secrets" supposedly imparted by the Virgin Mary...
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Reinventing the Skeptic Conference
by Reed Esau
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
SkeptiCamps are informal, community-organized events borne of a desire to share and learn in an open environment.
Skeptical Parenting: Raising Young Critical Thinkers
by Heidi Anderson
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
There comes a moment in every parent's life when your child asks you the question you most feared hearing from your dear one...
Skeptical Programs for Generation Y and Beyond
by Barry Karr
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Special Report
CSI has many long-standing programs to encourage critical thinking in children and young people--the world's future skeptics.
Skepticism 2.0
by D.J. Grothe
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
When Carl Sagan, James Randi, Paul Kurtz, Martin Gardner, Ray Hyman, and others came together in the mid-1970s to form CSICOP...
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Skepticism and Blogging
by Karen Stollznow
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
Blogs first appeared in the late 1990s as "web logs," In the form of journals or diaries. Blog has become a generic...
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Skepticism: New Paths Ahead
by Jeff Wagg
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
I just returned from Dragon*Con, the "convention of conventions" that is held over Labor Day weekend each year in Atlanta.
Skepticism via YouTube
by Tim Farley
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
In the summer of 2008, Georgians Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer claimed to have found a Bigfoot carcass...
A Skeptic’s Guide to Podcasts
by D.J. Grothe
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
As most of the readers of the Skeptical Inquirer probably know, podcasts are audio shows...
State-Sponsored Quackery: Feng Shui and Snake Oil for California Nurses
by Owen Hammer and James Underdown
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
The Independent Investigations Group investigates pseudoscience particularly therapeutic touch in professional nursing.
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Surfing for Skeptics
by Blake Smith
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
Whether you are looking for data on a particular type of questionable claim, trying to find some like-minded friends...
Talking Skepticism to Generation Y
by Justin Trottier
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
If anyone ever wonders just what impression a skeptic's words, stories, explanations, and arguments have, there's no better...
Update on the Nibiru 2012 ‘Doomsday’
by David Morrison
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Follow-up
Special preview from the November / December 2009 Skeptical Inquirer
Skeptical Books for Children and Young Adults
by Timothy Binga
Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Feature
I was asked to write a bibliography of youth-oriented skeptical books not only because I am the director of libraries at CFI...
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Ask The Outlaw Skeptic
by The Editors
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
While at the local mall, I stopped inside a health-food store to check out the wares...
Bobby Fischer: Genius and Idiot
by Martin Gardner
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Notes of a Fringe-Watcher
Is it possible for someone to be extremely intelligent and creative in a certain field and at the same time...
Can a Reasonable Skeptic Support Climate Change Legislation?
by Stuart D. Jordan
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Commentary
CFI vets list of 687 'dissenting scientists' in Senate minority report; 80% haven't published peer-reviewed climate research.
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Cell Phones, Power Lines, Video Games…and Much Else
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Editor's Note
This issue demonstrates not only the variety of topics we tackle in the Skeptical Inquirer, but also...
Comments on NDE Experiment: Ethical Concerns
by Christopher C. French
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Commentary
"I think this article raises an interesting issue, but ultimately I find the arguments unconvincing for a number of reasons..."
Comments on NDE Experiment: Ethical Concerns
by Susan Blackmore
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Commentary
"If Parnia does the experiments properly, and his patients really can see those images, then I will change my mind about..."
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Does Subliminal Persuasion Work? It Depends on Your Motivation and Awareness.
by Brandon Randolph-Seng and Robert D. Mather
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
Recent psychological research provides more answers about why and when subliminal information can influence...
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Eusapia Palladino, Queen of the Cabinet, Part 3
by Massimo Polidoro
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Notes on a Strange World
There suddenly came a wild, yelling scream. It was such a scream as I have never heard before in my life, not even in...
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Exercising the Brain Gym
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Skeptical Inquiree
What can you tell me about the Brain Gym? It seems to make all sorts of amazing claims and is apparently very popular...
A Growing Hysteria
by Lorne Trottier
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
Angry citizens' groups in hundreds of different communities across the United States protest against the location of new...
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Hidden Messages
by Dave Thomas
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Puzzle— A simple substitution cipher.
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The Last Laugh
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Humor
Eight Weird Psychic Comments Overheard at a Singles Bar
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Leadership Changes at the Center for Inquiry
by The Editors
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
Changes in the leadership at the Center for Inquiry, including the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, were announced at the end...
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Letters to the Editor
by The Editors
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Letters to the Editor
Responses to the May / June 2009 issue of Skeptical Inquirer.
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Logophobia
by Massimo Pigliucci
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Thinking About Science
Logophobics have developed strategies to obfuscate clear thinking, which they deploy whenever pressed by a skeptic.
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Modern-Day DaVinci’s ROM: Range of Motion or Rip Off Machine?
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
A supposedly revolutionary (and remarkably expensive) exercise machine called the ROM makes amazing claims in advertisements.
NDE Experiment: Ethical Concerns
by Sebastian Dieguez
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
Anecdotal reports of people having paranormal perceptions during near-death experiences are widespread, and it has been...
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New Champ Lake Monster Video Surfaces
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
In May, new video footage of Champ, the monster said to inhabit Vermont's Lake Champlain, was release on YouTube...
‘None of This Is True’: Do Disclaimers about the Paranormal Really Work?
by Richard wiseman, Chris French, and Caroline Watt
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Commentary
The last few years have seen substantial growth in the number of television programs claiming to contain paranormal phenomena.
Pirates’ Ghosts: Aar-r-gh!
by Joe Nickell
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Investigative Files
They embody legend: romantic, swashbuckling, heroic figures--enchanting rogues whose ghosts eternally guard their buried...
Power Line Panic and Mobile Mania
by S.T. Lakshmikumar
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
What is the physics that underlies any possible linkage between mobile phones, power lines, and cancer?
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The Questionable Research of Hans Holzer, Dean of Ghost Hunters (1920-2009)
by Joe Nickell
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
During the second half of the twentieth "Dr." Hans Holzer, a self-styled parapsychologist who died April 2, 2009, at the age...
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Skeptic’s Web Site Becomes Advertising for Psychic Business
by Ryan Shaffer
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
In October, a Hollywood-based Web site selling psychic consultations and other products acquired a notable skeptic's Web site...
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The Pseudoscience of Anti-Anti-UFOlogy
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Psychic Vibrations
Stanton Friedman critiques Joe Nickell's article "Return to Roswell" by noting that Nickell is a former magician...
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Third Annual IIG Awards: Mythbusters and Nickell Honored, Ben Stein Lampooned.
by Owen Hammer
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
On May 18, 2009, the Independent Investigations Group--the premier paranormal investigations teram on the West Coast...
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The Varied Concepts of ‘Epidemic’ and Our Varied Reactions
by Peter Lamal
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Book Review
Review of Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu by Philip Alcabes.
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Violent Video Games: Dogma, Fear, and Pseudoscience
by Christopher J. Ferguson
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Feature
Video games are at the center of a modern media-based moral panic. Too often, social scientists have fueled the flames...
Viral Video Cell-Phone Scare
by Tracy King
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Featurette
In June 2009 a new urban legend was born—that the power generated by cell phones can cook popcorn.
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What’s New? Observations on Science and Fringe Science from Bob Park
by Robert L. Park
Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
News & Comment
Recap of recent news items by the author.
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An Apologia with a Transparent Strategy
by Peter Lamal
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Book Review
Review of The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right. by Jon A. Shields.
Bigelow’s Aerospace and Saucer Emporium
by Robert Sheaffer
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Psychic Vibrations
Perhaps you've seen news stories about Bigelow Aerospace, founded by Las Vegas real estate millionaire Robert Bigelow.
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Big Scientific Controversy over Little Hobbit People of Flores
by Kendrick Frazier
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Editor's Note
Five years ago a stunning discovery on the Indonesian island of Flores rocked the field of paleoanthropology...
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Borneo’s River Monster Photo: Living Legend or Hoax?
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
News & Comment
In February, two photographs of a huge snake-like creature allegedly taken in Borneo made international news.
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Careful Phrasing: A Matter of Life and Death
by Danny Helman
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Feature
Many people believe one is more likely to die from a shark attack than from falling airplane parts. This finding has been...
CFI World Congress: More Highlights
by Ben Radford
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Special Report
Longtime CSI Fellow and Skeptical Inquirer contributor Elizabeth Loftus presented a talk about...
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Chiropractic Neck Manipulation and Informed Consent
by Samuel Homola
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
Feature
Although there is evidence to indicate that neck manipulation can cause stroke by damaging vertebral or carotid arteries...
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Crystal Balls in Chains
by Donna Danford
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
News & Comment
Fortune teller Janet Adams preyed on the fears of an elderly San Mateo, California woman to the tune of more than $80,000.
CSI’s Balles Prize Goes to Physicist/Author Leonard Mlodinow
by Barry Karr
Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
News & Comment
CSI has awarded its Annual Prize to Mlodinow for his book The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives.