Skeptic Magazine News Feed

In this week’s eSkeptic, we present ABC Radio National’s show “All in the Mind,” a debate recorded for National Science Week in Australia, between Dr. Michael Shermer and shareholder activist and Crikey founder, Stephen Mayne.

Misinformation is everywhere, but nowhere more prolific than on the internet. A Google search for “homeopathy” or “UFO” returns a landslide list of mystery-mongering websites. Yes, there are a few skeptical web resources too — but a non-skeptic can be easily misled online. On this episode, Derek & Swoopy talk with Tim Farley, a skeptic applying his 20-plus years of software development experience to the creation of advanced tools and techniques for fighting the battle against misinformation on the World Wide Web…

In this week’s eSkeptic, Mark Perakh discusses how Intelligent Design proponents created the myth that bacterial flagella look like man-made machines.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Sebastian Dieguez presents a rejoinder to Mark Crislip’s “Near Death Experiences & the Medical Literature” (eSkeptic June 18th, 2008), calling for a redefinition of NDEs.

Long-time listeners may recall that Skepticality’s very first interview guest was Bad Astronomy author and popular science blogger Dr. Phil Plait. This past week the James Randi Educational Foundation (one of the leading organizations promoting critical thinking and examination of pseudoscience) announced that The Bad Astronomer himself will be the new JREF President. Now, Dr. Plait returns to Skepticality to tell Derek & Swoopy not only about interesting advances in privately-funded space travel and the future of NASA under a new presidential administration, but also about exciting developments in his own career — including his new role at the JREF, changes for Bad Astronomy, and Phil’s impending trips to the Galapagos and Dragon*Con 2008.

In this week’s eSkeptic, we link to the third in a series of conversations presented by the John Templeton Foundation. The conversation explores the BIG Questions (the theme of this year’s Skeptics Society Conference at Caltech), among which is “Does science make belief in God obsolete?”.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Michael Shermer postulates a “Type 1” civilization in which exists a “globalism that includes worldwide wireless Internet access, with all knowledge digitized and available to everyone. A completely global economy with free markets in which anyone can trade with anyone else without interference from states or governments. A planet where all states are democracies in which everyone has the franchise.”

The mainstream rap and hip hop communities are known not only for a way with words and penchant for controversy, but also for occasional drama. Rapper Greydon Square is no exception. On this week’s episode of Skepticality, Derek & Swoopy hang loose with Greydon and talk about his musical influences, being embraced by the atheist community — and why this Compton native (raised as a legal orphan by the Department of Children & Family Services of California) refuses to be a product of the system. (This episode contains some mature content and brief explicit language.)

In this week’s eSkeptic, the Skeptics Society announces it 2008 conference at Caltech, which runs October 3–4, 2008 on the theme of Origins: the BIG Questions.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Harriet Hall, MD reviews Lauri Lebo’s “he Devil in Dover: An Insider’s Story of Dogma v. Darwin in Small-town America.”

Continuing from last week’s interviews recorded at the “Amazing Meeting 6” conference, Derek & Swoopy talk with secular lobbyist Lori Lipman Brown and her father Mel Lipman (both secular humanists with backgrounds in law and government). They also speak with mentalist Banachek, who has been responsible for putting more magic and mentalism on American television than any other magic consultant in the world. While the paths of these skeptics seem widely divergent, Derek & Swoopy learn that their common decision to further skepticism within their chosen professions illuminates many similar truths…

In this week’s eSkeptic, Harriet Hall, MD reviews Pope Brock’s “Charlatan. America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam.”

In this week’s eSkeptic, Michael Shermer celebrates the 150th anniversary of the 1858 discovery of natural selection by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.

This week on Skepticality, Derek & Swoopy return from the desert with highlights from “The Amazing Meeting 6” conference in Las Vegas (hosted by the James Randi Educational Foundation). Joining them are two skeptics who are changing the face of popular science: MythBuster Adam Savage, and astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. In his third appearance on Skepticality, Adam discusses his evolution from artist and model maker to skeptic and television scientist — as well as thoughts about his life after MythBusters. The incomparable Neil deGrasse Tyson (Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, current host of Nova Science Now, and the only astrophysicist to be named one of People magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive”) talks with Swoopy about getting the United States back on track as science innovators. (He also sets the record straight about Pluto.)

In this week’s eSkeptic, Priscilla Sakezles discusses the famous words most often attributed to Socrates, “All I know is that I know nothing.” claiming that it is indeed a misquote.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Infectious Disease doctor Mark Crislip dissects some medical research on near death experiences.

In this week’s eSkeptic, we present a link to a free, beautifully produced booklet on the question “Does science make belief in God obsolete?” published by the Templeton Foundation and edited by Michael Shermer.

In this week’s eSkeptic, John Ray celebrates the triumph of skepticism over 9/11 conspiracy theorists; the Skeptics Society gets a presence on MySpace; Shermer receives his first honorary doctorate and delivers a commencement speech; and, we remind readers about The Amazing Meeting 6 coming up in a couple weeks!

In this week’s eSkeptic, Daniel Loxton digs into a protest campaign that is fighting to block enforcement of Canada’s purity, safety, and labeling laws for natural health products — and discovers a shadowy business interest behind the faux consumer watchdog site organizing those protests.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Tony Ortega debunks the Phoenix Lights: the mysterious “vee” configuration that people reported seeing flying over the state of Arizona in March 1997.