Surviving the Misinformation Age

We could say that the whole reason the Skeptical Inquirer exists is to counter misinformation. And in this era of ubiquitous social media and electronic outlets, that is an increasingly tall order. Everybody now has the equivalent of their own printing press, and nearly everyone seems to think they are an expert. One result is …

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and 150 other leading scientific organizations and universities sent a letter to President Trump urging him to rescind his controversial executive order preventing immigration from seven countries. They said it would harm America’s science and technology capabilities by discouraging bright students, scholars, scientists, and innovators from …

The 2017 publication of Transcendent Mind: Rethinking the Science of Consciousness by Imants Barušs and Julia Mossbridge (B&M) by the American Psychological Association (APA) represents something of a landmark in parapsychology. For one thing, it carries the imprimatur of publication by the APA. In fact, it is one of only three books listed in the …

A crowdfunding project has helped launch a new magazine, Kazoo, to empower girls and (in part) help steer them toward science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Kazoo focuses on girls and women, and, according to its website: All of our stories are either developed or inspired by top female artists, explorers, scientists, chefs, athletes, …

Many libraries stock works such as Donald Prothero’s Reality Check: How Science Deniers Threaten Our Future (2013), Stephen Epstein’s Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge (1996), Chris Mooney’s The Republican War on Science (2005), Nicoli Nattrass’s Mortal Combat: AIDS Denialism and the Struggle for Antiretrovirals in South Africa (2007), Seth Kalichman’s Denying …

Sanford Berman (see preceding News and Comment piece) has been working tirelessly for years to improve the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and keep the subject headings and classification system up to date. As mentioned in his article, Berman points out a subtle bias that is created because library catalogs do not truly represent …

Strange mysteries may be found almost anywhere, but they seem especially plentiful and interesting in Australia.

Any nonsense that powerful people such as Oprah Winfrey choose to promote is featured as fact, quackery is extolled, and pseudoscience is flaunted in news media rather than on pulp magazine racks.

“In this case, the gnome is seen as a guardian of nature, just like our Corp is recognized as the environmental protector.”

How a Buddhist Practice Evolved into a Scientific Approach to Life…

For a skeptic, there is nothing more satisfying than discovering that some previously cherished truth has been overturned by new evidence. It is in that spirit that I offer the following Unlearning Report. Empathy Is Bad Everybody loves empathy. Former President Barack Obama often spoke about our “empathy deficit” and the need to “see the …

Si usted está seguro de que los fantasmas son reales (y no el producto de alucinaciones inducidas por CMEs), no hay lógica ni razón alguna para usar un dispositivo para detectar dichos CMEs.

If you are sure that ghosts are real (and not the product of EMF-induced hallucinations), there is no logic or point in using a device to detect those EMFs.

Stem Cell Research It is disappointing to learn how “sluggish” stem cell research has advanced as described in Drs. Barglow and Schaefer’s detailed chronology, “Stem Cell Research: Still Embattled After All These Years” (January/February 2017). Sadly, violation of the Jeffersonian principle of “separation between church and state” has reinforced obstruction of stem cell research in Congress. …

For ourselves and our society, survival in the current era requires adopting scientific habits of mind.

The benefits of statins far outweigh their risks, but public perception has been skewed by alarmist misinformation from statin denialists.

Las estatinas, aunque no son la panacea, han mostrado claramente que tienen efectos positivos -más que negativos- sobre los pacientes en riesgo.

Proponents of the vaccination-autism link have created a bogus scientific debate by providing lists of studies that supposedly support their claims but are actually either questionable or irrelevant. We identify this as a relatively new pseudoscience tactic: the promotion of irrelevant research.

Being a science teacher is the greatest job on Earth. Science can be a truly wondrous gift to share with young people. Although the day-to-day interaction can often feel like I am being pecked to death by ducks, I do not regret my decision twenty-six years ago to become a science teacher. I love working …

The “+” or “-” following the ABO blood type indicates the presence or absence of a protein on the surface of human red blood cells (RBCs) that is referred to as the “Rh factor” (Rh for Rhesus); however, this protein is not found on the surface of Rhesus monkey RBCs. The human protein was renamed …

You were asked how to treat a friend who ardently believes in the paranormal. You said, “Be kind. Be kind. They believe because they need to believe. Be compassionate.”

One of the oldest scientific societies in existence, The Royal Society, has been awarding distinguished individuals with the Copley Medal since 1731, one hundred and seventy years before the first Nobel Prize. The list of Copley Medal recipients includes such recognizable names as Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Priestly, Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Albert Einstein, Max Planck, …

Tests of Astrology: A Critical Review of Hundreds of Studies. By Geoffrey Dean, Arthur Mather, David Nias, and Rudolf Smit. Ain Publications, Amsterdam, 2016. ISBN 978-90-824929-0-3. Softcover, 484 pages, 44 euros (about $47) posted airmail to any country direct from the publisher (wout.heukelom@hetnet.nl). Not available in bookshops. Pay by direct ebank transfer or PayPal.   …

Creating Scientific Controversies: Uncertainty and Bias in Science and Society. By David Harker. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 2015. ISBN 978-1-107-69236-7. 260 pp. Softcover, $28.99. Do you remember the term manufactroversy? A portmanteau of manufactured and controversy, it appeared in 2008 as the intentional product of a marketing and advertising agency to characterize the supposed controversy …