Clik here to view.
History Channel’s Vikings and the Mystical Land of England
On the History Channel series Vikings, Ragnar’s army charges into battle. Photo by Bernard Walsh/HISTORY. Copyright 2014 Have you ever watched a movie or a television show with someone who nitpicks...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Video: TAM 2013 Panel on the Scope and Mission of Scientific Skepticism
Steven Novella, Daniel Loxton, Barbara Drescher, and Jamy Ian Swiss sitting on the “Skeptical Scope and Mission” panel discussion at The Amazing Meeting 2013 conference (July 11–14, 2013) in Las Vegas....
View ArticleClik here to view.
From the Skeptical Literature: Thomas Ady on the Role of Mental Illness in...
Thomas Ady was an English doctor and critical exposer of both persecutions for alleged witchcraft and the type of faux-paranormal scams, such as fortunetelling, that sometimes led to witchcraft trials....
View ArticleSome of My Work in Skeptical History (Updated)
A version of this post was originally published at Skepticblog on August 19, 2013, where I intended to update it from time to time. However, the Skeptics Society has since retired Skepticblog, so the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Logic of Causal Conclusions: How we know that fire burns, fertilizer...
This post was originally published at Drescher’s personal ICBS Everywhere blog on October 1, 2014. I usually cringe when I read a comment by a skeptic arguing that “correlation does not prove...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who Invented Pasteurization?
People have a habit of trying to tie inventions to the work of some single genius, but that is not how inventions are created, and not how discoveries are made. This is the first in a series of posts...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Science On the Edge of Life
Is anybody still at home when the lights go out?—Wikimedia Commons/Jens Maus BY-SA “Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here,” said that ancient hero of hedonism and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Challenging Psychics is Deadly Serious Business
UK-based Sally Morgan, known by her moniker “Psychic Sally,” has become embroiled this week in another dispute with skeptics. Earlier today an undercover video was released showing rather disturbing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Signs of Hope—and Despair—on Climate Change
The People’s Climate March, Sept. 21, 2014, in New York City was attended by nearly half a million people. (Image by Thomas Good, courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Used under Creative Commons...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Reports of the Demise of Books Are Greatly Exaggerated
eBooks may be popular, but they are not going to replace paper books any time soon. (Image by Maximilian Schönherr, courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Of Pods and Monsters
MonsterTalk is a free audio program about science and monsters, presented by Skeptic magazine. Discover our podcasts today! A reader recently wrote in to Skeptic to complain about the inclusion of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More On Why Smart People Are Not Always Rational
In a previous post I discussed the fascinating case of Paul Frampton who, as the website News Observer put it, “instantly was transformed from superstar particle phenomenologist with three Oxford...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Video: TAM 2013 Skeptical History Workshop
Daniel Loxton at TAM 2013 “Preserving Skeptical History” workshop. Photograph by Susan Gerbic, via Wikimedia Commons. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. The James...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Woo in the White House
The news just came out that astrologer Joan Quigley died on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at age 87. Unlike most astrologers who just mess up the lives of a few ordinary people with their phony mumbo-jumbo,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kirk Cameron and His Critics: Is Halloween Christian or Pagan?
Actor Kirk Cameron. Image by Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Kirk Cameron, former child actor and current fundamentalist...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Monsters & Science
It’s almost Halloween and for some of you that means you’re gorging on scary movies and planning your kid’s trick-or-treating costumes. If you like monsters and scary stories but don’t care for the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Skeptical Maxim (May) Turn 75 This Week
“Keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out” is a popular skeptic maxim because it summarizes key elements of skepticism in a pithy, humorous way. But who is the original source for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Next Gen Dr Karl? Not Me
Karl Kruszelnicki at a University of Sydney event in 2006. Image by Enoch Lau, via Wikimedia Commons. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. On the back of a book I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ein anderen Welt
INSIGHT is not a political blog. However, the travelogue format Dr. Prothero has used here is inherently personal, and certain scientific topics discussed in the post (such the understanding and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fake Pterosaurs and Sock Puppets
Order the hardcover from Shop Skeptic Order the hardcover from Amazon Order the Kindle Edition Order the Apple iBook When Daniel Loxton and I were doing the research for our book on cryptozoology,...
View Article