Skeptic: Examining Extraordinary Claims and Promoting Science
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What We Do
Publishing
Since 1992, the Skeptics Society has published Skeptic, a quarterly journal that examines a wide variety of social, scientific, and pseudoscientific controversies. Our contributors are top experts in their fields, making Skeptic a respected academic voice. The magazine has been called “stimulating and provocative” by Carl Sagan, “clearly superior … gutsy” by Edward O. Wilson, and “the best journal in the field” by Stephen Jay Gould.
Sent out each week to tens of thousands of readers, our newsletter eSkeptic provides reviews, essays, and opinion editorials on a current happenings in science and culture.
Dr. Michael Shermer, the director of the Skeptics Society, publishes a monthly column in Scientific American called “Skeptic.” Topics he has covered include evolutionary psychology, creationism, religion, evolution, psychology, pseudoscience, alien abductions, prayer and healing, and alternative medicine.
Lectures & Conferences
The Skeptics Society sponsors a monthly lecture series at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA. The lectures are available for purchase in audio & video formats.
We also host scientific conferences that bring together skeptics from all across North America. Each Skeptics Society conference is focused on a specific theme, which allows us to invite a new line-up of prominent speakers to contribute their knowledge and perspective to each one. Lively conversation, debate, and collaboration are hallmarks of these events.
Education & Research
The Society is dedicated to educating the public about controversial claims. We maintain a telephone referral service and this website so that schools, the press, and the general public can access our information. We tirelessly lend our scientific viewpoint to media coverage of a wide range of issues. Check out our list of media appearances.
To further our own learning, as well as the public’s, the Skeptics Society conducts investigations and research into controversial claims. We then make our articles available in our online Reading Room and in Skeptic magazine.
At our online shop, we offer an extensive catalogue of scientific and skeptical books and audio and video recordings for purchase. Skeptics Society members receive a discount.
College Course Syllabuses
For instructors and educators, we have put together a page of college syllabuses that have been used in psychology and philosophy departments, dealing with science, pseudoscience, critical thinking, or skepticism. The creators of these critical thinking syllabuses have allowed us to make them available to you as a guideline for creating and teaching your own courses.
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The Believing Brain
(now in paperback)
Get the autographed paperback
In this, his magnum opus, Dr. Michael Shermer presents his comprehensive theory on how beliefs are born, formed, nourished, reinforced, challenged, changed, and extinguished. Sam Harris calls The Believing Brain “a wonderfully lucid, accessible, and wide-ranging account of the boundary between justified and unjustified belief.” Leonard Mlodinow calls it “a tour de force integrating neuroscience and the social sciences.”
FREE PDF Download
Top 10 Myths About Evolution (and how we know it really happened)
This concise pamphlet provides answers to common objections to evolution, such as: If humans came from apes, why aren’t apes evolving into humans?; Only an intelligent designer could have made something as complex as an eye; The second law of thermo-dynamics proves that evolution is impossible; Evolution can’t account for morality; and more…
FREE PDF Download
Top 10 Things You Should Know About Alternative Medicine
Harriet Hall, MD (aka the SkepDoc), shares her wit and wisdom about alternative medicine including: chiropractic, the placebo effect, homeopathy, acupuncture, and the questionable benefits of organic food, detoxification, and ‘natural’ remedies.
FREE PDF Download
Learn to be a Psychic in 10
Easy Lessons
Psychic readings and fortunetelling are an ancient art — a combination of acting and psychological manipulation. While some psychics are known to cheat and acquire information ahead of time, these ten tips focus on what is known as “cold reading” — reading someone “cold” without any prior knowledge about them.