Skeptic: Examining Extraordinary Claims and Promoting Science
Skeptic Magazine, Volume 16 Number 2
Table of Contents
Cover Story
- How Did Life Begin?
-
A Perspective on the Nature
and Origin of Life
News
-
Who Still Believes
in 9/11 Conspiracies? - An Empirical Study on Political Affiliation and Conspiratorial Thinking
Columns
- The SkepDoc
-
What is Naturopathy?!
- Bad Language
- The Accidental Accent
- ’Twas Brillig…
- Science and Magic
Forum
- Letter to Climate Skeptics
- Letters
- The Dangerous Territory of Sports Dominance; Singling Out Singles; Antony Flew and the Evidence for God; Cell Phones and Cancer
Junior Skeptic
- Skeptical Investigation
-
- Who You Gonna Call?;
- 2,000 Years of Skepticism;
- Early Skeptical Voices;
- Essential Guide for Investigators;
- A Ghostly Mystery Solved;
- How NOT to Hunt Ghosts;
- Researching Stuff On the Internet;
- Science Fair Investigation
Articles
- Ayurvedic Medicine
-
A thousand years old —
but does it work? -
The Singularity
Isn’t Even Close - Why Ray Kurzweil’s Predictions About the Future Are Flawed
- Religion and Violence
-
An Anthropological Study on Religious Belief and Violent Behavior
-
Thank God for
the New Atheists -
A Sermon by the Reverend
Michael Dowd - An Incomprehensible Universe
-
Why the Human Brain is Ill-Equipped to Grasp the True
Nature of Nature
- Lying About Placebos
-
Does the placebo effect work if patients know what they are taking?
- Stradivarius Pseudoscience
-
The Myth of the Miraculous
Musical Instrument
Reviews
- A Five-Star Evolution Encyclopedia
-
Darwin’s Universe: Evolution
from A to Z , by Richard Milner -
Was Hypatia of Alexandria
a Scientist? -
Agora, a film directed by Alejandro Amenábar, written by Amenábar and Mateo Gil
-
Broadcasting from
the Great Beyond -
Consciousness Beyond Life:
The Science of the Near-Death Experience, by Pim van Lommel
- The Eternally Boring Hereafter
- Hereafter, a film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood
-
Conspiring Against
Common Sense -
Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History,
by David Aaronovitch - Stephen Jay Gould: Did he bring paleontology to the “High Table”?
-
Stephen Jay Gould: Reflections on His View of Life, edited by Warren D. Allmon, Patricia H. Kelley, and Robert M. Ross
- It Ain’t Necessarily So
-
Child Development: Myths and Misunderstanding, by Jean Mercer
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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.