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Iranian Schoolgirl “Chemical Attacks”: Mass Poisonings or Mass Hysteria?

Robert Bartholomew | March 10, 2023

Since November 2022, scores of girls in schools across Iran, have reportedly fallen victim to mysterious attacks with poison gas, sparking protests and outrage. While authorities are baffled, these incidents have all the hallmarks of mass psychogenic illness. In recent decades, remarkably similar outbreaks have occurred in different parts of the world – several involving Islamic females. What these episodes have in common is a group of oppressed girls under extreme, prolonged stress.

Why Nationalism Is Hostile to America

Yaron Brook & Elan Journo | March 7, 2023

America is being torn apart. Amid growing strife, many people are experiencing angst concerning the future of this country, a country once renowned for its exuberant spirit of discovery, progress, liberty. From across the increasingly tribal political landscape, one can observe attacks on the ideas that fueled America’s spectacular rise: reason, individualism, and political freedom. From the illiberal left the “woke” phenomenon has emerged, rising to dominance in cultural institutions and calling for “canceling” those institutions, symbols, and even thoughts…

Political Polarization: Uncertainty and the Neurobiology of Why We’re So Divided

Natasha Mott | March 4, 2023

While many essays have addressed the social events and psychological traits that drive polarized thinking, the neural underpinnings of uncertainty and polarization are largely unknown. We know the brain processes information and makes decisions, but we know little about how politically polarized information is encoded, and even less about how attitudes about uncertainty influence that processing. Why is it important? In this article Natasha Mott explains that uncertainty may be seen as a threat, which moves individuals toward certain positions…

Flat Earthers Around the Globe: Review of Off the Edge by Kelly Weill

Terence Hines | February 28, 2023

In this review of investigative journalist Kelly Weill’s important book on the flat Earth movement, the people involved, and their psychology, readers will discover that the flat Earth movement contains a great diversity of beliefs. As an example, an obvious question is why don’t we find an edge? Well, some say, there is an edge—it’s the Antarctic which forms an ice wall around the flat Earth to keep the oceans from spilling over the edge. But regular people can’t go…

Bad Behavioral Science Exposed: Review of The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can’t Cure Our Social Ills by Jesse Singal

Terence Hines | February 25, 2023

There is probably no other scientific discipline in which fads come and go so quickly, and with so much hype, as psychology. In his Quick Fix, Jesse Singal discusses eight different psychological ideas that have been promoted as quick fixes for different social problems. He refers to these as “half-baked” ideas—ideas that may not be 100 percent bunk but which are severely overhyped. This review of Singal’s book discusses the many different flawed studies that derailed psychology for years.

There is Only Entropy: Unifying the Narrative of Science

Chris Edwards | February 21, 2023

Entropy keeps the arrow of time moving; today is less ordered than yesterday, and this is certain. If we extrapolate this concept backwards, through our scientific narrative to the origins of the universe, then we must postdict a universe that was once ordered only through its lack of movement, which means it was frozen. But even then, as Galileo once said of the Earth, eppur si muove, but it does move. And if it moves, it creates heat, and understanding…

Look! Up in the Sky… Chinese Balloon Scare Rekindles Memories of Similar Panics and Feeds Excitement About Aliens

Robert E. Bartholomew | February 15, 2023

A string of mysterious balloon sightings generates fear and excitement as thousands of anxious residents scan the skies to glimpse floating objects that are believed to emanate from a hostile foreign power. The Chinese spy balloon scare of 2023? No, the balloon panic of 1892 in Russian-occupied Poland. In this analysis of the history of balloon sightings Robert Bartholomew puts the Chinese spy balloon incident into perspective and shows why more such sightings are expected.

Sex — Are We Doing It Right Yet? Reflections on the Ever-Evolving Sexual Revolution

Carol Tavris | February 14, 2023

In recent years a number of books written by women in their 30s reflect on their sexual histories in their 20s in a regretful way, deciding that the type of feminism that liberated women to have sex like men — carefree and commitment-free with a variety of partners and with no consequences — is perhaps not the best strategy inasmuch as women and men differ in their sexual psychology. In this article psychologist Carol Tavris evaluates this claim and how…

Paradoxes of Religion and Science in the USA

Jared Diamond, Carol Bakhos & Alex Joyce-Johnson | February 11, 2023

Science and religion present two paradoxes in the United States. On the one hand, the U.S. is the undisputed world leader in science. Yet, the U.S. is also the wealthy industrialized country with the most widespread skepticism about science, most notably regarding climate change, vaccines, and evolution. How can those two seemingly incompatible facts be reconciled? This article solves this paradox.

Why Nations Are Becoming More Secular

Phil Zuckerman | February 4, 2023

That the world in general and the United States in particular are becoming ever more secularized is no longer in dispute. The data are clear. The rise of the nones (no religious affiliation) is real. The hard question to answer is why. In this deep analysis of the many causal factors at work readers will learn about the long term trends that are likely to continue.

Redefining Personhood and Abortion Rights: The Path Forward in a Post-Roe World

Gary Whittenberger | February 3, 2023

When does life begin? It is the question at the core of the abortion debate, and is the focus of this article that makes the case that abortion should be legal at the very least in the first trimester and into the second trimester, based on the science behind when a fetus becomes a sentient being and thus, arguably, a legal person. Legally, it is persons who are protected by laws, not potential persons in the form of a small…

Can’t These People Read?

Harriet Hall, M.D. | January 31, 2023

Dr. Harriet Hall shows how the failure to read medical and health literature carefully and critically leads to a number of cognitive problems, such as correlation is not causation, and personal anecdotes and testimonials don’t count as evidence. We will miss Dr. Hall’s wisdom and encourage readers to visit her website to read her many writings over the years on medical, health, diet, and related topics.

You’re Not That Big a Star: Using the Science of Crowd Estimation to Debunk Extraordinary Estimates of Mega-Concerts

John D. Van Dyke | January 28, 2023

When people estimate the size of large crowds—from presidents and their inaugural addresses to rock stars and their concert audiences—we know that there can be a lot of blue sky exaggeration in the numbers. But how do professionals estimate crowd sizes using the latest tools of science and mathematics? In this article John D. Van Dyke reveals the secrets to estimating how many people are gathered in any one space.

Cracking History: Chiropractic’s Secret Origin

J. Michael Menke | January 24, 2023

The origin of chiropractic medicine has long been under dispute, with most modern chiropractors denying that its purported founder, D.D. Palmer, copied osteopathy. Yet, the two schools of thought were nearly identical at their beginnings, and just a few hours apart by railway. Further, chiropractic was “discovered” the same year—1895—that the first class of the American School of Osteopathy (ASO) was graduated. Chiropractors dismiss the sudden emergence of chiropractic so near in time and space to the ASO as a…

Persistent Belief: The Relative Implausibility of Certainty

Richard Randall | January 21, 2023

Long before science came of age in the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, religion had been struggling to make sense of the world for millennia. Sometimes they got it right, but mostly they had no idea how the world works and had no systematic method to determine as much. This article explores the relationship between science and religion in terms of what was known back then and what is known now.

Wisdom of the SkepDoc: Harriet Hall, MD (1945–2023)

Michael Shermer | January 18, 2023

All of us at Skeptic magazine—along with those in the larger skeptical and scientific communities—are sad to announce the passing of Harriet Hall, M.D., widely known as the SkepDoc. Michael Shermer always looked forward to editing Harriet’s SkepDoc column, not only because she was such a lucid writer and critical thinker, but because he learned so much from her…

Testing Determinism

Gary J. Whittenberger |

The philosophical problem of free will and determinism—how can humans have any sort of volition in a world determined by the laws of nature?—has troubled thinkers since the time of the ancient Greeks, and here in the 21st century there is still no consensus among thinkers on a solution to the problem. Can science help? Is there some way to test determinism? There is, says Gary Whittenberger, in this evocative article in response to a debate in the pages of…

Poking Holes in Needle-Spiking: Nightclub “Attacks” Scare Sweeps Europe

Robert Bartholomew & Paul Weatherhead | January 17, 2023

Mass hysterias, moral panics, and social contagions are known social psychological phenomena that can cause large numbers of people to believe things are happening to them that upon closer inspection become literally unbelievable. In this insightful analysis the authors—experts on the subject—show how the sudden spike in needle attacks is very likely one of these ephemeral phenomena.

News Media & Declining Race Relations:Social Narratives More Than Real-Life Events May Be Driving Decline in Race Relations

Chris Ferguson | January 7, 2023

Everyone knows that race relations in America have a long and troubled history. By some measures race relations are very good, with polls showing that people are more tolerant of racial diversity today than they were decades ago. But by other measures it would seem race matters are more disconcerting than ever. In this analysis Chris Ferguson attributes the troubling events of recent years to the news media and how they create a social narrative driving the decline of race…

What Darwin Got Wrong About the Female of (All) Species

Carol Tavris | December 28, 2022

According to the standard model of evolutionary psychology females tend to be sexually coy, discriminating, and risk averse while males are sexually assertive, indiscriminate, and risk taking. Not so fast, says Carol Tavris in this skeptical look at the standard model, as context and species also matters in how we analyze behavior, especially sexuality.

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