The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

In this wide-ranging dialogue on the nature of consciousness, Dr. Michael Shermer talks with Dr. Gregory Berns, Distinguished Professor of Neuroeconomics and Director of the Center for Neuropolicy and Facility for Education and Research in Neuroscience.

Out of the exploratory instincts that allowed our ancestors to prosper hundreds of thousands of years ago, humans developed a cognitive style that Dr. Leonard Mlodinow terms elastic thinking.

In his most ambitious work yet—a scientific exploration into humanity’s obsession with the afterlife and quest for immortality—bestselling author and skeptic, Michael Shermer, sets out to discover what drives humans’ belief in life after death, focusing on recent scientific attempts to achieve immortality along with utopian attempts to create heaven on earth.

HEAR HEAR! Announcing the Science Salon Podcast. We are pleased to announce the release of the Science Salon Podcast for your listening pleasure. Listen to Science Salon via iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and Soundcloud.

Michael Shermer interviews Bill Nye the Science Guy about his new Netflix series “Bill Nye Saves the World,” which aired Friday, April 21, 2017.

How did a tiny sect of just 20 people at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion in 30 CE became 25 to 35 million Christians by 400 CE? In this remote Science Salon Dr. Shermer converses with the great bible scholar and historian Dr. Bart D. Ehrman, the Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In Science Salon 17, Nobel Prize winner Dr. Kip Thorne will reflect on his life and career in theoretical physics, his work on gravitational waves, black holes, wormholes, and time travel, his relationship and bet with Stephen Hawking, and how he came to consult on Carl Sagan’s Contact and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.

Dr. Robert Trivers and Dr. Michael Shermer have a lively conversation on everything from evolutionary theory and human nature to how to win a knife fight and Trivers’ membership in the Black Panthers. Don’t miss this engaging exchange with one of the most interesting scientists of the past half century.

In Science Salon # 15 — UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens — Prothero and Callahan explore why such demonstrably false beliefs thrive despite decades of education and scientific debunking.

Dr. Nancy Segal, the world’s leading expert on twins, has a new book that sheds light on over 70 commonly held ideas and beliefs about the origins and development of identical and fraternal twins. Using the latest scientific findings from psychology, psychiatry, biology, and education, Dr. Segal separates fact from fiction.