The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

Why are we so bad at spotting deception? In this week’s eSkeptic, we present an excerpt from The Confidence Game: Why We Fall For It…Every Time, by Maria Konnikova, published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2016 by Maria Konnikova. This excerpt appeared in Skeptic magazine 21.1 (2016).

In this week’s eSkeptic, Raymond Barglow & Margret Schaefer discuss the issue of vaccination of school children, the subject in California of a prolonged and bitter debate which led to California Senate Bill 277 which eliminated the personal belief exemption that allowed unvaccinated children to attend school. The bill became law in California on the last day of June 2015.

Daniel Loxton considers a recent Scientific American blog post which argues that skeptics should "bash homeopathy and bigfoot less" and concentrate on "harder targets" such as an end to war.

They say “God works in mysterious ways.” Does He intervene in the lives of some people and not others based on the quality of the prayers of their friends and family? In this open letter to Larry Taunton, Michael Shermer questions Taunton‘s belief that his recovery from a bicycle accident was due to divine intervention prompted by the many prayers of family and friends.

Michelle E. Ainsworth reviews the book: The Witch of Lime Street: Séance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World, by David Jaher.

In this week’s eSkeptic: Upcoming Science Salon: Mar. 20 / Sean B. Carroll / The Serengeti Rules New Interview Video: Shermer on His Favorite Topics to Write About Feature Article: Great ET Paradox: Will We Find Them Before They Find Us? INSIGHT: Taking a Shot at the Boot Hill Ghost SCIENCE SALON MARCH 20 The […]

Michael Shermer’s new book, now available and published by Henry Holt/Macmillan, is a collection of his Scientific American essays that began in April of 2001. Shermer is most pleased with being able to bind the first 75 essays between two covers, and tell you about them here through the Introduction to the book, reprinted by permission of the publisher.

Daniel Loxton considers four arguments for the value of scientific skepticism’s core focus on pseudoscientific and paranormal claims.

Bob Schadewald was the leading skeptical authority on the history of flat-Earth advocacy. Now the book he left unfinished has been prepared and published online.

Guest author John Rael discusses his criticism of claims by comic and actor Patton Oswalt, and Oswalt’s unexpectedly gracious response.

Jim Lippard reports on the ongoing book tour of a prominent critic of the Church of Scientology.

Are subtle individual memory differences evidence of alternate universes? Michael Shermer considers the claim.

Daniel Loxton shares an excerpt from Junior Skeptic 50 (released in print format in 2014).

In this week’s eSkeptic, Kevin Mccaffree and Anondah Saide present a meta-analysis of peer-reviewed empirical studies that evaluate the success of teaching critical thinking strategies in the classroom. In addition, they discuss some reasons for the limited impact of these strategies.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Gary Whittenberger examines Miklos Jako’s “Soft Theism” God postulated in Jako’s article “In Defense of Soft Theism,” which appeared in Skeptic Magazine 19.2 (2014). Whittenberger argues that, when considering the origins of existence, we don’t need to step outside the boundaries of science.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Steven Pinker moves to Beckman Auditorium from Baxter Hall, and tickets are now available in advance; Eve Siebert discuss the History Channel’s Vikings, and Daniel Loxton discusses the scope of skepticism and skeptical history on INSIGHT at Skeptic.com; Skepticality interviews Ian Harris; and Lucy talks with Mr. Deity about all the help he’s been giving people in the wealthier countries of the world.

In this week’s eSkeptic, David Knight Larue remembers one of the pioneers of the modern skeptical movement: his father, Gerald Alexander Larue, Senior, who passed away on September 17, 2014 at the age of 98.

Jim Lippard discusses the birth of the modern skeptical movement, and introduces some of the questions he plans to ask about the successes, shortcomings, and conceptual foundations for that ongoing project.

In a guest post, Eugenie Scott welcomes the creation of the Skeptics Society’s new INSIGHT blog, and argues that science and critical thinking are for everyone.

Last week, the James Randi Educational Foundation’s “The Amazing Meeting 2014” conference in Las Vegas brought together many of the most engaging voices in science and skepticism for a challenging and joyful celebration of ideas. The Skeptics Society was in the spotlight, with Michael Shermer, Donald Prothero, and Junior Skeptic’s Daniel Loxton taking the stage for feature presentations. In this week’s eSkeptic, we share the text of Loxton’s well-received speech on skeptical history, titled “A Rare and Beautiful Thing.” Although…