The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

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eSkeptic for July 22, 2015

In this essay, as a follow-up to his book, The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning: Why the Universe Is Not Designed for Us (in which he showed that, based on our knowledge of this universe alone, divine fine-tuning claims are without merit), Victor J. Stenger brings the arguments up-to-date with a discussion of the eternal multiverse hypothesis. This article was published in Skeptic magazine issue 19.3 in 2014.

eSkeptic for July 15, 2015

The human tendency to organize information even where no useful information exists appears to be hardwired into our brains. In this week’s eSkeptic, we present on article from the archives of Skeptic magazine issue 5.1, from 1997 wherein professional magician Jamy Ian Swiss discusses critical thinking as a way of protecting ourselves from the threat of deception.

eSkeptic for July 8, 2015

Have you ever gone cow tipping, or do you know someone who says they have? Where in the world did this strange idea come from? In this week’s eSkeptic, Pat Linse examines the surprising origins of cow tipping. This article was originally published in Skeptic magazine 20.1 (2015).

eSkeptic for July 1, 2015

Have you ever questioned your faith, or worried about what life would be like without it, or do you know someone who has? Have you ever wrestled with issues of how to replace religious practices and ideas with secular ones? In this week’s eSkeptic, Donald Prothero reviews Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions: a book by Phil Zuckerman that addresses these topics.

eSkeptic for June 24, 2015

Over the weekend of May 29–31 skeptics listened to talks by world-class scientists and scholars, were dazzled and amazed by the brilliant magician and skeptical activist Jamy Ian Swiss (one of the world’s top magicians, who taught spectators how to avoid being fooled), were joined by mega movie star Johnny Depp and his wife (actress Amber Heard), rocked out to a live performance by Las Vegas headliner Frankie Moreno and his band, toured the San Andreas Fault with Donald Prothero,…

eSkeptic for June 17, 2015

In this week’s eSkeptic, William M. London reviews the Skeptics Society Conference on the Future of Science and Humanity that took place at Caltech May 29–31, 2015.

eSkeptic for June 10, 2015

Are the greatest artists, musicians, and writers melancholic, bipolar, alcoholic, drug addicted, schizophrenic, autistic, or disordered in other ways? How can we know, with any degree of certainty, whether creativity and mental illness are related? In this week’s eSkeptic, Dr. Carol Tavris takes a look at the persistent myth of the mad genius. This article appeared in Skeptic magazine 20.1 (2015).

eSkeptic for June 3, 2015

Missed the Skeptics Conference? Watch the mornign and afternoon panel discussions as well as Richard Dawkins and Michael Shermer in Conversation on the Future of Religion and Morality; ALSO in this week’s eSkeptic: New in our online store: Skeptic eGift Certificates; INSIGHT: Weekly Blog Recap; MonsterTalk: Let’s Get This Off Our Chest; Rent Science Lectures for as low as $1 per lecture: on Vimeo On Demand

eSkeptic for May 27, 2015

In this week’s eSkeptic: Skeptics Conference: Entertainment Update for May 29 & 30; INSIGHT: Hyman’s Maxim & Shakespeare’s Portrait; Rent Science Lectures for as low as $1 per lecture on Vimeo On Demand; Dialogue on the Nature of Science: New posts by Sheldrake & Shermer

eSkeptic for May 20, 2015

In this week’s eSkeptic, Dr. Harriet Hall, M.D., the SkepDoc, reviews The Gluten Lie: and other myths about what you eat, by Alan Levinovitz.

eSkeptic for May 12, 2015

In this week’s eSkeptic, we present a skeptical classic: an interview with a co-founder of modern skepticism: Ray Hyman. This interview first appeared in Skeptic magazine 6.2, back in 1998.

eSkeptic for May 6, 2015

In this week’s eSkeptic, Russell Friedman—skeptic, colleague, and friend of Michael Shermer—writes in response to Shermer’s article on the gay rights revolution. Friedman recounts his experience opening the first gay bar in Los Angeles with windows that faced the street, a big deal at the time as gays were still in the closet and all such public venues were hidden to the public and you had to know where to go to get in.

eSkeptic for April 29, 2015

Historically, the arc of the moral universe has been bending toward justice because we have stopped treating people based on who they are by nature, such as gender, race, and most recently by sexual preference. The recent legal imbroglio over the right of businesses in Indiana and other states to refuse service to people based on their sexual preference (gay versus straight) illuminates how quickly this rights revolution is unfolding.

eSkeptic for April 22, 2015

In this week’s eSkeptic, Glenn Branch reviews Why Science Does Not Disprove God, by Amir D. Aczel. This review was published in Skeptic magazine 20.1 (2015).

eSkeptic for April 15, 2015

In this week’s eSkeptic, John E. Buckner V and Rebecca A. Buckner discuss compartmentalization and conformity as possible socio-psychological mechanisms that might explain how individuals, through education, can decrease their paranormal/supernatural beliefs without improving their critical thinking skills.

eSkeptic for April 8, 2015

Marc Hauser and Michael Shermer dialogue about the problem of whether science can help determine moral values.

eSkeptic for April 1, 2015

On the heels of Sunday’s HBO documentary film by Alex Gibney, Going Clear, in this week’s eSkeptic we present an article by Dr. Michael Shermer from Skeptic magazine 17.1 on the cult-like nature of Scientology.

eSkeptic for March 25, 2015

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.

eSkeptic for March 18, 2015

Sometimes strange things happen, the causes for which seem hard to explain. Sometimes, these occurrences are referred to as “supernatural” or “paranormal.” But, what do those words really mean? In this week’s eSkeptic, Michael Shermer describes what is meant by “supernatural.”

15-03-11

Phenylalanine, butyric acid, methionine, sodium tripolyphosphate, 2-methylbutyl ethanoate, pentyl acetate, monosodium glutamate… What are all these long, hard-to-pronounce chemicals listed on food labels? Should we avoid them? In this week’s eSkeptic, Harriet Hall, M.D. decodes the preservatives, coloring, and taste-enhancers in food.