How to Repair the American Mind

“Every person we save is one less zombie to fight.”  ―World War Z, 2013 film What is the great lesson of 2020? A pandemic killed hundreds of thousands of people and ravaged economies while people disagreed on basic facts. Conspiracy beliefs ran amok. Unscientific racism surged on social media. Medical quackery enjoyed a boom year. …

Featured photo credit: Orlowski Designs LLC / Shutterstock.com Part 1 appeared in the March/April 2021 Skeptical Inquirer. The cult of QAnon has emerged as one of the most dangerous ideologies of the past five years. Followers became quickly radicalized, awaiting a “Great Awakening” and fueled by a shifting narrative of the “Storm,” awash in conspiratorial …

I had lunch with an old friend of mine and happened to mention my unhappiness with the situation involving global climate change. Specifically, I lamented that the United States had at the time opted out of any concerted action to get a handle on the problem. James, my friend, told me not to worry because …

What is the difference between a scented candle and an aromatherapy one? Answer: About ten dollars. Joking aside, ordinary fragrant materials supposedly become imbued with healing power when—well, when they are sold for that purpose. Aromatherapy is the pseudoscience of using aromatic substances for claimed improvements to one’s physical or mental health. However, medical evidence …

To God, biotechnology must seem like child’s play. Previously in this series, I have explained how, in order to conform with creationist beliefs, God had to manipulate all the rocks and fossils, and even the light from distant galaxies, to make a young, miraculously created universe look like an old, evolved one. But perhaps his …

Dr. Adrian White was my coworker from about 1994 until 2005 in the Department of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter. He became a trusted colleague and eventually the deputy head of my department. When I discovered that my trust had been misplaced, I did not prolong his contract (for details, see my memoir [Ernst 2015]). …

In 2015, I warned a friend of mine that the newly minted “alt-right” should not be taken lightly. We disagree politically; she identifies as a conservative and would eventually be a Trump supporter. She was expressing amusement, via Facebook, over liberal worrywarts who were clutching their pearls because of the rhetoric of people such as …

Scientists are only human, and all humans are vulnerable to failings. I have been following with great interest such excursions from the norm for most of my life. Scientific fraud is perhaps the most infamous example. Such is the pressure to get published that many results are rushed to print before (or without) the necessary …

Our three lead articles continue examining our current crisis in America. Evident throughout the tumultuous year of 2020 and early 2021, from our skeptics’ viewpoint we see far too many people unable (or unwilling) to separate fantasy from reality, see through obvious conspiracy theories, and make decisions based on evidence rather than emotion. In our …

Skeptics and folklorists know that conspiracy theories are a dime a dozen. For every high-profile one you can think of—from Roswell alien bodies to moon-landing hoaxes—there are hundreds of lesser-known ones. And more are cranked out all the time. Conspiracy theories rise and fall in popularity, but—like unsinkable rubber ducks—they never really go away. Because …

Another month passes by, and it seems another month is lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. I know many of us have used our time away from the normal world wisely. We’ve cleaned out every one our closets, found all our hidden childhood toys in the attic, rekindled our love affair with our pets, and watched …

The Center for Inquiry Investigations Group (CFIIG) currently administers the world’s largest active paranormal challenge at $250,000 (the James Randi Education Foundation $1 Million Challenge has been dormant for years). Many dozens of people apply for this prize every year. This requires quite a bit of work on the part of the CFIIG’s first responder …

A team of scientists from the United Kingdom and the United States recently announced the detection of phosphine, PH3, in the upper atmosphere of Venus, the second planet in our solar system (“Phosphine Gas in the Cloud Decks of Venus,” by Jane S. Greaves et al. Nature Astronomy [2020]; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1174-4). Using millimeter spectroscopy, a common …

Chinese American experimental physicist Chien-Shiung Wu was honored with a postage stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service in virtual ceremonies on February 11, 2021. Wu, who came to the United States in 1936 to do graduate work, received her doctorate at UC Berkeley (under E.O. Lawrence and Emilio Segrè), and spent most of her …

First, the backstory: Randi was part of a panel the Eastern Psychological Association had put together to look at parapsychology in 1980. After the various presentations were over, Randi did a few tricks for us. A young woman took to the floor microphone and stated that she thought the presentations were rather one-sided. She said …

The entire SKEPTICAL INQUIRER family mourns the loss of former Art Director Christopher S. Fix, who died of pancreatic cancer March 6 in Amherst, New York. He was only fifty-one. Chris joined our production staff in 2002 and became art director in 2008. Beginning with our January/February 2009 issue and ending with our May/June 2020 …

I am sorry to report that the decision has been made to cancel CSICon again this year. Although recently the news has become somewhat encouraging regarding the pandemic—vaccinations are up, and infections seems to be trending lower—it is just too uncertain as to when things will be safe again for people to travel and gather …

Ghost ships are said to be “sufficiently abundant” in certain locales as “to make them a hazard to navigation” (Beck 1973, 395). Some—seen in storms or fog—are probably mirages. (For example, a fiery, phantom-ship mystery I investigated in Nova Scotia was solved by witnesses who cited fog in front of the moon coming over the …

A few months after Randi’s passing, it still is not easy to talk about him. We have often heard and read about his extraordinary adventures and exploits: the unmasking of Peter Popoff, the Carlos Hoax, the Alpha Project, the Geller caper, the psychic surgeons of the Philippines, the “Water with Memory” affair, and so on. …

SCIENCE AND ANTHROPOLOGY IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD: A Critique of Unreason and Academic Nonsense. H. Sidky. Thanks to a combination of postmodernist academics who discount truth or reliable knowledge and a Trump presidency that fomented falsehoods and lies, Americans now live in a post-truth era characterized by fake news, weaponized lies, alternative facts, conspiracy theories, …

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named community water fluoridation one of the ten greatest public health achievements of the twentieth century. In a recent statement, the American Dental Association (ADA) stressed that it is “committed to fluoridation of public water supplies as the single most effective public health measure to help prevent tooth …

One of the best theme parties I’ve ever attended was on May 21, 2011. The evangelical Christian broadcaster Harold Camping had garnered considerable publicity with a prediction that The Rapture would occur on that date and that approximately 3 percent of the world’s population would be swept up to heaven to meet their maker. The …

Q: I finished reading your Skeptical Inquirer article1 on BMI (“Bashing the BMI: A Closer Look at the Skeptics”). It’s a good piece; however, I feel compelled to point out a logical flaw. You wrote, “If anything, the fact that the BMI has been widely used for so long is actually evidence that it works—not …

Remembering Randi Your marvelous tribute to James Randi (“Remembering Randi,” January/February 2021) unfortunately did not mention one of his magnificent contributions to the world of science. In 1988, the French researcher Jacques Benveniste published a scientific paper in the renowned journal Nature that appeared to support the concept of homeopathy. John Maddox, Nature’s editor-in-chief, asked …

Science journalist Sarah Scoles’s book can be divided into three sections. The first covers the background of the story that military pilots had taken videos of flying saucers in 2004, videos that became known as the Tic Toc videos. Then there is a short section on the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), which blends nicely into …

Reports coming out of Cuba in 2016 were bizarre, mysterious, and alarming: American diplomats in Havana were under attack by a terrifying and powerful—yet invisible—enemy. Victims complained of headaches, dizziness, nausea, and fatigue; some suffered debilitating memory and concentration problems, while others reported hearing loss and tinnitus. The only clue about its origin was that …

Last summer, the PBS Frontline documentary United States of Conspiracy aired. This excellent program described important changes in our nation that led to the unpredicted, poll-defying election of a media personality with no political or public service experience, a long string of allegations of fraud, at best lackluster business accomplishments, and little respect or interest …

I found the title of The Skeptic’s Guide to Sports Science: Confronting Myths of the Health and Fitness Industry a bit misleading. I was expecting to find a list of sports myths debunked by scientific evidence, but what I found was much better. It does debunk several sports-related myths, but the majority of the book …

Okay, the first question the reader should be asking is “Why is a book on poker being reviewed in Skeptical Inquirer?” Followed by “Why is it being reviewed by a psychologist?” And then “What does he know about poker?” Let me answer in reverse order. I’ve been a poker player all my life. I’ve cashed …