Skeptical Inquirer

11/06/2025

Register now for our next "Skeptical Inquirer Presents" livestream on Thursday, November 13!

Science has advanced enormously in the past 500 years, guided by experimental tests of theory and practice. In that same time, science teaching and education—guided primarily by tradition and dogma—has remained largely medieval. Carl Wieman will discuss research from university classrooms that r...

11/06/2025

"As a cramping panacea, pickle juice ticks several boxes. First, it’s not a commercial product. So, in a market saturated with sports drinks and electrolyte tonics, pickle juice feels more authentic..."

If you haven’t experienced a muscle cramp, it feels like one of your limbs has been caught in a vice and the muscle is trying to escape by going into an int ...

11/05/2025

Turns out you don’t always need a conference hall, sponsor deck, and polished stage to move skeptical culture forward.

Sometimes it’s 22 people in a room eating pizza, trading ideas, arguing over Teflon, laughing about Dunning-Kruger, and finding the next generation of organizers without even realizing they’re doing it.

This is where skeptical infrastructure actually begins. Tiny, imperfect rooms full of people who still care enough to show up in person 🥰

Read Susan Gerbic’s writeup of Santa Cruz County SkeptiCamp 2025: https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/santa-cruz-county-skepticamp-2025/

11/04/2025

"The uproar on social media was such that the astrologer herself and the publishing house that published the book decided to cancel the event two days before the presentation. Scientists and skeptics spoke out against what was going to happen"

The news that astrologer Ludovica Squirru would be presenting her book on Chinese horoscopes at none other than the Galileo Galilei Planetarium in Buenos Ai ...

11/04/2025

"MAGA and MAHA are happily married in Florida, and nowhere more at home than in Sarasota County, where on a humid October night a crowd of several hundred gathered to honor state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, his wife, and an unlicensed Canadian radiologist who treats cancer with horse paste."

Florida’s surgeon general, spiritual healers, and Trump allies push their cures in a swampy outpost of anti-government absolutism and mystical belief.

10/31/2025

"Once again, research shows that what we think we know about human behavior is often wrong."

For reasons we might be able to figure out, research on the psychology of honesty and lying is having a moment. In a previous column, I wrote about Francesc ...

10/31/2025

The Well-Known Skeptic Rob Palmer interviews private investigator Bob Nygaard about "The Dangers of Believing in Psychics."

In this video interview, I talk with Bob Nygaard, a private detective specializing in combatting psychic fraud, an all-too-frequent class of crime that destroys the financial health and sometimes even the lives of its victims.

10/31/2025

CSI Chief Inves Kenny Biddle was part of a "Nightline" segment on last night's episode about near-death experiences and people who claim to have “seen” the afterlife.

King Charles strips Andrew of royal titles and evicts him from royal residence; A look at ghost investigations and near-death experiences.--WATCH NIGHTLINE E...

10/29/2025

"Despite their commitment to critical thinking and evidence-based approaches to solving problems, some otherwise very clear-thinking skeptics occasionally promote some very odd views about the day-to-day practice of science that would come as a surprise to most scientists and philosophers of science."

Despite their commitment to critical thinking and evidence-based approaches to solving problems, some otherwise very clear-thinking skeptics occasionally pr ...

10/29/2025

Peter Huston on “Count Rafael Dante,” the self-proclaimed “world’s deadliest man," and his practice of “Dim Mak, the kung fu death touch.”

Arguably both a legend and an embarrassment in the martial arts world, “Count Rafael Dante,” the self-proclaimed “world’s deadliest man,” is best known toda ...

10/29/2025

From the latest issue of Skeptical Inquirer, which is available to read online now!

Since its premiere in 2016, Stranger Things has become a pop culture phenomenon. Set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, during the 1980s, the show c ...

10/28/2025

From the brand-new issue of Skeptical Inquirer: "Both the film and the stage show do an excellent job of showcasing how going against the grain can be immensely challenging while highlighting many skeptical undertones."

The desire to conform to often-misguided cultural norms—or even outright misinformation—was highlighted beautifully in the popular Broadway-show-turned-movi ...