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I’m an ENFP: We’re Confused by Personality Tests
“But I like being around people, a lot….” I was sitting in my boyfriend’s parents’ guest room, contorting my face into a frown, on the phone with a woman who promised to tell me my personality type....
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On Her Majesty’s Secret Saucers
How UFOs Conquered the World: The History of a Modern Myth. By David Clarke. Aurum Press, Ltd., London, 2015. 312 pp. $28.99. One of the most profound observations ever made about UFOs was that of the...
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The Wikipediatrician’s Whirlwind Australian Tour
I went to see my dental hygienist today, and the conversation went this way: Hygienist – “I love your hat, Susan.” Susan – “Thank you! I got it on my trip to Australia. I bought it at the Tasmanian...
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The Unseen (But Often Heard) World of Welcome to Night Vale - An Interview...
The world of Welcome to Night Vale is surreal and haunting—and it’s the setting of one of the most popular independent podcasts in the world. Set in a mysterious desert town, it’s a cross between Twin...
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The Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming
On May 16, 2013, President Obama tweeted that “Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree: #climate change is real, man-made and dangerous.” The President is one of countless people who have come to...
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A Protopian View of Moral Progress
The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom. By Michael Shermer. Henry Holt and Company, 2015. ISBN 9780805096910. 541 pp. Hardcover, $32.00. Religion has...
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The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Delusion: Looking Back after Forty Years
Forty years have passed since my book The Bermuda Triangle Mystery—Solved was published in 1975. The most important chapter is “Flight 19,” the account of the five Navy Avenger torpedo bombers and a...
View ArticleWe Are All GMOs
Implications of New Research on Horizontal Gene Transfer Humans have been modifying the genomes of plants and animals for millennia with techniques ranging from cross-breeding to irradiation. But...
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Grief Vampires Don’t Come Out Only at Night
The day after the Monterey County SkepiCamp event this January, I received a phone call from a local woman named Sue. Apparently she had read about our skeptics group in one of the local newspapers...
View ArticleThe Search for Negative Evidence
Everyone loves a mystery. Solve one in science, and accolades are forthcoming. Not so, however, in the realm of the paranormal, where evidence, logic, and theories are often stood on their heads....
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Screening Tests and Primum non nocere
Primum non nocere is a Latin phrase meaning “first do no harm.” It is commonly attributed to Hippocrates, but if he ever said any such thing, he certainly didn’t say it in Latin. He lived in ancient...
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Poltergeist Scribbler: The Bizarre Case of Matthew Manning
What has been called “one of the most extraordinary outbreaks of poltergeist phenomena” of the twentieth century began with an English schoolboy, aged eleven and a half years, Matthew Manning...
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Understanding Evolution—Naming Matters but Not That Much
The arguments go like this: “If Archaeopteryx is classified as a bird, then it isn’t a dinosaur, and you can’t say that birds came from dinosaurs.” Or, “Since Tiktaalik is classified as a fish, it...
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Nudging People to Save the Planet
The problem with global warming is that most of the really bad stuff will happen to other people in the future. True, some of those people might be our children or grandchildren, but they are other...
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The Charlie Charlie Challenge
“Charlie, can we play?” This simple question—and two pencils put on a cross drawn on a piece of paper—should allow you to evoke the spirit of a child or even a demon. This is the latest web craze...
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A Chiropractor’s Dinner Seminar Promoting Laser Treatment of Arthritis
I have noticed while perusing the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times that some contemporary chiropractors continue to find inspiration from Bartlett Joshua (B.J.) Palmer (1882–1961). B.J. was the...
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A Skeptic on the ConspiraSea Cruise—Interview with Colin McRoberts
It’s an experience that may not appeal to everyone—a seven-day cruise at sea, with the aim of “taking back power from corrupt and greedy institutions, attain true self-authority, and realize our...
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¿Nos visitan seres de otros mundos?
Mucha gente cree que la Tierra ha recibido visitas de extraterrestres. ¿Es posible? Para empezar, no hablemos de avistamientos de platillos volantes ni de cosas parecidas, sino de dónde vivimos, desde...
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Newborn Babies Don’t Have Sex, So Why Do We Vaccinate Them for a Sexually...
Vaccination is arguably the greatest accomplishment of modern medicine; vaccines have saved millions from death and disability, and smallpox has been eradicated forever. But vaccines are not without...
View ArticleGuns: Feeling Safe Does Not Equal Being Safe
This article is adapted from an earlier version that has appeared on our website. View Original Article
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