Skeptical Inquirer
Skeptical Inquirer is the official journal of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Six times per year Skeptical Inquirer publishes critical scientific evaluations of all manner of controversial and extraordinary claims, including but not limited to paranormal and fringe-science matters, and informed discussion of all relevant issues. In addition to news, articles, book reviews, and investigations on a wide variety of topics, Skeptical Inquirer has a stellar stable of regular columnists including Joe Nickell (“Investigative Files”), Massimo Polidoro (“Notes on a Strange World”), Massimo Pigluicci (“Thinking About Science”), Robert Sheaffer (“Psychic Vibrations”), and SI managing editor Benjamin Radford's reader-driven (“The Skeptical Inquiree”). Yale University neurologist Steven Novella, M.D., founder of the New England Skeptical Society and executive editor of the Science-Based Medicine blog, contributes a new "The Science of Medicine" column, and contributing editor Kenneth W. Krause adds a regular science column, "ScienceWatch."
The 9/11 Truth Movement: The Top Conspiracy Theory, a Decade Later
by Dave Thomas
Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Feature
After ten years, the pesky 9/11 Truth movement has refined its arguments but still hasn’t proved the attacks were an inside job. Their key claims are refuted on multiple grounds.
A Bestiary of the 9/11 Truth Movement: Notes from the Front Line
by Jamie Bartlett and Carl Miller
Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Feature
Two social scientists describe their experience confronting the 9/11 Truth movement in the United Kingdom after they published a paper linking conspiracy theories with extremist ideology.
Conflicts of Interest in Alternative Medicine
by Edzard Ernst
Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Commentary
I am, of course, talking about a different type of conflict: the one that is created by strong belief and evangelic conviction.
Medium Allison DuBois Is Tested—and Fails—in the Real World
by Ryan Shaffer
Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Special Report
Allison DuBois, the best-selling author who inspired the recently cancelled television show Medium, claims to have amazing psychic abilities. But when her skills are tested in the real world—first with a missing-child case and then at a dinner party on reality-TV—they prove less than stellar.
A Slam-Dunk Debunk
by Matt Crowley
Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Book Review
A review of Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore by Benjamin Radford
Photos of Ghosts: The Burden of Believing the Unbelievable
by Massimo Polidoro
Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Notes on a Strange World
Seeing photos of ghostly faces and figures floating around in the air must have been quite a shock to our ancestors.
What Is Acupuncture?
by Steven Novella
Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
The Science of Medicine
We must first define what acupuncture actually is before we can ask whether acupuncture works. This is not as easy as it might seem.
A Skeptical Look at a Remarkable Case Report of ‘Overnight’ Amnesia
by Harald Merckelbach, Thomas Merten, and Scott O. Lilienfeld
Volume 35.3, May/June 2011
Feature
Extraordinary Symptoms, Weak Evidence, and a Breakdown in Peer Review
Power Lines and Cancer, Distant Healing and Health Care: Magnetism Misrepresented and Misunderstood
by Eugenie V. Mielczarek and Derek C. Araujo1
Volume 35.3, May/June 2011
Feature
The 1990s fear that background magnetic fields—hundreds of times weaker than Earth’s magnetic field—could cause cancer has been replaced.
We Live in Perilous Times for Science
by Elizabeth Loftus
Volume 35.3, May/June 2011
Commentary
If we as scientists want to preserve our freedom (and the welfare of others), now more than ever we have a responsibility.