Skepticism
Category archives for Skepticism
Sungudogo Second Edition
Posted by Greg Laden on December 17, 2013 
As you know, I wrote a novella as part of a fundraiser a while back. It is called “Sungudogo” and it is the story of the origin of the Skeptics movement and modern cryptozoology. It is also an adventure story in which the protagonists, Archer Mallows and Pat Soffer, travel across the unforgiving landscape of…
Faith-Based Pseudo-Science
Posted by Greg Laden on July 9, 2013 A Panel at CFI’s Women in Secularism panel featuring Sarah Moglia, campus organizing communication specialist, SSA; Carrie Poppy, animal rights activist, podcast co-host of “Oh No, Ross and Carrie!”; Amy Davis Roth, artist, blogger at “Skepchick”; and Rebecca Watson, co-host of “Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe,” creator of “Skepchick“. The panel is moderated by Desiree…
Global Warming Skepticism In Decline
Posted by Greg Laden on April 9, 2013 
There is a new Gallup poll that together with earlier data from Gallup provides some interesting information about attitudes in the US about global warming. Earlier polls have shown increase and decrease in concern about global warming, and changes in what people think of news about climate change and the severity of the problem. Recently,…
Using Homeopathy To Treat Intestinal Woes, Domestic Violence, and Everything
Posted by Greg Laden on October 8, 2012 I knew this guy, can’t remember his name, who practiced a combination of naturopathy and homeopathy (they are different) along with a few other suspicious arts, back in the 1970s. Other than the white muumuu that he usually wore, I remember two things about him. I remember that a few years before I ever laid…
Skepticism is a cultural phenomenon
Posted by Greg Laden on April 25, 2012 Skepticism is a cultural phenomenon. I know that many self-declared skeptics prefer to … ah … believe otherwise, or as they would perhaps say, they have deduced from pure principles using sound logic that Skepticism is rational behavior and there is nothing cultural about it. But they are wrong, and that is trivially easy to…
Testing Out the Woo, and More.
Posted by Greg Laden on January 7, 2012 For a full year, A.J. Jacobs followed every piece of health advice he could — from applying sunscreen by the shot glass to wearing a bicycle helmet while shopping. Onstage at TEDMED, he shares the surprising things he learned.
Linking Elevators, Rebecca Watson, Richard Dawkins and of course, Hitler and the Nazis!!!11!!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 19, 2011 As you know, I’ve shifted some of the topics I have discussed on this blog over to The X Blog. However, some topics can very reasonably go on both. One of these is how we communicate, and argue, and sometimes make progress in this crazy, zany place we call The Blogsophere. Also, as an Anthropologist,…
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: What is it, and should we fund it?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 11, 2011 Skeptics love to hate CAM. And often, with good reason. Alternative medicines or medical treatments, as is often pointed out, become “mainstream” when the available science suggests that they work, so it is almost axiomatic that “alternative” means “unproven” and it is probably almost always true that the kinds of things that end up as…
Mythbusters Cannon Ball Firing Mishap Animated
Posted by Greg Laden on December 8, 2011 TV show Mythbusters has apologized after an experiment it conducted to measure the speed of a cannonball went wrong, leaving a trail of destruction across a California suburb. Instead of hitting its intended target, the cannon misfired, sending a six-inch ball of lead careening through one house, damaging another before ending up lodged in a…
Ben Goldacre: Battling bad science
Posted by Greg Laden on October 5, 2011 Every day there are news reports of new health advice, but how can you know if they’re right? Doctor and epidemiologist Ben Goldacre shows us, at high speed, the ways evidence can be distorted, from the blindingly obvious nutrition claims to the very subtle tricks of the pharmaceutical industry.