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In a recent Randi.org blog post, D.J. Grothe kindly named me as one of the “workhorses of skepticism”. He explained that these are individuals who “do scientific paranormal investigations of claims.” D.J. also calls out some other investigators, such as Blake Smith of Monster Talk, Sharon Hill of Doubtful News, CSI’s legendary Joe Nickell and the JREF’s very own Jamy Ian Swiss. In his post D.J. adds:

The work of these folks is not at all trivial, and indeed is very important service in the public interest. People are harmed when they believe paranormal and pseudoscientific nonsense, and the work of skepticism, as sort of intellectual consumer protection informed by science and critical thinking and motivated by a kind of humanism or regard for others’ well-being, aims to help people from being hurt by their undue belief.

Before it seems like I’m blowing my own horn, I actually want to give a shout out to a few fellow investigators who are unsung, and share their case about a frightened family and a not-so “haunted” house.

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The following is a contribution to the JREFís ongoing blog series on skepticism and education. If you are an educator and would like to contribute to this series, please contact Bob Blaskiewicz.

In the Fall of 2012 I taught an Honors colloquium on Science & Pseudoscience. This class was discussed in my previous two posts to the JREF teaching series, “Science versus Pseudoscience: Do You Know What You Think You Know?” and “Is It Quackery?: Searching Primary Literature And Popular Evidence For Signs Of Pseudoscience”. In this last post I will take a look back at the most recent semester.

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It was a VERY busy week in weird news, no doubt about that. Here is a rundown of the top stories in pseudoscience, anomalies and just plain oddness from the past week courtesy of Doubtful News.

This was a HUGE week in Bigfoot. The Melba Ketchum paper describing her Sasquatch DNA project was released. But there were SERIOUS questions with the publication format rendering the whole project suspect.

Then, she announces that the data is being reviewed by others. Too bad that didn't happen PRIOR to publication like good science protocol should work.  Some people have to claim their share of the limelight. 2008 Georgia Bigfoot in a Freezer hoaxer Rick Dyer claims he shot another one. This time for real.

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sbmmontageJREF is pleased to announce a new book series it is publishing on Science-Based Medicine.

In cooperation with the Science-Based Medicine blog, which is an invaluable source of expert information on all manner of medical topics, JREF is publishing a number of books on the topic. Led by executive editor Dr. Steven Novella, who heads JREF’s Science-Based Medicine Project, the blog’s team of writers regularly shine the light of good science on spurious health claims, and these new books anthologize their best writing on issues ranging from vaccines and naturopathy to homeopathy and nutritional supplements. Their science-based and skeptical treatment of these issues are of interest to skeptics, non-skeptics, and educated medical consumers alike.

Contributors to the book series include Dr. David Gorski, Dr. Harriet Hall, Dr. Mark Crislip, Dr. Kimball Atwood, Dr. Peter Lipson, Dr. Joseph Albietz, Dr. Scott Gavura, Dr. David Kroll, Dr. John M. Snyder, and Dr. Wallace Sampson, among many more science-based doctors and researchers.

The titles are available on Kindle, iBooks, and Nook for the low introductory price of just $4.99 each for the next week. You can buy a whole library of books on science based medicine for the cost of dinner out.

The following titles are currently available:

Science-Based Medicine Guide to Naturopathy
Kindle | iBooks | Nook

Science-Based Medicine Guide to Miscellaneous CAM
Kindle | iBooks | Nook

Science-Based Medicine Guide to Homeopathy
Kindle | iBooks | Nook

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Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo-woo in medicine.  

An open letter to Penn and Teller about their appearance on The Dr. Oz Show (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/open-letter-to-penn-teller/ Penn and Teller are well known for their skepticism, but they let their fans down when they appeared on the show of the very non-skeptical Dr. Oz. The segment was pointless, debunking only banal myths like the idea that swallowed bubblegum takes 7 years to digest. They offered the appearance of support to Oz, who promotes all kinds of quackery on his show, some of which is potentially harmful to viewers.  

Death as a Foodborne Illness Curable by Veganism (Harriet Hall) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/death-as-a-foodborne-illness-curable-by-veganism/ A doctor who advocates veganism has produced a video claiming that death is a foodborne illness, and that all the major causes of death can be prevented or treated by avoiding foods of animal origin. The studies he cites are cherry-picked and misinterpreted, and he omits any discussion of other studies that got different results. The evidence for a plant-based diet with limited meat is compelling; the evidence for total avoidance of meat, milk and eggs is not.  

  1. Let's Get This Straight...
  2. For He's A Skeptical Fellow
  3. The Lady Who Is Impossible to Lift
  4. This Week In Doubtful News