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The following is a contribution to the JREF’s ongoing blog series on skepticism and education. If you are an educator and would like to contribute to this series, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

“I’m an insulin-dependent diabetic. Twice a day I take synthetically manufactured insulin that still contains some animal products — and I have no qualms about it… I’m not going to take the chance of killing myself by not taking insulin. I don’t see myself as a hypocrite. I need my life to fight for the rights of animals.” --PETA Senior Vice President MaryBeth Sweetland on her use of insulin, which was tested on animals

Many years ago, while teaching my first college level course in Human Sexuality, I was having a bit of difficulty dealing with two students who seemed to always be at each other’s throats. Each time a controversial topic (e.g., abortion, homosexuality, pornography) was covered, their open disagreements seemed to escalate into full blown arguments. After a few weeks of this I’d had enough, and I executed a plan designed to teach them (and the rest of the class) to expand their horizons and to find common ground. I asked all of the students to write a short paragraph expressing their positions on a list of ten sex-related topics, and to turn it in after they had signed it. They were then instructed to write a research paper in which they attempted to support the opposite of their own opinion on one of the topics in the list. This is an old trick, and I expected a bit of resistance and protest, but I had faith that most would follow through and learn from the experience.

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Here is a rundown of the top stories in oddities and paranormal news from the past week courtesy of Doubtful News.  

It's now December and the countdown to the "Apocalypse" has begun. Russia seems to be taking it particularly hard if news reports are to be taken seriously. 

Meanwhile, NASA is conducting some outreach efforts to try and stem any concerns people might have about the rumors of the end coming from space. 

Big news last week in the U.S. was the large lottery jackpot. You have a better chance of becoming president but two winning tickets were sold. Not this guy's.  

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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 in medicine.  

A Holiday Round In The Mammography Debate (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/a-holiday-round-in-the-mammography-debate/ - more-23584 A study reports that screening mammography leads to over-diagnosis and unnecessary treatment of 1 in 3 women diagnosed with cancer, because many small, early lesions would never have threatened the patient’s life. We have no way of knowing which ones those are. Over-diagnosis is a problem, but mammography screening does save lives and this study is not a reason to reject it.  

Ecstasy for PTSD: Not Ready for Prime Time (Harriet Hall) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/ecstasy-for-ptsd-not-ready-for-prime-time/ An unwarranted degree of enthusiasm has been generated by a small pilot study of women victims of sexual assault showing that adding the party drug MDMA to psychotherapy improved the outcome for patients with refractory PTSD. It appears to be promising but raises a lot of questions, and recommending it to military veterans is not yet justified.  

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a challenging neurological condition characterized by difficulty with social interaction and communication. As the name implies, it occurs across a wide spectrum from barely detectable to debilitating. ASD is usually diagnosed by 3 years old, but studies have found that signs are often present as early as six months old.

It is understandable that parents of children with ASD are eager for effective treatments and feel obligated to do their best for their children by leaving no stone unturned. This is not, however, always the best approach in medicine. Some stones can cause harm and are best left unturned.  

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Among London’s spiritualists during the late 19th century, the undisputed queen had to have been Lizzie Nichol Guppy.

Born Agnes Nichol (although she preferred to be called Lizzie when she became an adult) , she would later claim to have been linked to the spirit world all her life (possibly due to being orphaned as an infant).   After seeing her first spirit at the age of nine, Lizzie found herself besieged by ghosts and quickly became known to a widening circle of friends and admirers due to her talent as a physical medium.   Along with seeing ghosts, she also became well-known for being able to “apport” physical objects such as fresh flowers and fruit. Her career began in 1866 when she first apported flowers at a séance attended by various spiritualists who gravely testified that her mediumship abilities were real.   One of the ones attending, whose reputation as a scientist was unimpeachable, was the great biologist (and scientific heretic) Alfred Russel Wallace.

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