Last Week At Science-Based Medicine
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- Written by Dr. Harriet Hall
- Category: Latest JREF News
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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.
JREF Media Roundup, February 10, 2012
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- Category: Latest JREF News
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- Darkness Radio | AM1130 Minneapolis, February 7, 2012
Psychic Scams (interview with D.J. Grothe) — Listen Online
JREF President D.J. Grothe on how to protect yourself from fake psychics, how sincere psychic advisors may be self deceived, the $1 Million Paranormal Challenge, and the psychological tricks psychics may use to appear to have supernatural abilities.
- The Jay Thomas Show, February 6, 2012
Interview with Banachek (not available online)
Famed mindreader and Director of the James Randi Educational Foundation's Million Dollar Challenge, which challenges psychics to prove their claims.
- The Buffalo Beast, February 3, 2012
TWiC #5: Sally Morgan and other frauds
One of the more celebrated debunking instances among skeptics is when James Randi and his cohorts caught the notorious scam artist / phony “faith healer” Peter Popoff red-handed lying to his audiences.
- Doubtful Newsblog, January 30, 2012
The Deliberate Skeptical Hoax
James Randi orchestrated many hoaxes in order to demonstrate how easy it is fool people, especially people who think they can’t be fooled.
Teaching - And Defending - Pseudoscience In Universities
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- Written by Dr. Steven Novella
- Category: Swift
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I acknowledge that professor Iain Graham has a difficult task before him. He has to come up with some way to defend the practice of his university (Southern Cross University, SCU, in Australia) of teaching pseudoscience as if it were real medicine. This is no easy feat (at least not for the intellectually honest and rigorous).
Universities in Australia have been coming under fire recently for teaching so-called alternative medicine. A group called the Friends of Science in Medicine formed to publicly complain about the slipping science standards represented by the infiltration of medical pseudoscience into universities. Of course, proponents are not backing off voluntarily. They are marshaling all the logical fallacies and distorted facts in their arsenal to defend their profitable nonsense.
Read more: Teaching - And Defending - Pseudoscience In Universities
Grassroots Spotlight: Atlanta Skeptics
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- Written by Brian Thompson
- Category: Swift
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Some of the most important work in promoting science and skepticism happens at the grassroots level. There are regional skeptical organizations all over the world that serve their local communities, and we like to regularly shine the spotlight on some of them.
The Atlanta Skeptics have one of the most active communities of critical thinkers in the United States. Atlanta is home to Dragon*Con's bustling Skeptrack every year, and the Atlanta Skeptics regularly host speakers, social events, and activism projects.
I spoke with my friend Christian Walters from the Atlanta Skeptics about what makes his grassroots organization tick.
Grassroots Skepticism: Skepticamp Chicago 2012
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- Written by Kyle Hill
- Category: Swift
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Skepticamp Chicago 2012 was my first skepticamp although in 2011, the JREF sponsored several of these events
. For those of you unfamiliar, a skepticamp is basically a social event for skeptics where everyone is more or less involved in helping it come together. If you’re not speaking then you’re helping people register or setting up equipment. A skepticamp can involve anything from lectures by leading academics to beer-fueled trivia challenges (which are especially fun when you win yourself a copy of Phil Plait’s Death From the Skies as I did). However, at its heart, it is about science-based individuals coming together to hear ideas, socialize with friends, have discussions, and hopefully to take something away from it. Events like these are the foundation upon which the skeptical movement is built, and they are a lot of fun.
Skepticamp Chicago was an all-day event at a mid-sized bar near downtown Chicago that by the end hosted nearly 100 people. Throughout the day 13 different talks were given on topics ranging from misconceptions about stem cells to new ideas about canine aggression to discussions of “Poe’s Law” to the search for alien extremophiles. Adding to the event, free t-shirts, stickers, and temporary tattoos were certainly a nice touch. We even had a Skype call with a skepticamp happening simultaneously in Madrid, Spain. Seeing just as many skeptics crammed into a bar on another continent gave a sense of solidarity that is sometimes lacking in the community.
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