Skepticism
Category archives for Skepticism
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.
The Skeptical Movement as a Dysfunctional Corporation with a Nightmare HR Problem
Posted by Greg Laden on July 23, 2011 Just an idea … not entirely work safe … below the fold.
Fear and Loathing in Minneapolis
Posted by Greg Laden on July 2, 2011 Good morning.
Want a brain, Moran?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 27, 2011 It is easy to make fun of other people with whom we disagree, but when it comes down to it, how do we really know when we are being smart about something vs. getting it all wrong? Gut feeling? Our friends agree with us? Some smart person tells us what to think? This is a…
The Fukushima Disaster, Hyperbole, Credibility, Skepticism, and the Future of Nuclear Power
Posted by Greg Laden on March 15, 2011 I honestly think that it is too early to have this conversation, but alas, the conversation has been forced.
Did Boobquake Cause an Earthquake?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 9, 2011 I’m reminded of Boobquake because of this Obligatory photograph related to Boobquake:
“God’s Lady Problem”
Posted by Greg Laden on March 8, 2011 Jen McCreight writes the blog Blag Hag and became famous last year for attempting unsuccessfully to prove that if a large number of women wore low cut shirts there would be a major earthquake. (It turns out that there was a 7-point-something earthquake on “Boob Quake” day, which requires that the experiment be repeated.) (It…
Stuff that can’t happen happens all the time.
Posted by Greg Laden on January 22, 2011 … or does it???
Getting it wrong every single time
Posted by Greg Laden on January 14, 2011 Sometimes, that is what I think news reporters do. There are occasions when you know the story and have the opportunity to watch them spew out incorrect information. Sometimes you do not know the story but you can watch them getting it wrong and see that happening while they appear to remain oblivious to their…
Wikileaks Mythbusting: Yemen Cables
Posted by Greg Laden on December 2, 2010 There has been much talk about whether the recent Wikileaks leak of diplomatic cables will be a good thing or a bad thing. I would assume (and that is an assumption … which is why I used the word assume) that there would be some of both, some forward movement of progressive ideals including honest…
The Fetish in relation to Skepticism
Posted by Greg Laden on November 26, 2010 I was just glancing through the blog of Katheryn Schulz, author of Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, a book about people who were wrong about stuff, often big stuff (for example, she talks about individuals who spent decades in jail owing to false convictions). Meantime, I’m working on posts related to the…
Dr Kiki does Abbie Smith
Posted by Greg Laden on October 30, 2010 “We’re going retro”
Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Posted by Greg Laden on September 30, 2010 Read this blog post ONLY IF YOU DARE!!!!
Retired Officers Break Silence: Aliens Are Here, and Controlling our Nukes.
Posted by Greg Laden on September 27, 2010 ‘The U.S. Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it,’ he said. The former officer said he witnessed such an event first-hand on March 16, 1967, at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. ‘I was on duty when an object came over…
Be a smart dick
Posted by Greg Laden on August 24, 2010 Is PZ Myers over the top? Is Phil Plait too nice? Is Chris Mooney right about framing? If I meet a Creationist, should I throw a fossil over his head?
Does Cranberry Juice Help Repress or Reduce Urinary Tract Infections? A study in skeptical juice drinking.
Posted by Greg Laden on August 13, 2010 After I reported this recent and interesting research paper about urinary tract inflictions, a number of conversations broke out on that post, on my facebook page, and via email, and some of these conversations raised the question of cranberry juice and whether the idea that it prevents, reduces, or shortens the duration of UTIs is…
Skeptical Search Engine Updated
Posted by Greg Laden on July 27, 2010 I’ve significantly expanded the search domain (or is that range?) of the Evolution … not just a theory anymore Skeptical Search Engine. Click here to give it a try. Look up stuff like “ghost” and “vaccine” and “fluoride” and see what you get. Let me know if you think I’m missing any important sites.
Fear, Loathing and Sleep: Skeptically Speaking
Posted by Greg Laden on July 25, 2010 Did you know that it is a fallacy that poor people have more babies than other people? I’ll be discussing this topic next Friday at 6PM Mountain Time on Skeptically Speaking Talk Radio, with Desiree Schell, in the next installment of “Everything You Know is Sort of Wrong” (This is part of the Falsehoods discussion.)…
Did you ever want a purely skeptical version of Google Search?
Posted by Greg Laden on July 22, 2010 Where all the crap on the Internet is excluded, so your results are from the kind of sites you actually want to use as sources of information? CLICK HERE and bookmark that page!
Are you are real skeptic, or are you just faithing it?
Posted by Greg Laden on June 30, 2010 And by faithing it, I mean using faith rather than critical analysis of the available information to make important decisions about what to regard as valid.
Skepticism 101: What do you think?
Posted by Greg Laden on June 29, 2010 Skepchicon starts in two days. For those of you who don’t know, Skepchicon is a “track” at Convergence, which in turn is one of those science fiction conventions where everyone dresses up as a Klingon or something.
Germany has a magic octopus
Posted by Greg Laden on June 26, 2010 He swam straight over to the German glass, climbed in and even put a lid on top once he was sitting inside.” Huh?
What to do with those pesky religious skeptics
Posted by Greg Laden on June 26, 2010 In which I provide my two cents regarding the current discussion between PZ Myers, Pamela Gay, and others.
, which is now available for the 
