EngineeringMarch 1, 2017
Artificial Intelligence Is Not a Threat—Yet
Artificial intelligence as existential threat
Stories by Michael Shermer
Michael Shermer is publisher of Skeptic magazine (www.skeptic.com) and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University. His new book is Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia (Henry Holt, 2018).
BehaviorFebruary 1, 2017
Why Humans Prefer to Be the Center of the Universe
Science contemplates the incomprehensible
BehaviorJanuary 1, 2017
How to Convince Someone When Facts Fail
Why worldview threats undermine evidence
BiologyDecember 1, 2016
Beware Bogus Theories of Sexual Orientation
A new battle over sexual orientation
BehaviorNovember 1, 2016
These Truths Are Not Self-Evident—but They've Been Firmly Established Over and Over by Scientific Research
A compendium of irrefutable facts for these fact-starved times
BehaviorNovember 1, 2016
Why Political Pessimism Trumps Optimism
The psychology of political pessimism
BiologyOctober 1, 2016
Radical Life-Extension Is Not around the Corner
Can science and Silicon Valley defeat death?
BehaviorSeptember 1, 2016
Is It Possible to Measure Supernatural or Paranormal Phenomena?
Where the known meets the unknown we are tempted to inject paranormal and supernatural forces to explain unsolved mysteries. We must resist the temptation because such efforts can never succeed
BehaviorAugust 1, 2016
If "Facilitated Communication" Is a Canard, Why Teach It?
Facilitated communication, autism and patients' rights
Public HealthJuly 1, 2016
Charlie Sheen and the Danger of False Cures
Charlie Sheen's misadventure with a false cure for HIV/AIDS
BehaviorJune 1, 2016
Why Do Death-Row Inmates Speak of Love?
What would be your final words?
PolicyMay 1, 2016
Why Malthus Is Still Wrong
Why Malthus makes for bad science policy
The SciencesApril 1, 2016
The True Meaning of BS
Would you know it if you saw it?
PolicyMarch 1, 2016
Is Social Science Politically Biased?
Political bias troubles the academy
Mind & BrainFebruary 1, 2016
Can Our Minds Live Forever?
Can a brain's connectome be preserved forever?
The SciencesJanuary 12, 2016
Skeptic: The Book
Seventy-five Scientific American columns, collected
The SciencesJanuary 8, 2016
Homo naledi and Human Nature
Columnist Michael Shermer responds to critics of his most recent piece for Scientific American
The SciencesJanuary 1, 2016
Did This Extinct Human Species Commit Homicide?
Did Homo naledi behave more like H. homicidensis?
Climate ChangeDecember 1, 2015
Why Climate Skeptics Are Wrong
The SciencesNovember 1, 2015
Did Humans Evolve to See Things as They Really Are?
Do we perceive reality as it is?
The SciencesOctober 1, 2015
The Difference between Science and Pseudoscience
Discerning science from pseudoscience
The SciencesSeptember 1, 2015
Can We Trust Crime Forensics?
How trustworthy are DNA and other crime scene tests?
The SciencesAugust 6, 2015
The 70th Anniversary of the Summer of The Bomb
After seven decades should we be optimistic or pessimistic?
Mind & BrainJuly 1, 2015
Why Do Cops Kill?