PolicyMay 1, 2013
The Science of Guns Proves Arming Untrained Citizens Is a Bad Idea
How data can help clarify the gun-control debate
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).
Mind & BrainApril 1, 2013
Why a Near-Death Experience Isn’t Proof of Heaven
Did a neurosurgeon go to heaven?
The SciencesMarch 1, 2013
How Skeptics Can Break the Cycle of False Beliefs
Pluralistic ignorance and the last best hope on Earth
February 1, 2013
The Liberals' War on Science
How politics distorts science on both ends of the spectrum
Mind & BrainJanuary 1, 2013
The Mind’s Compartments Create Conflicting Beliefs
How our modular brains lead us to deny and distort evidence
Mind & BrainDecember 1, 2012
How Communities Shape Our Morals
Nazis did not just blindly follow orders
Mind & BrainNovember 1, 2012
What Milgram’s Shock Experiments Really Mean
Replicating Milgram's shock experiments reveals not blind obedience but deep moral conflict
October 1, 2012
Why Your Brain Is Irrational about Obama and Romney
Subliminal influences guide our voting preferences
Mind & BrainSeptember 1, 2012
Why People Believe Conspiracy Theories
Why people who believe in one conspiracy are prone to believe others
The SciencesAugust 1, 2012
How Free Will Collides with Unconscious Impulses
Volition as self-control exerts veto power over impulses
Mind & BrainJuly 1, 2012
What Happens to Consciousness When We Die
The death of the brain means subjective experiences are neurochemistry
EvolutionJune 1, 2012
Evolution Explains Why Politics Is So Tribal
Morality binds us together into cohesive groups but blinds us to the ideas and motives of those in other groups
The SciencesMay 1, 2012
Much Ado about Nothing
Science closes in on why there is something instead of nothing
Mind & BrainApril 1, 2012
Climbing Mount Immortality: Death, Cognition and the Making of Civilization
How awareness of our mortality may be a major driver of civilization
Mind & BrainMarch 1, 2012
How We Opt Out of Overoptimism: Our Habit of Ignoring What Is Real Is a Double-Edged Sword
The willful distortion of reality to extremes can be harmful
Mind & BrainFebruary 1, 2012
Lies We Tell Ourselves: How Deception Leads to Self-Deception
How deception leads to self-deception
TechnologyJanuary 1, 2012
In the Year 9595
Why the singularity is not near, but hope springs eternal
The SciencesNovember 1, 2011
The Real Science behind Scientology
It's not what you think
The SciencesOctober 1, 2011
The Decline of Violence
Be skeptical of claims that we live in an ever more dangerous world
Mind & BrainSeptember 1, 2011
What Is Pseudoscience?
Distinguishing between science and pseudoscience is problematic
The SciencesAugust 1, 2011
Globaloney: Why the World Is Not Flat...Yet
Mind & BrainJuly 1, 2011
The Believing Brain: Why Science Is the Only Way Out of Belief-Dependent Realism
May 1, 2011
Extrasensory Pornception: Doubts about a New Paranormal Claim
Does new research prove paranormal precognition or normal postcognition?
Space & PhysicsApril 1, 2011
UFOs, UAPs and CRAPs
Unidentified aerial phenomena offer a lesson on the residue problem in science