Stories by Michael Shermer

How the curious science of the oddities of everyday life yields new insights

To be of true service to humanity, science must be an exquisite blend of data, theory and narrative

An open letter to Messrs. Dawkins, Dennett, Harris and Hitchens

The inverse square law trumps the law of attraction

Self-deception proves itself to be more powerful than deception

The neuroscience of choice exposes the power of ideas

The new science of happiness needs some historical perspective

Or why we should learn to stop worrying and love food

The latest fad in cold remedies is full of hot air

Is religion good for society? Science's definitive answer: it depends

Not all wrong theories are equal

Why Christians and conservatives should accept evolution

A court of law may determine the meaning of replication in science

Why our intuitions about how the world works are often wrong

A recent brain-imaging study shows that our political predilections are a product of unconscious confirmation bias

How the evidence for anthropogenic global warming has converged to cause this environmental skeptic to make a cognitive flip

The Self-Help and Actualization Movement has become an $8.5-billion-a-year business. Does it work?

Are some people really luckier than others, or is it all in their heads? Both

Natural scams "he" doesn't want you to know about

Retracing Darwin's footsteps in the Gal¿pagos shatters a myth but reveals how revolutions in science actually evolve

Science unravels the myth of suicide bombers

Science and spirituality on the California coast

The theory of "morphic resonance" posits that people have a sense of when they are being stared at. What does the research show?

Science only adds to our appreciation for poetic beauty and experiences of emotional depth