The SciencesNovember 1, 2003
Candle in the Dark
Instead of cursing the darkness of pseudoscience on television, light a candle with Cable Science Network
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).
The SciencesOctober 1, 2003
Remember the Six Billion
For millennia we have raged against the dying of the light. Can science save us from that good night?
The SciencesSeptember 1, 2003
The Domesticated Savage
Science reveals a way to rise above our natures
The SciencesAugust 1, 2003
The Ignoble Savage
Science reveals humanity's heart of darkness
TechnologyJuly 1, 2003
Bottled Twaddle
Is bottled water tapped out?
The SciencesJune 1, 2003
Codified Claptrap
The Bible Code is numerological nonsense masquerading as science
The SciencesMay 1, 2003
Show Me the Body
Purported sightings of Bigfoot, Nessie and Ogopogo fire our imaginations. But anecdotes alone do not make a science
The SciencesApril 1, 2003
I, Clone
The Three Laws of Cloning will protect clones and advance science
The SciencesMarch 1, 2003
Demon-Haunted Brain
If the brain mediates all experience, then paranormal phenomena are nothing more than neuronal events
Mind & BrainFebruary 1, 2003
Psychic Drift
Why most scientists do not believe in ESP and psi phenomena
The SciencesJanuary 1, 2003
Digits and Fidgets
Is the universe fine-tuned for life?
The SciencesDecember 1, 2002
The Captain Kirk Principle
Intuition is the key to knowing without knowing how you know
The SciencesNovember 1, 2002
Mesmerized by Magnetism
An 18th-century investigation into mesmerism shows us how to think about 21st-century therapeutic magnets
The SciencesOctober 1, 2002
The Physicist and the Abalone Diver
The difference between the creators of two new theories of science reveals the social nature of the scientific process
September 1, 2002
Smart People Believe Weird Things
Rarely does anyone weigh facts before deciding what to believe
The SciencesAugust 12, 2002
The Chronology Protection Conjecture
The mind is still the safest way to time travel
The SciencesAugust 1, 2002
Why ET Hasn't Called
The lifetime of civilizations in the Drake equation for estimating extraterrestrial intelligences is greatly exaggerated
The SciencesJuly 1, 2002
Vox Populi
The voice of the people reveals why evolution remains controversial
The SciencesJune 1, 2002
The Shamans of Scientism
On the occasion of Stephen W. Hawking's 60th trip around the sun, we consider a social phenomenon that reveals something deep about human nature
The SciencesMay 1, 2002
The Exquisite Balance
Science helps us understand the essential tension between orthodoxy and heresy in science
The SciencesApril 1, 2002
Skepticism as a Virtue
An inquiry into the original meaning of the word "skeptic"
The SciencesMarch 1, 2002
Hermits and Cranks
Fifty years ago Martin Gardner launched the modern skeptical movement. Unfortunately, much of what he wrote about is still current today
The SciencesFebruary 1, 2002
The Gradual Illumination of the Mind
The advance of science, not the demotion of religion, will best counter the influence of creationism
Space & PhysicsJanuary 1, 2002
Shermer's Last Law
Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God