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Why secular ethics is superior to religious ethics
As an atheist I usually have to face an iteration of the without-god-there’d-be-no-morals argument. My usual tactic in handling such arguments has been based on Hitchens famous challenge: show me one moral action that an atheist cannot engage in. Now, I’m taking a bit of a different approach. While sticking...
Court ruling unfortunate but not unexpected
A San Francisco federal appeals court has ruled against Michael Newdow in his law suit challenging the constitutionality of the words “Under God” in the pledge of allegiance. In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected arguments by Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow that the phrase violates...
That’s what I’ve been saying all along!
The Vatican’s chief exorcist has said the devil resides in the Vatican, which is what people like me have been saying for a while. He also claims to have done 70,000 exorcisms. There’s a bit of a problem with the math there as Evan of the SGU Rogues points out....
‘No evidence’ acupuncture boosts chances of IVF baby
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT BBC NEWS There is no evidence acupuncture or Chinese herbal medicine increase the chance of getting pregnant through IVF, fertility experts say in new guidance. The methods are increasingly offered as a way of boosting the chances of a baby, but the British Fertility Society suggests couples...
SEC says ‘psychic’ scammed investors
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE NYPOST Too bad he couldn’t foresee getting caught. Federal regulators filed suit today against a self-proclaimed psychic who allegedly scammed $6 million by conning suckers into believing that his extrasensory abilities would make them “piles of money” by trading foreign currencies. Sean David Morton — who bills...
This is horrible, really, really horrible! I’d ask for my money back. Filed under: Skepdude Tagged: cold reading, James Van Praagh, psychic, psychic powers, Psychics ...
Why Evolution Is True
This may be a portent of global warming: a new paper in the bird journal Oikos, based on 46 (!) years of research, shows that migratory birds in the U.S. are getting smaller over time. One of the generalizations about biogeography that I teach my students is “Bergmann’s Rule,” the observation...
I’m scheduled to be on the Thom Hartmann show this Tuesday (hour two) to talk about—God help me—homeschooling. They’re making a Skype connection, so I guess there’s some video, too, which you can watch on the website. Not really knowing who Thom Hartmann is (I rarely listen to radio), I Googled...
Andrew Brown on the Catholic church: it’s no worse than other child abusers
The Guardian’s resident moron, Andrew Brown, has outdone himself this week, publishing a column designed to put “Catholic child abuse in proportion.” It’s a disgusting and self-serving piece of faitheistic tripe, and its underlying message is this: those people who attack the Catholic church for systematic child abuse are really...
Some say that it’s kitteh abuse to raise a cat as an atheist—to brainwash it into rejecting Ceiling Cat, Basement Cat, and any of the supercatual notions that give comfort to felids. Indeed, even the term “atheist cat” could be construed as a form of abuse. Nevertheless, today we have...
The Texas School Board approves a new social studies curriculum, described by the New York Times as “stressing the role of Christianity in American history and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.” You can find the standards here. Have a gander if you have time. Here’s a screenshot...
Good to the last dropping: pitcher plant evolves to be shrew loo
We evolutionary biologists have one advantage over other biologists: we’re constantly encountering bizarre features of nature showing the almost unbelievable variety of adaptations that can be produced by natural selection. This means that we’re constantly getting little frissons of pleasure, and I get at least one of these a month. ...
RichardDawkins.net : The Latest Updates
ABC Nightline: Preaching Hate in Uganda
March 10, 2010 on ABC Nightline...
Richard Dawkins - Sunday programme
The best known biologist on the planet talks about his new book - 'The Greatest Show on Earth-the evidence for evolution....
Disease Cause Is Pinpointed With Genome
Two research teams have independently decoded the entire genome of patients to find the exact genetic cause of their diseases....
Taner Edis should write a book
Consider this the promised Part III in a series....
Ahern proposes Autumn referendum on blasphemy
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Public Statement Concerning Science and Christian Faith
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Science-Based Pharmacy
Vaccine Fears: What is the Pharmacist’s Role?
It’s Pharmacy Awareness Week. You’re probably not aware of this, neatly illustrating the challenge pharmacists have in raising their professional profile with the public. Despite what you may read here in this blog (written by me), pharmacists do a lot more than sell unproven supplements. Beyond their important role in...
British MPs Tell Gov’t: Stop Funding Homeopathy
In a clear statement on the absurdity of public funding and regulation of homeopathy, British MPs instructed government to stop paying for homeopathy, shut down homeopathic hospitals, cease all homeopathy clinical trials, and to crack down on homeopathic efficacy claims. Committee chairman Phil Willis MP said; “We were seeking to determine...
Does Coenzyme Q10 Relieve Statin-Induced Muscle Pain?
Editor’s Note: Today’s guest post is from a pharmacist who blogs under the pseudonym Avicenna, who looks at the evidence supporting the use of Coenzyme Q10 to treat statin-related muscle pain. My pharmacy stocks plenty of natural health products (NHPs) and ensuring they can be used safely is challenging, given the limited...
In pharmacy-speak, “part fills” allow a pharmacist to divide a prescription into smaller amounts. In the case of Science-Based Pharmacy, I’m going to use the label to highlight hot topics, related reading, and relevant material on other blogs. I hope you find these links informative: Homeopathy: After the 10-23 protests that...
Neti Pots for Sinus Congestion: Validated science?
Neti pots have moved from the fringe to the mainstream over the past few years. Traditionally used to treat sinus problems, their popularity exploded in 2007 when Oprah covered them on her show. Requests flooded the pharmacy I worked at. The pharmacy’s owner ordered in a case, and they disappeared in days. Given Oprah’s poor record...
Pharmacies Targeted in Mass Homeopathy Overdose
Hundreds of protesters will gather outside Boots pharmacies on January 30 to swallow entire bottles of homeopathic remedies and embarrass a profession that sells them in the absence of any evidence of efficacy. A few weeks ago, I blogged about the 10:23 protest which was gathering momentum in the United Kingdom....
Bad Science
Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 13 March 2010 “2,000 bugs taking a ride in every train compartment” said the Daily Mail. “Cockroaches cluster on trains“, scuttled the Telegraph. “Commuters share trains with 1,000 cockroaches, 200 bedbugs and 200 fleas” said the Evening Standard. The figures were all very specific and very...
Is it okay to ignore results from people you don’t trust?
Ben goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 6 March 2010 If the media were actuarial about drawing our attention to the causes of avoidable death, your newspapers would be filled with diarrhoea, Aids, and cigarettes every day. In reality we know this is an absurd idea. For those interested in the scale of...
Obvious quacks: the tip of a scary medical iceberg
Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 27 February, 2010 After the Science and Technology committee report this week, and the jaw dropping stupidity of “we bring you both sides” in the media coverage afterwards, you are bored of homeopathy. So am I, but it gives a very simple window into the wider...
The BBC have found someone whose cancer was cured by homeopathy
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have hit the bottom of the barrel. Homeopathy cured my cancer, on BBC News....
Parliamentary Sci Tech Committee on Homeopathy
Here’s the report, press release below. It looks like pretty sensible stuff to me, homeopaths can’t expect special treatment among all forms of medicine, if the evidence actively shows it doesn’t work, then that’s that. I have to say what really frightens me about all this is the MHRA: if...
Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 20 February 2010 You might have read the case of Ying Wu this week: a fully qualified traditional chinese medicine doctor operating out of a shop in Chelmsford who for several years prescribed high doses of a dangerous banned substance to treat the acne of senior...
Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena
Skeptoid #196: Zeitgeist: The Movie, Myths, and Motivations
The Internet movie Zeitgeist is among a new breed of machines spreading conspiracy theories. Zeitgeist is a little different in that its true motivation is to advocate a utopian ideology. This raises the question: Why, then, promote the untrue conspiracy theories?...
Skeptoid #195: Student Questions: Mosquito Repellent and Einstein's Gestation
Skeptoid answers student questions on electronic mosquito repellents, the Petition Project of scientists who deny global warming, getting sick from being near someone with a cold, athleticism of different races, and whether Einstein was smart because he spent an extra month in the womb....
Skeptoid #194: The Denver Airport Conspiracy
Conspiracy theorists claim that Denver International Airport is a headquarters from which the Illuminati will launch the New World Order via a global genocide. Are there other explanations for the clues they see?...
Skeptoid #193: The Faces of Belmez
Beginning in 1971, a series of ghastly faces began appearing on the concrete floor of a house in a Spanish village. Should people make life decisions based on their belief that these faces were divinely inspired?...
Ball lightning is often the first explanation many of us reach for when we hear any report involving a glowing orb of light. But science has yet to confirm that such a thing even exists at all, and the widely varying eyewitness reports don't help either....
Skeptoid #191: Did Jewish Slaves Build the Pyramids?
Popular mythology tells us that the pyramids were built by Jewish slaves, but is there any evidence supporting this? Apparently not. Jews were elsewhere at the time, and skilled Egyptian workers were found to have been at the pyramids....
The Rogues Gallery
The Rogues Gallery is now back up and at a new home. The new URL is http://www.theroguesgallery.org/. Please make sure you update your bookmarks and RSS feeds to get the new content. Thanks The Rogues, The Roguette and The Roguie....
We recently received the following email question: I have been studying quantum physics for a bit now and was hoping that Bob could give his explanation of The Uncertainty Principle and Wave/Particle duality. My first question is… Is the drawing of a wave (on paper) just a 2D representation of a more abstract...
People’s Choice Awards For Podcasting
The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe has been nominated by our listeners as the people’s choice for best podacst in education. From the website PodCastAwards.com This is the Fifth annual event that will recognize the best podcasters in the world by allowing the people (Listeners and Podcasters) to nominate, and then vote...
Don’t you love sleeping and dreaming? I’ve loved it since I was a kid. Not just the act itself though but the whole ritual; the moment you say to yourself “Yup, today is essentially over and I’m going to bed”, the ablutions, slipping under the covers (I like lots of covers),...
Rotten Eggs, Flatulence, and Suspended Animation
We recently received the following email about suspended animation: A Big hello to SGU from Darwin Australia, I am writing in to seek your opinion on something I came across on a paranormal and believers pod cast…As painful as it is to listen to them, in the interest of being a...
Fantasies Are Good For Your Math Skills
Who says skeptics should not indulge themselves in fantasies? Stoic, rational, logical, critical, evidence-based, scientific are just a few of the adjectives that help define us. But in the context of skepticism, you seldom hear a skeptic embracing fantasy as a practical tool on our skeptical utility-belts. It’s time to...
Science-Based Medicine
Is there a role for speculative journals like Medical Hypotheses in the scientific literature?
The core information supporting science-based medicine resides in the scientific literature. There, scientists and physicians publish the results of experiments and clinical trials that seek to understand the biological mechanisms by which the human body functions and through which disease forms and to apply this understanding to test new treatments...
There is an educational approach to becoming a doctor. It involves learning massive amounts of basic science, followed by massive amounts of pathophysiology, which barely prepares you for the clinical years of the last two years of medical school and the subsequent residency and the massive knowledge dump you have...
CAM on campus: Integrative Medicine
My previous posts have described guest lecturers at my medical school campus, invited by a student interest group in CAM. Those events continue; currently ongoing is an 8-weekend certification course in Ayurveda for the subsidized cost of $1500 (includes “tuition, syllabus, and personal guru”). I could pick on this student...
Plausibility in Science-Based Medicine
A question that arises often when discussing the optimal role of science in medicine is the precise role of plausibility, or prior probability. This is, in fact, the central concept that separates (for practical if not philosophical reasons) science-based medicine (SBM) from evidence-based medicine (EBM). The concept featured prominently in the...
The 2nd Yale Research Symposium on Complementary and Integrative Medicine. Part II
The Main Event: Novella vs. Katz The remainder of the Symposium comprised two panels. The first was what I had come to see: a Moderated Discussion on Evidence and Plausibility in the Context of CAM Research and Clinical Practice, featuring our Founder, Steve Novella, who is also Assistant Professor of Neurology...
Halsted: The Father of Science-Based Surgery
One (dark and stormy?) night in 1882, a critically ill 70 year old woman was at the verge of death at her daughter’s home, suffering from fever, crippling pain, nausea, and an inflamed abdominal mass. At 2 AM, a courageous surgeon put her on the kitchen table and performed the...
Derren Brown Blog
Professional Couch Potato Wanted: get paid to do nothing and eat more junk food
“Being a professional slob rarely pays – that is until now. A company is advertising for a couch potato to do nothing and eat more. It will pay almost £24,000 to a “worker” with a big appetite who is happy to eat 400 extra calories every day in high fat meals...
Early 20th Century ‘Spirit’ Photographs
“These photographs of ’spirits’ are taken from an album of photographs unearthed in a Lancashire second-hand and antiquarian bookshop by one of the Museum’s curators. They were taken by a controversial medium called William Hope (1863-1933). Born in 1863 in Crewe, Hope started his working life as a carpenter. In...
Hermaphrochickens Challenge Gender Determination
“Chicken sex doesn’t work like ours. No, not that sex — but the process by which an embryo becomes a recognizably male or female animal. Unlike mammals, it’s not hormones that dictate a chicken’s sex. It’s a fundamental property of the cells themselves. But this only became apparent when biologists investigated...
Pi Day: Five Tasty Facts About The Famous Ratio
“Mathematics enthusiasts will this weekend be celebrating Pi day, which falls on 14 March in honour of the famous ratio’s first few digits, 3.14. You probably know that pi is the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter, but here are some less familiar facts about the mathematical constant....
Artist travels world fixing crumbling monuments with Lego
“Jan Vormann, 26, has taken his project from its humble beginnings at an art fair in Rome and brightened up thousands of people’s days with his brightly coloured plastic version of Polyfilla. From the old quarter of Tel Aviv in Israel to the grand Bryant Park of New York, Mr...
Da Vinci’s Huge Horse Statue Proven Feasible
“‘Il Cavallo,’ the huge equine statue Leonardo Da Vinci never got to make, wasn’t plagued by technical problems as was widely believed, a new multidisciplinary research has revealed. On the contrary, Da Vinci’s plan for the largest equestrian statue in the world was a perfectly feasible project which, if completed, would...
Derren Brown Blog
Bottled Air Offered To Stressed Workers
“Bottled fresh air from some of the country’s favourite beauty spots is being given out to stressed city workers by the National Trust. The air, which was collected from seaside and rural areas around the UK, comes in several scents, including the seaside smell of Townend, and the lakeside aroma...
Why Surprises Temporarily Blind Us
“Reading this story requires you to willfully pay attention to the sentences and to tune out nearby conversations, the radio and other distractions. But if a fire alarm sounded, your attention would be involuntarily snatched away from the story to the blaring sound. New research from Vanderbilt University reveals for the...
The Octopus: All Brain, No Personality?
“Octopuses make for discerning TV viewers: it seems they prefer high-definition to traditional cathode ray images (CRT). What’s more, the first study using video to trick octopuses, finds that they may be the Jekyll and Hydes of the oceans: aggressive one day, shrinking violets the next. “People have been trying for...
Einstein’s Theory Of Relativity On Display
“JERUSALEM — There are pasted-on half pages, numerous cross-outs and insertions in meticulous penmanship and an open acknowledgment that some of the mathematics was beyond even him. Albert Einstein personally rewrote the laws of physics in a sparsely furnished central Berlin apartment nearly a century ago and the resulting manuscript,...
Last night was especially fun. A day off (Wednesday had been a travelling day from Eastbourne to Hull) always brings a slight scattiness to the performance, which was all part of the fun created by a terrific audience. Eastbourne crowds are lovely but famously quiet, so it was encouraging to...
Artist travels world fixing crumbling monuments with Lego
“Jan Vormann, 26, has taken his project from its humble beginnings at an art fair in Rome and brightened up thousands of people’s days with his brightly coloured plastic version of Polyfilla. From the old quarter of Tel Aviv in Israel to the grand Bryant Park of New York, Mr...
skeptic cat
He skipped the bit about the tickets ....Old Spice Guy Does CommercialIs there anything manlier than going on Ellen?Old Spice - The Man Your Man Could Smell LikeOld Spice Commercial ft Bruce CampbellOld Spice Neil Patrick Harris CommercialOld Spice Swagger | "LL Cool J"...
Charlie Schmidt's Keyboard Cat REINCARNATED!REJOICE!!! The waiting is over! As predicted by Keyboard Cat Church...He is back!!! Fatso is reincarnated as "Bento". He comes with Fatso's approval, support, talent and spirit. It is truly time to celebrate! Much more to come!Cool stuff at:www.zazzle.com/charlieschmidtwww.keyboardcatchurch.comiphonekeyboardcat.comcharlieschmidt.complayhimoffkeyboardcat.comPlay Helen off Keyboard Cat. And then join...
Cubicle War 2006Dirk and Brent have way too much time on their hands.Cubicle Wars 2010Dirk and Brent are four years older but they haven't grown up....
Flight Of The Conchords - Bret, you got it going onHey there Bret, I see you looking down.Don't want to see my little buddy there with a frown.Just because I get more women than you, well that's only because they don't know you like I do.Sure, you're weedy and kind...
Today's Roundup (March 13, 2010)
Texas Board of Education cuts Thomas Jefferson out of its textbooksWhere'd the white dog poo go? So-called mommy blogs "a cultural force to be reckoned with"Two Jets, Two Protons, Nothing ElseThe Mad Hatter's Secret Ingredient: MathThis Week in the Future, March 8-12, 2010Court: Vaccine Doesn't Cause AutismFossil Bird Eggshell Provides...
Boobies & KittensBoobies & KittensTwo great tastes that taste great together ... No that came out wrong ... ...
Autism Science Foundation
Media Roundup: Vaccine Court Thimerosal Rulings
ABC World News Tonight (includes interview with ASF Board Member Dr. Paul Offit) USA Today New York Times National Public Radio Reuters LA Times CBS Evening News (includes interview with ASF President Alison Singer) View scientific studies regarding autism and vaccines here Read a summary of the King case here (from Kathleen Seidel at Neurodiversity.com) Filed under: autism, autism...
Vaccine Court Denies All Three “Thimerosal Causes Autism” Test Cases
By Alison Singer This afternoon, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (i.e. Vaccine Court) issued its decision on whether thimerosal-containing vaccines can cause autism. The decision, handed down by three Special Masters, was a resounding “NO!”. From King: “This case is not a close case. The overall weight of the evidence is...
AOL Health: Autism Experts Offit and Dawson on Causes, Cures and Controversies
By Justine van der Leun The subject of autism is one that often ignites a fiery debate, namely because so much remains unknown about the illness. Doctors, parents, caregivers and even people living with autism are sharply divided on everything from the causes to the possibility of a cure to the...
Rebooting Brain Science at the Allen Institute
By Ken Reibel Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen made his fortune helping to create the operating system used on most of the world’s personal computers. But these days his interest lies in a far more complex operating system: the 20,000 or so genes that create the self-aware tangle of neurons we call...
AutismArtist.Org Collecting Artwork; Sales to Benefit Educational Programs
(From AutismArtist.org) AutismArtist.org, a not-for profit organization founded in December, 2009, announced today that it had begun accepting artwork from children with autism. One child’s artwork will be featured each day at www.autismartist.org. T-shirts, sweatshirts, bags and hats featuring the artwork will be auctioned online to raise funds for educational and...
ASF Offers IMFAR Grants to Autism Stakeholders
The Autism Science Foundation announced today that it is offering a limited number of grants to parents of children with autism, individuals with autism, and other stakeholders to support attendance at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), to be held in Philadelphia, May 20-22, 2010. Awards of up to $1000...
Scientific Blogging
GMOs Could Render Important Antibiotics Worthless
That headline catches your eye, doesn't it? read more...
Have you ever seen a galaxy ? I mean, not a picture of one. The real thing. A picture is a representation of reality, and as such it conveys to our senses only a pale suggestion of the stimulation that experiencing the real thing provides. In a world where images, still...
Understanding Climate : #1 - Components Of Climate
Understanding Climate : #1 - Components Of Climate The difference between weather and climate Weather is what you see every day: whatever the sky is doing, that is your local weather. Sun, rain, hail, snow, thunder and lightning - all these are weather. Fluffy white clouds, thunderheads, tornados, hurricanes - all are...
The Real Scuttlebutt On Sailing Slang
The Real Scuttlebutt On Sailing Slang There are plenty of sites around the web which will give you the origins and meanings of nautical slang. Mostly the wrong ones. Etymology is a science: you can't just make stuff up. What's the scuttlebutt? read more...
Just a reminder, the deadline to enter our spring University Science Writing Competition is tomorrow, March 15th at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. (and thanks to daylight savings time, you just lost an hour this morning!) The competition is open to all graduate students. read more...
What Is Science? Some time ago I was visiting a college in Pakistan. I thought I was just there as an observer. My mistake. I was introduced to a physics class with final words that filled my soul with dread: " ... from England who is going to give a talk...
Unreasonable Faith
March Madness at Scotteriology
by VorJack I’ve drawn from the blog Scotteriology a couple of times now. Scott has a knack for finding the absolute worst videos of Christian worship, theology and entertainment. He’s the one who first posted the Holy Ghost Hokey Pokey, which he describes as, “Perhaps the saddest, lowest, most...
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Religious Leaflet Claims “Ungodly” Dressed Women Provoke Rape
Religious fundies are giving out tracts that claim women who dress “ungodly” are asking to be raped: Nineteen-year-old Keshia Canter handed three burgers, fries and milkshakes to a car-load of Tuesday afternoon customers at the Hi-Lo Burger’s drive-though window. A lady sitting in the backseat leaned forward, between the two men...
by VorJack I have achieved a minor milestone — this will be my one hundredth post on Unreasonable Faith. That’s one hundred posts in almost exactly a year — my first post was on March 2nd of last year. That’s hardly a record — and Daniel has something over...
Suicide Bombers Go to Heaven; Er, Hell!
A Muslim scholar has issued a fatwa saying that suicide bombers go to hell: Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri condemned terrorism and criticized Islamic extremists who cite their religion to justify violence. Ul-Qadri’s 600-page fatwa is “arguably the most comprehensive theological refutation of Islamist terrorism to date,” according to the Quilliam Foundation, a London...
This is a song by ApologetiX, a Christian Weird Al wanna-be band. “Bone Digger” is a parody of Kanye West’s “Gold Digger”… though I think it parodies itself more, if such a thing is possible....
Debunking Christianity
I'm watching the blog for John, I've enabled random comment moderation.
John has left DC with me to look after until he gets back. Due to the "vandalism" over the last couple of days I have put the blog in random comment moderation. Sometimes it will be on, sometimes it won't. Note to vandals, go seek attention somewhere else. Note...
I'm Headed For Nevada To Visit My Family
As I wrote before my stepfather is probably on his death bed. I just heard from my Mom that his legs are purple and he has no blood pressure. So I'm flying out early in the morning to be there. Continue to enjoy the discussion here at DC while I'm...
Christopher Hitchens On the Ten Commandments With Better Ones
I have previously written about the Ten Commandments here. Christopher Hitchens talked about them recently in an eight minute video. Why can't believers see them for what they are? And why didn't an omniscient creator come up with better ones? See what you think:HT Atheist Media Blog...
Bill Maher On the Historic Atheist Meeting With President Obama
Watch it below....
Conversations From the Pale Blue Dot
Recently Luke at Common Sense Atheism interviewed Hector Avalos, James Sennett and Matt McCormick among others. I'm jealous. It's great stuff. Luke is a great interviewer. Link....
At best history gives us only scant evidence for some of our most firmly held conclusions. Scant evidence then is at best what we can hope to find. But scant evidence is also easy to deny. "In the interest of conservative theology, to reduce to an absurdity the purely negative...
Bad Astronomy
A few weeks ago, International Space Station astronaut Soichi Noguchi took an amazing picture of Endeavour re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. He has been busily snapping away at the Earth and posting the pictures on his Twitter feed. You really should be following him! Recently, he unknowingly did me a big favor by...
Via Emily at the Planetary Society blog comes this amazing animation, a three-dimensional flyover of Candor Chasma on Mars generated using HiRISE data. Holy cow. And the timing of this video… will some kid in middle school watch this video, wonder what it would be like to really do this,...
Well, isn’t this flattering? The Times Online science blog, called Eureka Zone, picked Bad Astronomy as one of its top 30 best science blogs. It’s always nice to get some recognition, even if it doesn’t come with a wheelbarrow full of money and a free trip to Tahiti. You listening, Times...
Hot on the heels of the post the other day about the winds on Mars blowing the sand dunes and visibly moving them across the planet’s surface comes this new satellite image of a huge sandstorm raging across the planet: Of course, I’d forgive you if you interpret my saying "the...
Deforestation reveals an old scar
The BBC is reporting that a previously unknown potential impact crater has surfaced in the Congo. This region was heavily forested, hiding the crater, but recent widespread deforestation has revealed the ancient impact scar. Obviously, I’m conflicted about this. If this is an impact crater (it has not yet been confirmed),...
Religious antivax sect implicated in deaths of 100 children
Word from New Zealand Zimbabwe is that a religious sect there — which believes in prayer over vaccinations — may be responsible for the deaths of over one hundred children from measles. I believe people have the right to practice their religious beliefs… up until they start to hurt others. It...
Skeptical Monkey
Jenny McCarthy’s Son May Not Be Autistic
After all her hemming and hawing over MMR vaccines, some folks are wondering if Jenny McCarthy's young son ever had autism is the first place....
“Respected” Psychic Mistakes Fake Photo For Actual Ghost
An Australian psychic told a woman that her photograph contains evidence of--not one, but two!--ghosts. Guess he found out too late that the picture was a hoax....
The New Orleans Saints, along with athletes all over the world, are quick to thank god when things go their way. But does god really care who wins a football game?...
Parents Can Relax: Vaccines Do NOT Lead to Autism
The Lancet medical journal published a study in 1998 suggesting the link between autism and the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. Now, they've issued a full retraction of the original paper....
Skeptical Monkey’s Predictions for 2010
In response to the oft-posted predictions of "psychics" at the start of each new year, we at Skeptical Monkey decided to make a few predictions of our own....
Halloween Origins: Those Ancient Celts Sure Were Crazy…
Halloween began thousand of years ago, when the ancient Celts lit bonfires to celebrate Samhain. What exactly did these people believe?...
New Urban Legends
Is your pet snake sizing you up as its next meal?...
Photograph purportedly shows a pregnant woman waiting to welcome home a husband who couldn't have fathered the child she's carrying....
Video clip purportedly shows a wrecking ball smashing into a passing van....
Rumor claims WalMart has authorized U.S. law enforcement to enter their stores and arrest any illegal immigrants found within....
Rumor claims President Obama has announced plans to ban recreational fishing in the U.S....
Musician finally masters extraordinarily difficult guitar part he heard on a record, only to learn the recording had been made with more than one guitar....
Dispatches from the Culture Wars
Ellis Washington Responds. Kind Of.
After a couple weeks of silence, Ellis Washington finally replied -- in a manner of speaking -- to my challenge to him about endogenous retroviruses and evolution. Which is to say that he ignored the challenge, admitted he doesn't know a damn thing about evolution, and tried to change the...
Schiffer's Webmaster Keeps Lying About Czars
Last week I ridiculed a wingnut candidate for Congress from Ohio named Paul Schiffer for a ridiculous and pointless bit of demagoguery about czars. That led his webmaster, Jonathon Moseley, to show up in the comments and continue the cavalcade of stupid. Get ready for some world class bullshit. If...
The Devil Went Down to Vatican City
I got several good laughs out of this article, wherein the "chief exorcist" -- apparently they think Ghostbusters is a documentary -- says that the devil himself has infiltrated the Vatican: Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that that "the Devil is at work inside the Vatican",...
A Judge Opposes Drug Prohibition
Judge Jim Gray, a conservative Republican judge with a long history of prosecuting drug crimes, explains why he ultimately concluded that the the war on drugs is a failure, a boondoggle and the excuse for massive violations of the the constitution. He points out that there are six groups that...
Salon has an article pulling details of how detainees were waterboarded from government documents. The article shows that when Dick Cheney referred to waterboarding as a "dunk in the water" he was lying. And that Marc Thiessen and his ilk, when they pretend that waterboarding can't be torture because we...
It's a big basketball weekend, of course, as we prepare for March Madness and the NCAA tournament. And John Beilein, the coach of the Michigan Wolverines, should be fired for one of the worst coaching decisions I've ever seen in the game against Ohio State on Friday. With 2.2 seconds...