Skeptic: Extraordinary Claims, Revolutionary Ideas, and the Promotion of Science

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Current Issue
Volume 14, Number 2

Cover Story
Evolution of Intelligence

Predicting Evolution
How Likely is it that Human-level Intelligence will Evolve Again?
by David Zeigler
The Chain of Accidents
& the Rule of Law
The Role of Contingency and Necessity in the Evolution
of Higher Intelligence
by Michael Shermer

News

The Phoenix Lights
Explained (Again)
by Tony Ortega
Arthur C. Clarke
Visionary science-fiction author
by Gregory Benford
Socratic Skepticism
by Priscilla Sakezles
Near Death Experiences
& the Medical Literature
by Mark Crislip
How Skeptics Confronted
9/11 Conspiracy Advocates
by John Ray

Forum

Letters
Universal Jackpots v. Intelligent Design; Reality Bites Journalist!; In Whose Belief Do We Trust?; Animal Rights & Research
More Words
on Consciousness
Global Warming Forum

Expelled Exposed!

Ben Stein’s Blunder
In a new documentary film — Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed — the actor, game show host and financial columnist Ben Stein falls for the pseudoscience of
Intelligent Design
by Michael Shermer
The Facts about the “Expelled” Scientists
in Expelled

Guillermo Gonzalez and
Iowa State University
by Lauri Lebo

Richard Sternberg and
the Smithsonian Institution
by Ed Brayton

Caroline Crocker and
George Mason University
by Carrie Sager and Andrea Bottaro

Expelled & the Trouble Ahead for American Science
by Kenneth R. Miller

Articles

The Myth of the Stages of Loss, Death and Grief
by Russell Friedman
and John W. James
Criminal Profiling
Granfalloons and Gobbledygook
by Brent Snook, Paul Gendreau, Craig Bennell, and Paul J.Taylor
The Curious Case of Freeman Dyson and the Paranormal

by Matthew Dentith

Features

‘Twas Brillig…
Prayer and Pregnancy;
Shooting UFO Photos
by James Randi
The SkepDoc
Popular Medical Fallacies:
Ancient Wisdom; It Works for Me;
Natural is Good
by Harriet Hall, M.D.

Reviews

The Matrix of the Brain
A Mind of its Own:
How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives by Cordelia Fine
reviewed by David Ludden
Evolution in Our Genes
Relics of Eden: The Powerful Evidence of Evolution in Human DNA by Daniel J. Fairbanks
reviewed by Tim Callahan
Read This Book!
Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine by R.Barker Bausell
reviewed by Harriet Hall, M.D.
Gimme That
Old-Time Irreligion
Irreligion:A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don’t Add Up by John Alan Paulos
reviewed by Norman Levitt
Between Scientism
& Postmodernism
Darwinian Misadventures in the Humanities by Eugene Goodheart
reviewed by Norman Levitt
The Ghost in the Machine
The Spiritual Brain by Mario Beauregard and Denyse O’Leary
reviewed by Douglas
Alexander Mesner
Science & Religion
on the Rack
Thank God for Evolution!: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World by the Rev. Michael Dowd
reviewed by Michael J.Booker
CAM Scam
Suckers: How Alternative
Medicine Makes Fools of Us All
by Rose Shapiro
reviewed by Harriet Hall, M.D.
Fundamental Truths
Bondage of the Mind by R.D.Gold
reviewed by Norman Levitt

Junior Skeptic

The Crystal Skulls written by Daniel Loxton;
illustrations by Daniel Loxton
An Era of Fakes; The Proof of “Providence”; Why Fake a Skull?; F.A. Mitchell-Hedges — the “Real Indiana Jones” — Or a Faker?; The Search for Atlantis; the Lost City of Lubaantun; Hoax Skulls; An inspiration for the Original Cursed Skull Story; More Tall Tales; The Bottom Line